CNN: Obama Admin. Using These Gruesome Videos of Alleged Chemical Attack to Push for Syrian Military Action

Editor's note: The video and images in this post may be disturbing to some readers.

CNN has obtained 13 videos that the Obama administration reportedly has told the Senate Intelligence Committee depict gruesome scenes of an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria — and the White House is using the videos to make the case for a limited military attack on forces under President Bashar al-Assad, CNN says.

(Credit: CNN)

(Credit: CNN)

(Credit: CNN)

Many of the videos have been posted on the Internet before, but CNN's Jake Tapper reports that this collection is significant because the intelligence community has given it a stamp of authenticity.

CNN airs portions of six videos of the 13 it says it obtained.

More from CNN:

One video shows a room with enough children to fill a classroom, but they are arranged on the ground, the bright colors of their shirts -- red, yellow, green, purple, blue -- contrasting the paleness of their dead bodies. There were dead adults placed in this space, too. The video captures at least six rows of adults with no less than four bodies each.

Sheets and blankets cover some of the bodies.

In another video, a man uses a manual resuscitator on a toddler, who appears motionless. Another man comes with a bottled water and the men together try to rinse the small boy's face. It looks like the boy's chest moves, but his arms remain pinned to his side like a soldier at attention.

CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the videos. But officials have a number of reasons as to why they believe they are authentic.

Here's the CNN report from Jake Tapper:

This post has been updated.

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