The reason we are so sure Assad ordered the chemical attack itself, comes from an intercepted  communique from a high ranking Hesbollah official to the Iran embassy in Damascus, which states that  “Assad made a big mistake in ordering the use of chemicals.

Put yourself in his shoes.  Wouldn’t that be exactly what you would have said upon first hearing of the attack and seeing footage?  Everyone, including myself, thought is was Assad long before proof began to turn up that other alternatives existed.

So to make the assumption that a Hesbollah in Lebanon would have inside knowledge of  the upper mechanizations of Syria’s armed forces, is not realistic.   For this person to say Assad made a grave mistake is really, no different than myself, saying Obama is making a grave mistake by ordering this discussed future military strike.  Do I know if he has ordered it?  No.

But that doesn’t stop me from trying to warn them that such actions are severely harming themselves,…

And this, is our whole “evidence” supporting that Assad needs punished.

Assad in his Charlie Rose Interview, asserts that he did not order chemical weapons.  As many including the Russians have said…  doing such would be the height of stupidity. Similar to the US, nuking Damascus because chemical weapons were stored there… Duh, why would we do that?

This is corroborated by German Intelligence, who now state that intercepted phone calls show Assad was not himself involved in last month’s attack or in other instances when government forces have allegedly used chemical weapons.

Which suggests rogue elements in Assad’s forces.  That is to be expected.  In an area where religious hatred is so high, the ability to inflict causalities on one’s hated adversary, might overrule any orders to the contrary.  Those old enough to remember the Cold War, no doubt also remember the countless novels and movies depicting a rogue element inside our own military, initiating nuclear strikes to achieve a personal result….  perhaps even a promotion.

So we have a flimsy piece of evidence that a recent law school graduate could get thrown out of court, and we have an ally offering up intelligence showing Assad knew nothing, nothing… and having both together, we have to give Assad a pass, because the preponderance of the evidence, shows him to be not guilty.  Maybe he is guilty and hides it well.  However, the preponderance of evidence is not enough to convict him….  if any American courtroom would acquit him, we certainly can’t bomb them back into the Stone Age.