In a court of law, the testimony of an eyewitness is considered evidence, not hearsay. When it comes to the use of Chemical weapons in Syria, the testimony of a journalist who claims to have overheard rebels admit to using them, would qualify. The man’s name is Pierre Piccinin, who was also held in captivity with another journalist, named Domenico Quirico.
Evidence that it was the rebels who used Chemical weapons just continues to mount.
Piccinin: Overheard rebel conversation that they used chemical weapons
While Quirico echoes Piccinin’s sentiment about the makeup of the rebels, Piccinin went a step further when he appeared on television and publicly stated that he heard rebels on a skype phone call talk about using Chemical weapons to frame Bashar al-Assad.
Via Ruth Brown at Newser (h/t Pajamas Media):
…Quirico’s fellow captive, Belgian academic Pierre Piccinin, has accused the rebels—of whom he says he was previously a “fierce supporter”—of framing Bashar al-Assad with last month’s chemical weapons attacks, after overhearing their captors say as much on a Skype conversation with other rebels. But Quirico is less certain. “We heard some people we didn’t know talking through a half-closed door,” he says, per the Times. “It’s impossible to know whether what was said was based on real fact or just hearsay.” Nevertheless, he says, he does not support a US military strike against Syria, which he says would only strengthen extremist forces, reports ANSA. “Our captors were happy at the idea of an American bombardment,” he says. {emphasis ours}
The allegation that rebels were looking to frame Assad while using the weapons themselves bolsters the claims of Yossef Bodansky, who also reported that the Obama administration knew of the attack in advance. As for these two men being held hostage by rebels, does this not bolster the claims that John McCain’s photo-ops in Syria included posing with at least two kidnappers?
Here is Piccinin going public with what he heard while held captive:
Once again, Senator John McCain (RINO-AZ) looks utterly foolish but doesn’t seem to much care. He’s all-in with the rebels Muslim Brotherhood on this one. During an August 29th interview with Piers Morgan at CNN, McCain was asked about the possibility that the rebels may have been the ones to use Chemical weapons. He scoffed and said, yeah, when “pigs fly”. He then said “evidence is gonna be forthcoming” (redundant).
If McCain were rational at this point, he would start critically examining his trip to Syria this past May. News came out shortly after his trip that he posed for photos with at least two hostage-takers. Then, after citing the work of Elizabeth O’Bagy during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, it was revealed that she had a conflict of interest; she was the political director with the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF). She has since been fired by the Institute on the Study of War (ISW) over a rather innocuous inconsistency with her bio. It’s more likely that her role with the SETF made her a bit radioactive.
As we wrote recently, Ahmad Soliman, a member of the SETF has been scrubbed from the website as well. Soliman is Egyptian and has distinct ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The group’s Executive Director – Mouaz Moustafa – attended a Muslim Brotherhood conference in Doha, Qatar earlier this year as well. Yahya Basha, who sits on the SETF Board of Directors, once led a group founded by a convicted terrorist named Abdulrahman Alamoudi.
Nonetheless, McCain referred to O’Bagy as a “Dr.” while introducing her op-ed at the hearing to make his point. O’Bagy also accompanied McCain to Syria in May and even took this photo:
