Editor’s note: This video includes graphic content
Gruesome videos depicting dozens of Syrians killed in what appears to be the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack were obtained by NBC News Saturday. The same graphic footage was shown to lawmakers during a classified briefing this week to bolster the Obama administration’s case for military intervention in Syria.
“We have identified one hundred videos attributed to the attack, many of which show large numbers of bodies exhibiting physical signs consistent with, but not unique to, nerve agent exposure,” a U.S. intel assessment of the videos found. NBC could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
Earlier this week, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, asked the CIA to prepare a DVD of the “horrendous” footage to be potentially distributed to her colleagues in Congress. The Obama administration is in the midst of an aggressive lobbying effort to garner congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria. U.S. officials assert that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad carried out a chemical attack against his own people, killing more than 1,400 people, including over 400 children.
President Obama returned to Washington Friday after making his case abroad that it was in the international community’s interest to strike against Assad’s regime. He is continuing his campaign for military intervention by taking it to the American public with a scheduled address from the White House Tuesday, as well as a media blitz with major network and cable interviews Monday.
Amanda Sakuma