Sarin Gas

Re "U.S. verifies Syria's use of sarin," June 14 Red line? Are you kidding? Why is it less moral for Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces to kill rebels and civilians by asphyxiating them using sarin gas than it is for them to blow off limbs or faces or send bullets into people's torsos? The moral red line was crossed long ago; the sarin red line is about the politics associated with the risks of arming the enemies of our enemy and the risks of involvement in another Mideast war. The debate should always have been about this; instead, it's embroiled in a heated struggle to decide what, if anything, to do about the declared-to-be-crossed red line.

With its unsurprising confirmation that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, the United Nations' report Monday that an Aug. 21 attack in the Damascus suburbs involved sarin gas has been met with a consistent global reaction: Now what? The report compiled by U.N. weapons inspectors and presented to the Security Council by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon provided extensive technical and forensic evidence of bombardment with sarin gas carried by surface-to-surface rockets. Western diplomats and human rights groups were quick to claim that only the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad is known to have rockets of the type retrieved from the attack site and found during laboratory analysis to have traces of sarin.

By editing out one key word from an interview, hotshot producer Jerry Dantana (Hamish Linklater) damages ACN's journalistic credibility -- and exposes the cable network to staggering legal expenses -- on “One Step Too Many,” Episode 16 of HBO's “The Newsroom.” Jerry has visions of winning a Peabody Award as he probes Operation Genoa, a Special Forces rescue of two Marines in Pakistan. If a tip Jerry received is true -- that the U.S. sprayed a village with lethal sarin gas -- high-ranking officials could go to prison.

A United Nations report concluding that chemical weapons were used in Syria on Aug. 21 contains evidence pointing to Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces as the perpetrators, the U.S. and British ambassadors to the world body said Monday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declined to say whether rocket fragments and other physical evidence collected from a Damascus suburban area by U.N. investigators made it clear whether it was the Assad regime or the rebels fighting him who launched the sarin gas attacks.

WASHINGTON -- The United States now has evidence that sarin gas was used in the chemical weapons attack against innocent Syrian civilians, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Sunday. The new evidence adds to the case that the Obama administration will make to Congress for taking military action against Bashar Assad's regime, one that they are confident lawmakers will heed, Kerry said. "I don't believe that my former colleagues in the United States Senate and the House will turn their backs on all of our interests, on the credibility of our country, on the norm with respect to the enforcement of the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons," Kerry said on NBC's "Meet the Press," one of several interviews he was to sit for less than 24 hours after President Obama's surprise decision to seek a congressional vote on a military strike against the Syrian government.

Chemical weapons: In the Oct. 27 LATExtra section, a caption with an article about a Cold War chemical stockpile in Oregon being incinerated said a photo showed missiles containing sarin gas. The photo showed artillery shells. Meridia: An Oct. 27 Section A article about hormone changes after dieting said that the weight loss drug Meridia, withdrawn in 2010, was an over-the-counter medication. It was a prescription drug. Business book review: A review in the Oct. 2 Business section of the book "The Roots, Rituals and Rhetorics of Change: North American Business Schools After the Second World War" misspelled the last name of reviewer Morgen Witzel as Wenzel.

Re "Anaheim's feeble democracy," Editorial, June 14 Looking at a map of Anaheim, it seems that a reasonable solution to the ongoing political challenges there might be an amicable split of the city. Affluent Anaheim Hills has little in common with largely Latino, working-class west Anaheim or even central Anaheim. Although some may say a split would amount to Anaheim Hills turning its back on the needs of the rest of the city, in fact the remaining core of Anaheim would still have a solid tax base, with Disneyland, the Honda Center and Angel Stadium remaining part of the city.

Japanese police found evidence of sarin gas at a building owned by a religious cult Friday, in a major breakthrough in the investigation of nerve gas attacks on Tokyo's subways last month, media reports said. Investigators found a chemical that can only be created when sarin decomposes in a laboratory belonging to the Aum Supreme Truth sect, NHK television and the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said. NHK said the find proved that sarin had been present at the facility.

A United Nations report concluding that chemical weapons were used in Syria on Aug. 21 contains evidence pointing to Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces as the perpetrators, the U.S. and British ambassadors to the world body said Monday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declined to say whether rocket fragments and other physical evidence collected from a Damascus suburban area by U.N. investigators made it clear whether it was the Assad regime or the rebels fighting him who launched the sarin gas attacks.

WASHINGTON--President Obama on Thursday ruled out any unilateral U.S action in response to the alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons, further reducing the chance of any forceful response to the crossing of what Obama had described as a “red line.” At a news  conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president, responding to a question about how he would react to conclusive evidence that the Assad regime had used such...

