Assad is certainly an evil man, but I'm not convinced he is irrational. His primary interest is his own survival and staying in power. Using chemical weapons at a time when his side is winning the war and potentially pushing the Americans into more aggressive action does not make sense.
Of course, there may be commanders in his military who think differently and use them regardless of what he thinks, as was apparently the case in 2013 according to German intelligence: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/08/syria-chemical-weapons-not-assad-bild
President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered calls for US military intervention, and blocked numerous requests from his military commanders to use chemical weapons against regime opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported , citing unidentified, high-level national security sources.
The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence service, and deployed off the Syrian coast, Bild am Sonntag said. The intercepted communications suggested Assad... was not himself involved in last month's attack or in other instances when government forces have allegedly used chemical weapons.
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There was also a CIA theory, corroborated by Saddam Hussein, that Saddam Hussein himself did not order the gas attack on Halabja, but that one of his military commanders did it without his consent. This is touched on by the CIA agent who debriefed Saddam after they kidnapped him in Iraq: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ddam-Hussein-says-thought-knew-man-WRONG.html
My superiors were delighted at the progress we were making, yet something nagged at me about the exchange. My gut told me that there was some truth in what Saddam had said. He was incensed about Halabja. Not because his officers had used chemical weapons – he showed no remorse – but because it had given Iran a propaganda field day.
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Things are never straightforward in these situations. Consider things such as this: http://news.sky.com/story/saddams-chemical-attacks-on-iran-aided-by-us-10436232
Recently declassified CIA files show the US knew that Iraq was using chemical weapons in the 1980s, but did nothing to stop Saddam Hussein, a report says.
At one point during the Iran-Iraq war, the US even shared intelligence with Baghdad that it knew would lead to a chemical attack
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Don't kid yourself that those with their fingers on the pulse in the American Military give a sh1t about dead babies, any more than pr1cks like Assad and Putin do. We are told lies all the time and it tends to come to light years after the fact, but by then the interventionists (re. war mongers) cheerled by establishment media have waged another war. We are told to care about certain groups of people dying at certain times, whilst others are ignored. People swallow this brick every single time and end up beating the drum for war themselves. Then when it all goes to sh1t, the same people act like they always knew it was a bad idea. Too late by then.
