Robert Fisk of the Independent does not always get it right, hence the term Fisking, but the Middle East veteran is not a man to generate pure fake news and right now he is on the ground in Douma, the scene of the alleged chemical weapons attack by President Assad and his first report last night begs the question of whether Theresa May, that fag Macron and President Trump are lying war criminals, like Tony Blair.
Fisk's report is HERE and the first point to take out is just how clear it is that Douma was not besieged but liberated. The ordinary people there are delighted to be free of some really vile Islamofascists.
But the main point is that Fisk, on the ground, finds folks who cast grave doubt indeed on whether there was a chemical weapons attack at all. The only "evidence" folks like Macron and May appear to have is from people such as the White Helmets who are hardly impartial - they have fled to Idlib with the other jihadists. On the ground Fisk finds real evidence that the gas attack was a false flag, it was made up as Syria and Russia have resolutely insisted.
I concede that the jury is out. But what if there was no gas attack? At that point May, Macron and Trump would have launched an assault on what basis? On the basis of what in Iraq came to be known as "the dodgy dossier", i.e very flimsy documentation which fell well short of proof.
Chemical weapons inspectors arrived in Damascus on Saturday. They are already interviewing doctors on the scene and will have primary evidence within days. Why did not the West wait for that?
The narrative from a bellicose political and media class is that May had to act and that in questioning this - as he questioned Iraq and Libya - Jeremy Corbyn is a total loser who just does not get it. But if Fisk is right then, once again, Corbyn - of whom I am no fan - will be vindicated and May, like Blair, will surely be seen to have rushed into illegal aggression.
What happened was #Notinmyname - those who have cheered on as the West rained destruction on Syria may soon wish to reconsider their actions.