WASHINGTON -- The United States now has evidence that sarin gas was used in the chemical weapons attack against innocent Syrian civilians, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Sunday. The new evidence adds to the case that the Obama administration will make to Congress for taking military action against Bashar Assad's regime, one that they are confident lawmakers will heed, Kerry said. "I don't believe that my former colleagues in the United States Senate and the House will turn their backs on all of our interests, on the credibility of our country, on the norm with respect to the enforcement of the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons," Kerry said on NBC's "Meet the Press," one of several interviews he was to sit for less than 24 hours after President Obama's surprise decision to seek a congressional vote on a military strike against the Syrian government.

By editing out one key word from an interview, hotshot producer Jerry Dantana (Hamish Linklater) damages ACN's journalistic credibility -- and exposes the cable network to staggering legal expenses -- on “One Step Too Many,” Episode 16 of HBO's “The Newsroom.” Jerry has visions of winning a Peabody Award as he probes Operation Genoa, a Special Forces rescue of two Marines in Pakistan. If a tip Jerry received is true -- that the U.S. sprayed a village with lethal sarin gas -- high-ranking officials could go to prison.

Re "Anaheim's feeble democracy," Editorial, June 14 Looking at a map of Anaheim, it seems that a reasonable solution to the ongoing political challenges there might be an amicable split of the city. Affluent Anaheim Hills has little in common with largely Latino, working-class west Anaheim or even central Anaheim. Although some may say a split would amount to Anaheim Hills turning its back on the needs of the rest of the city, in fact the remaining core of Anaheim would still have a solid tax base, with Disneyland, the Honda Center and Angel Stadium remaining part of the city.

Re "U.S. verifies Syria's use of sarin," June 14 Red line? Are you kidding? Why is it less moral for Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces to kill rebels and civilians by asphyxiating them using sarin gas than it is for them to blow off limbs or faces or send bullets into people's torsos? The moral red line was crossed long ago; the sarin red line is about the politics associated with the risks of arming the enemies of our enemy and the risks of involvement in another Mideast war. The debate should always have been about this; instead, it's embroiled in a heated struggle to decide what, if anything, to do about the declared-to-be-crossed red line.

WASHINGTON - The White House declared Thursday that Syria had crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons in that country's civil war, and in response, U.S. officials said, President Obama had authorized sending arms to some rebel groups. The arms will be provided to the rebel Supreme Military Council, an official said. The council is the military arm of an umbrella group that represents more moderate factions of the forces arrayed against the government of President Bashar Assad.

WASHINGTON--President Obama on Thursday ruled out any unilateral U.S action in response to the alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons, further reducing the chance of any forceful response to the crossing of what Obama had described as a “red line.” At a news  conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president, responding to a question about how he would react to conclusive evidence that the Assad regime had used such...

With its unsurprising confirmation that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, the United Nations' report Monday that an Aug. 21 attack in the Damascus suburbs involved sarin gas has been met with a consistent global reaction: Now what? The report compiled by U.N. weapons inspectors and presented to the Security Council by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon provided extensive technical and forensic evidence of bombardment with sarin gas carried by surface-to-surface rockets. Western diplomats and human rights groups were quick to claim that only the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad is known to have rockets of the type retrieved from the attack site and found during laboratory analysis to have traces of sarin.

WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agree that Syrians have been exposed to deadly sarin gas in recent weeks, but they are divided over how certain they can be that the Syrian regime is to blame, U.S. and congressional officials said Friday. As the Obama administration weighs how to respond to the use of poison gas, intelligence officials say they are confident that sophisticated tests of tissue and soil samples and other evidence point to sarin. But reactions in the U.S. intelligence community have varied because of the possibility - however small - that the exposure was accidental or caused by rebel fighters or others outside the Syrian government's control, officials said.

WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agree that Syrians have been exposed to deadly sarin gas in recent weeks, but they are divided over how certain they can be that the Syrian regime is to blame, U.S. and congressional officials said Friday. As the Obama administration weighs how to respond to the use of poison gas, intelligence officials say they are confident that sophisticated tests of tissue and soil samples and other evidence point to sarin. But reactions in the U.S. intelligence community have varied because of the possibility - however small - that the exposure was accidental or caused by rebel fighters or others outside the Syrian government's control, officials said.

WASHINGTON - The White House said for the first time that there was evidence Syria had used chemical weapons in its civil war, but administration officials called for a broader United Nations investigation and edged away from declaring Damascus had crossed a "red line" that might trigger U.S. intervention. According to a White House letter to Congress, U.S. intelligence agencies assessed "with varying degrees of confidence" that President Bashar Assad's forces had used small amounts of sarin gas, a deadly nerve agent banned by international treaty.