Syria nerve gas claims undermined by eyewitness accounts

[pampango]

10. Russians have to be a part of the investigation team. Russia will not support any Security Council

action if their experts have been excluded from the investigation. Their experts may be unbiased or they may not (you could say that about everyone) but their take on the evidence will be crucial to the value of the findings.

If they agree with the others (one way or the other) that will increase the weight of the findings. If they or the other experts determine that chemical weapons were not used (whatever political motivations we may read into any camp's opinion), the UN is not going to authorize any involvement. OTOH, if Russian experts are somehow excluded from the investigation, it is a pretty safe bet that Russia will not endorse any official findings and will continue to block UN action.

The Syrian opposition is going to have to relent on this. Just as the Syrian government is going to have to relent on allowing UN investigators into the country.