Thanks for this deep dive @jasonliberty!
There's plenty of instances where false flags are used as a pretext for intervention, invasion and war. The Douma gas attacks follow this pattern.

Yet as far as I was able to ascertain, the only actual evidence Harkin was relying upon to support his conclusion (apart from the inconclusive interim OPCW report), was one anonymous witness who said he had smelled chlorine in the street and that “about 50” people had died, along with the professional opinion of Theodore Postel, the analyst who had discredited the White House reports on Syria chemical attacks in 2013 and 2017, who felt certain upon analyzing the photographs of the two yellow canisters that they had been canisters filled with chlorine, dropped by an aircraft. These two canisters are central pieces of evidence – Douma's “smoking gun” as Harkin put it – and the entire western narrative hangs on them having been dropped by an aircraft.

The evidence supporting the prevailing western narrative is flimsy at best. Unfortunately, the news cycle moves so fast and the agenda is set so that evidence refuting the official narrative is simply ignored by institutional media outlets.

One thing is certain, the White Helmets staged at least one of the major propaganda videos used to sell the chemical weapons attack narrative.

The origins of the White Helmets and their activity within Syria is very shady as reporters Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley have covered extensively - on the ground. The White Helmets are a western created propaganda construct with the goal of producing western intervention and regime change in Syria.

Thanks and we're looking forward to the second part of your article!