Many of the videos were previously posted on YouTube, but this collection of footage is significant because the intelligence community has given it a stamp of authenticity.

The footage could be vital in the administration’s quest to convince Congress and the American public that the U.S. must launch punitive strikes against Syria, former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson said.

“That video will sensitize the American people that this isn’t just an intervention, that this is a military strike to stop that type of atrocity,” the former congressman told CNN.

While the videos are hard to watch, they do not prove who is responsible for the attack, nor do they provide an answer for whether military strikes are the correct course.