It's the British behind chemical attacks in Syria - outrageous claim by a US Republican senator

Wars, conflicts, foreign crises are never won or concluded by propaganda but it can certainly make an impact. Propaganda was one of the big weapons in the Second World War. In the Falklands conflict in 1982, the military junta in Argentina claimed on numerous occasions that one of the Royal Navy's two aircraft carriers had been sunk. Back in London, as a reporter it was almost impossible to know what was truth and what was fiction because the Ministry of Defence was being tightlipped about almost everything happening 8,000 miles away in the South Atlantic. But it was pretty crude propaganda and no one really believed it especially as both carriers had been sent to parts of the South Atlantic where the Argentine aircraft with their Exocet missiles found it difficult to reach. Bashar Assad the Syrian president has become pretty good with propaganda, blaming everyone else for chemical attacks, barrel-bomb attacks, slaughter of civilians etc. Now he has fed into the ear of a willing US Republican senator the old chestnut that British intelligence has been behind the chemical attacks in Syria with the aim of blaming the Damascus regime and getting Trump to bomb the Syrian regime. Specifically, a smooth-looking individual who had a nice chat with Assad in the Syrian capital, Senator Richard Black has claimed on an Arab TV station that MI6, Britain's secret intelligence service, coordinated with the White Helmet rescue organisation in Syria to fake chemical attacks, including training people to act out as victims. It's baloney. And such obvious black propaganda that only a fool would believe it. Senator Black is obviously a fool. But a dangerous one because it means Assad believes he has certain American politicians in his pocket. I'm sure MI6 has officers or agents or both working behind the scenes in or around Syria but the idea they are manufacturing chemical attacks and filling hospitals with crying children affected by chlorine burns is ludicrous. The US State Department has said as much. Shame on Senator Black for being so gullible.