How a network of UK intel-linked operatives helped sell every alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack
While Western media covers up their credibility issues, these pseudo-experts and spooks have helped drive the dirty war on Syria.
by Kit Klarenberg
Part 3 - Citizen journalism and civil rescuers, made by the UK Foreign Office
The report’s reference to “local” – or opposition – media having broadcast one of the bogus videos supplied by de Bretton Gordon’s Taskforce is also conspicuous when considering that British intelligence may well have created the outlet, in addition to helping mock up the clips.
Internal UK Foreign Office files released by a self-proclaimed hacktivist collective Anonymous in September 2020 reveal that ARK, a shadowy “conflict transformation and stabilization consultancy” headed by probable MI6 operative Alistair Harris, trained and equipped hundreds of citizen journalists in Syria over many years.
Internal UK Foreign Office files released by a self-proclaimed hacktivist collective Anonymous in September 2020 reveal that ARK, a shadowy “conflict transformation and stabilization consultancy” headed by probable MI6 operative Alistair Harris, trained and equipped hundreds of citizen journalists in Syria over many years.
“Activists” were tutored in “camera handling, lighting, sound, interviewing, filming a story,” post-production techniques including “video and sound editing and software, voice-over, scriptwriting,” and “graphics and 2D and 3D animation design and software.”
ARK’s students were even instructed in practical propaganda theory – namely “target audience identification, qualitative and quantitative techniques, media and media narrative analysis and monitoring,” “behavioral identification/understanding,” “campaign planning,” “behavior, behavioral change, and how communications can influence it [emphasis added],” and more.
ARK’s students were even instructed in practical propaganda theory – namely “target audience identification, qualitative and quantitative techniques, media and media narrative analysis and monitoring,” “behavioral identification/understanding,” “campaign planning,” “behavior, behavioral change, and how communications can influence it [emphasis added],” and more.
Content these “stringers” created was disseminated via “TV, FM radio, social media [platforms] and print material [including] posters, magazines and comics” established by ARK, in order to “promote the moderate opposition” within and without the country.
The company stated that it “frequently directs and connects international journalists” – working for the BBC, CNN, Guardian, New York Times and Reuters, among others – “to appropriate opposition figures.” In turn, ARK was “regularly approached” by the opposition Syrian National Council for “media handling advice,” including in the wake of the highly suspicious August 2013 chemical strike in Ghouta.
The company stated that it “frequently directs and connects international journalists” – working for the BBC, CNN, Guardian, New York Times and Reuters, among others – “to appropriate opposition figures.” In turn, ARK was “regularly approached” by the opposition Syrian National Council for “media handling advice,” including in the wake of the highly suspicious August 2013 chemical strike in Ghouta.
ARK’s most well-known creation was the supposed rescue group known as the White Helmets. The contractor spearheaded an “internationally-focused communications campaign designed to raise global awareness” of the supposed first responders and “keep Syria in the news” for several years.
This was before management of the endeavor was handed over to Mayday Rescue, the brainchild of the late British mercenary James Le Mesurier, a former ARK employee who apparently committed suicide in 2019 amidst a corruption investigation by state donors into the White Helmets’ bookkeeping.
This was before management of the endeavor was handed over to Mayday Rescue, the brainchild of the late British mercenary James Le Mesurier, a former ARK employee who apparently committed suicide in 2019 amidst a corruption investigation by state donors into the White Helmets’ bookkeeping.
Le Mesurier’s third wife, Emma Winberg, was also heavily involved in Whitehall’s information warfare operations in Syria through a company called Innovative Communications and Strategy (Incostrat). She founded the outfit in 2014 alongside military intelligence veteran Paul Tilley, the former UK Ministry of Defence strategic communications director for the Middle East and North Africa, who, like Le Mesurier, had attended the elite Sandhurst Military Academy.
In the same vein as ARK, the company produced slick propaganda promoting extremist groups as credible alternatives to the Syrian government, while whitewashing the barbarous deeds that became their calling card in areas they occupied. One such jihadist entity may have been the fundamentalist, Saudi-backed Jaysh Al-Islam (the Army of Islam), which worked closely with the White Helmets in the areas it occupied, including Douma at the time of the now-notorious April 2018 chemical weapons deception.
It is no coincidence that ARK, the White Helmets, Le Mesurier, Mayday Rescue, and de Bretton-Gordon would each play a fundamental role in the propaganda operation that sold the Douma incident to the world – and the subsequent sabotage of the OPCW probe into what happened.
It is no coincidence that ARK, the White Helmets, Le Mesurier, Mayday Rescue, and de Bretton-Gordon would each play a fundamental role in the propaganda operation that sold the Douma incident to the world – and the subsequent sabotage of the OPCW probe into what happened.
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