General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Sources: Intercepts show top Syrians preparing for chemical attack, discussing afterward [View all]leveymg
(36,418 posts)to monitoring and discussion of unit movements, which would be normal command communication, not an indication of command responsibility for the attack, itself.
Every single one of the command-level officials would be fully aware of the dire consequences of such an attack, including the Defense Minister who is the highest official in the chain-of-command below the President. If he didn't know -- and he was reportedly outraged in tone -- that indicates to me that this was not an authorized launch of chemical weapons.
I doubt the Minister was expressing outrage by what he took to be an attack authorized at a higher level (the President or his brother) - his tone and the content of his words would be quite different with the unit commander. If the Defense Minister came to understand through his conversation with this particular officer that the attack had been sanctioned, he would immediately fall quiet in his tone, and cut the conversation short upon realizing that he was out of the loop, which might be dangerous for him.
I would look to see what's happened since with the Defense Minister for a possible indication that he may have stepped on the toes of a higher-up.
They're all bastards and I'm willing to accept the possibility of command responsibility and culpability, but I don't see hard evidence yet. Just layers of supposition and spin. I want to hear the conversations, and do not accept the usual BS about revealing collection methods and sources - we already know IDF Unit 8200 is the source for these intercepts, as well as some of their contents.