If you don't have evidence, Sec. Mattis, why not keep your mouth shut?

Politico, February 2:

The Syrian regime should think carefully before using chemical weapons again, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned Friday, in an apparent reference to last year’s U.S. military strike on a regime airfield in retaliation for a previous chemical attack.

“You’ve all seen how we reacted to that,” Mattis said, adding that the Syrian regime “would be ill-advised” to launch more chemical attacks, as some recent reports from inside the country suggest. 

Mattis acknowledged those reports and said the Pentagon was looking for evidence to confirm them. “Groups on the ground, NGOs, fighters have said" that the regime has used sarin gas in recent attacks, he said, but “we do not have evidence.”

The regime appears to have weaponized chlorine again, Mattis said, but “we are even more concerned about the possibility of sarin use.” ... 

Yes we did see how the U.S. regime reacted to stories from al-Qaeda-linked sources -- or was it IS sources, I can't remember -- alleging that the Syrian Army used a chemical weapon last year. Why the army would have used such a weapon then, and why now, is a question only low-information Americans would seriously consider. 

Assad's government has had every reason to refrain from the use of chemical weapons and this remains as true now as it was in 2017. For years now, hardly a week has passed without news of a peace deal between Syria's government and insurgents -- the genuine insurgents, that is, not mercenaries for foreign regimes. Just today FARS reported:

Militants in More Regions Endorse Peace Agreement with Syrian Army

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Russian Defense Ministry announced in its latest report on Saturday that militants in more regions have laid down weapons and ended fighting against the Syrian Army.

The ministry said that representatives of militants in more regions endorsed the nationwide reconciliation plan and ended battle against the army, adding that the total number of villages, towns and regions that have thus far joined the peace agreement with the army stands at 2,344.

It added that peace talks are underway between Damascus and militants in Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, Hama, Homs and Quneitra provinces.

Local officials reported last month that 350 militants that had laid down arms and accepted the terms of the government for amnesty were pardoned in Southwestern Damascus.

The sources said that the army has granted amnesty to 350 gunmen that had handed over their weapons to the army men and joined peace in Beit Jinn region in Southwestern Damascus.

The sources added that they gunmen returned to normal life in the Northeastern province, adding that laying down arms and delivering them to the Syrian army is underway in the region. [END REPORT]

This kind of situation happens so often it's hardly news anymore, and of course the reconciliations are rarely mentioned in the U.S. press -- and then usually accompanied by claims that the hapless pardoned militants are dragooned into the Syrian military.

A more interesting question is how James Mattis, a worthy general, came to be a puppet for the fiends trying to wrest control of Syria. Last year Mattis should have told President Trump to go to hell if he wanted to bomb a Syrian military installation on the basis of an obvious false-flag operation.

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