How an "echo chamber" denying Syria's chemical attacks was established and how it rewards itself for ongoing conspiracy theory and cover-up of war crimes
Seeking to cover up war crimes of Syria's Assad regime, a group of UK academics worked with Russian diplomats in four missions from North America to Europe.
In March this year, a new website for a group set up by two former diplomats and an Ivy League academic concerned about the activities of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) blinked into life.
The Berlin Group 21 (BG21), read a “Statement of Concern” that graced the site’s landing page, had “deep concern” about an OPCW investigation into a chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Douma in 2018 that killed more than 40 civilians. Signatories included prominent journalists, academics, a former US Congresswoman and presidential candidate as well as a former head of Britain’s Royal Navy.
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BBC News
By Chloe Hadjimatheou
image captionA White Helmet rescues a child from a bombed building
The British man behind the Syrian civil defence group, the White Helmets, found himself at the centre of a battle to control the narrative of the Syrian war. Russian and Syrian propagandists accused his teams of faking evidence of atrocities - and convinced some in the West. The battle for truth formed a backdrop to James Le Mesurier s sudden death in Istanbul in November 2019.
With the setting sun reflecting in the water and the lights of Istanbul twinkling on the horizon, the wedding guests sat around lantern-lit tables: diplomats from several countries, military officers, journalists and activists who had flown in from around the world to see James Le Mesurier get married.