There is absolutely no exoneration for either Russia OR Obama OR Assad in this. All bear moral responsibility.
The term "false flag" is getting tossed around without much precision attached. And while I do understand an immediate attribution to malice (and can go there myself), there is always the element of incompetence to consider.
I quite agree! Detest the term false flag (and fake news, for that matter), since it means so many different things. It's not precise.
However (and since you know me, you knew that was coming
) here we have two main conflicting narratives.
1/ Assad (or possibly Russia on Assad's behalf) gassed his own people. In support of this we have radar tracks of aircraft, infra red signatures of the bombs being dropped, lack of sufficient high explosive damage at the target site, photos taken in the aftermath of the tomahawking of the airbase that clearly show binary agent munitions, and every indication, including his own words prior to the gassing, that President Trump would do absolutely nothing in response to it.
2/ ISIS did it to make Assad look bad and provoke Trump into responding. In support of this we have "Why would Assad gas his own people?" and "ISIS have used gas before to stage events." That's it.
Of those two - which do you think is more likely, based on the evidence?
