,
12 tweets,
7 min read
Read on Twitter
This statement from the Canadian rep to OPCW repeats the absurd argument that the engineering assessment was outside the mandate of the FFM, and attacks "a number of actors"
1) The TS's argument that the engineering assessment's conclusion that the gas cylinders were manually placed is outside the mandate of the FFM is (a) logically wrong, and (b) contradicts the Interim and Final Reports of the FFM.
2) (a) The inference that the cylinders were manually placed does not attribute blame for a chemical attack, but implies rather that no chemical attack occurred. The stated mandate of the FFM was to determine whether a chemical attack had occurred.
3) (b) The Interim Report release in July 2018 stated that “Work is ongoing to assess … how the cylinders arrived at their respective locations”. This is precisely the question addressed by Henderson's engineering assessment. See also hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2019/05/my-urg…
4) Our working group has not "smeared" anyone in the Technical Secretariat, we have argued from observable facts. We have pointed out that Elise Coté as a Canadian diplomat has an obvious conflict of interest in her new role as Principal Investigator of the IIT.
5). Those of us who serve on bodies such as scientific review panels have to make a detailed declaration of anything that could be regarded as a conflict of interest and recuse ourselves from decision-making process where this could be relevant.
6). OPCW appears to lack any such procedure. In this situation, the responsibility to declare a conflict of interest and recuse herself from decision-making falls on the individual concerned.
7. We have criticized the role of Len Phillips, who worked in OPCW during 2018 as a self-employed consultant, by showing that FFM reports for which he was responsible excluded evidence that these alleged attacks could not have happened in the manner described.
8) These are arguments based on fact, not smears.
9. If the TS were able to rebut any of our criticisms with fact-based argument, we would expect it to have done so instead of smearing us as "proxies".
10. It is not we who "discredit the OPCW as an institution" but those who have hijacked it. The CWC lays down strict rules and procedures for investigation of alleged use of chemical weapons, which have been bypassed by establishing the FFM and the IIT.
