Londonrake wrote:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43136831
If you take out all the obvious bias, the basic story is the same where ever it comes from. If a reader cannot see that which is designed to intentionally impart bias then they will never get the full story. The truth has no bias. Apart from that I have no problem with the content as at the moment nobody has a clear idea of what is happening ..... except .... the forum military expert!
Barrel bombs are quite an interesting subject as, it appears they are NOT weapons of mass destruction and they very rarely kill anybody. That is not their purpose and I refer to those filled with chlorine not high explosive/shrapnel bombs as they ARE designed to kill and maim. As far as I know Assad has not been accused of using that type it is always CHLORINE type, presumably because of the ‘
chemical’ link?
I worked on an Ethylene Dichloride Plant. The Chlorine plant was the next door neighbour and we were always told by the safety people that if you can see it (Green/Yellow mist) quit the area and move to higher ground/floors; if you can smell it (bleach) log off and go for a coffee. It is only a threat in higher concentrations (>10-15ppm) but it will irritate at levels lower than that. This always stuck with me. Try looking at the properties of Chlorine and this seems to support that theory:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine_gas_poisoninJust my view and it may be controversial but:
Dropping one of these Chorine Barrel bombs on people, is a very inefficient way of killing ..... because it doesn’t kill, it just incapacitates the victim. So why does Assad use them? If you think about it, it is fairly obvious. It is about the closest thing you could get to a ‘
velvet’ bomb that is effective against the terrorist but of minimal danger to civilians.
How come? Because, as they found in Aleppo and every other rebel strong hold that is liberated, these rebels move around through tunnels burrowed through the ground and through peoples basements, They shift the civilians out of their safe basements, where they would go for protection from snipers, rockets and mortars and then use the basements to store their weapons and to move around freely without exposing themselves.
Chlorine has 2.5 times the density of air so when released it will flow into lower areas ....... like tunnels and basements?????
So when dropped say into the road in the centre of a town/city, the oil drum splits and the chlorine, which is diluted with water runs downhill. The gas evaporates out and drives all the rats out of their burrows where they can then be picked off at will. The civilians being on the upper floors are above the chlorine ..... they may smell it but if they can do that it will not cause any serious harm.
They cannot drop these things as a gas as it would need to be compressed and that means a pressure vessel which is very heavy. So, in a way it is a soft bomb ..... apparently IMO not the terrible weapon we are led to believe.
You may well disagree but when I use this as a logical approach these barrel bombs seem to be much less dangerous than the HE missiles and bombs the coalition dropped on Raqqa and Mosul and the Russian and Syrian air forces use as well or the phosphorus and depleted uranium the Israeli's use against civilian targets. Maybe this is why the casualty figures by population were lower in Aleppo than in Raqqa and Mosul?
Just a view.
