Syria murders women and children

[Bruce]

I heard this on the news on the way home today.

http://baltimoretimes-online.com/index. ... Itemid=503

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad went on a systematic killing spree, murdering at least 108 people. Most shockingly, the killers targeted women and children. A United Nations representative said the victims included 49 children who were younger than 10. The al-Assad regime denied it carried out the atrocities, but U.N. officials said they saw clear evidence that the Syrian government was involved in the attacks.

You know shit is getting serious when the UN is acknowledging murders in a Middle Eastern country.

As the death toll rises, the United States, the West and the rest of the world are feeling renewed pressure to take action. The Syrian opposition and some in the region have called for intervention, but few are inclined to step in.

So, do you think Obama will have the balls to send it troops during an election year?

Maybe the troops coming back from Afghanistan can stop by Syria on the way...

[Anaxagoras]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/2 ... ?ref=world

AMMAN, Jordan -- A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as "human slaughterhouses," saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night.

Salameh Kaileh, 56, was arrested April 24 on suspicion of printing leaflets calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is fighting a 15-month-old uprising against his rule. Kaileh's story offers a rare inside glimpse into the conditions faced by detainees held by the country's feared security services.

"It was hell on earth," Kaileh told The Associated Press on Sunday, nearly a week after Syrian forces released him and deported him to Jordan. Speaking at his friend's home in an Amman suburb, Kaileh had bluish-red bruises on his legs, which he said were the result of beatings with wooden batons that were studded with pins and nails.

"I felt I was going to die under the brutal, savage and continuous beating of the interrogators, who tied me to ropes hung from the ceiling," said Kaileh, a soft-spoken man with a shock of white hair who appeared frail, barely able to stand on his feet.

Born in Birzeit, West Bank, Kaileh has suffered under the regime in Damascus before. He was imprisoned by the Syrian government in 1992 for eight years because of his alleged links to underground Syrian communist and leftist opposition groups. A well-known leftist, he has written books on subjects ranging from Marxism to Arab nationalism.

This time, he was held in at least four detention centers after security forces arrested him at his home in Damascus, the Syrian capital where he's lived for more than 30 years.

Kaileh denied printing the leaflets, which he said angered the regime because they read: "For Palestine to be free, Syria's regime has to fall."

Syria often has touted its support of the Palestinian cause to boost its credentials as a bastion of Arab nationalism.

At night, he said he heard other prisoners "cry and scream while they were beaten."

Days later, Kaileh said he was admitted to a government hospital to treat his leg wounds. There, the conditions were "worse than in the detention centers."

He said he was squeezed into a small room with 30 other prisoners, mostly activists who allegedly participated in anti-government protests.

"The room was barely enough to accommodate five people," he said. "It was filled with body stench, dirt, urine and stool. Two people shared small beds and were tied to them, the food was lousy and we couldn't eat properly because our hands and feet were handcuffed day and night."

"We were not allowed to go to the restroom," he said. "Still, we were beaten if we urinated in our sleep."

[Grammatron]

So, do you think Obama will have the balls to send it troops during an election year?

You know not what you ask.

[Rob Lister]

So, do you think Obama will have the balls to send it troops during an election year?

Maybe the troops coming back from Afghanistan can stop by Syria on the way...

Well, I'm already not voting for him so I doubt I'll be not voting for him more if we send American troops in. I do not see an up side to it.

I'm all for Iraq, Turkey, or Jordan sending in their troops. I wish them luck.

[Bruce]

I'm all for Iraq, Turkey, or Jordan sending in their troops. I wish them luck.

But that would mean their own weapons would be used against them..........oh.......right.....

[Abdul Alhazred]

It's completely in character for Bashar Assad to kill women and children, just like his father before him.

How come these news people just noticed? Maybe it's because now is when they want a war?

Remember the Maine!

[Abdul Alhazred]

BTW, the Assad family are Alawi.

Let's depose these heretics and get some Real Muslims^TM instead.

[Bruce]

Maybe it's because now is when they want a war?

The war on drugs has failed, the 9/11 reruns are getting stale, and the war on high fructose corn syrup isn't taking off quite as much as planned. Can you blame them?

[hammegk]

Obama doesn't want to piss off Iran by attacking their ally.

[corplinx]

Obama doesn't want to piss off Iran by attacking their ally.

As opposed to the industrial sabotage he directed at Iran via stuxnet? (btw, more Change You Can Believe In)

[Rob Lister]

It's completely in character for Bashar Assad to kill women and children, just like his father before him.

How come these news people just noticed? Maybe it's because now is when they want a war?

Remember the Maine!

The atrocities are trivial compared to many other places that never seem to make the news.

If we are to do invasion and nation building, it should be Risk! based. As in, the board game Risk!. As such, we should start with Mexico.

[hammegk]

Obama doesn't want to piss off Iran by attacking their ally.

As opposed to the industrial sabotage he directed at Iran via stuxnet? (btw, more Change You Can Believe In)

I'd like to see evidence the US and/or Israel is behind it, but yes I could believe it.

[gnome]

The atrocities are trivial compared to many other places that never seem to make the news.

If we are to do invasion and nation building, it should be Risk! based. As in, the board game Risk!. As such, we should start with Mexico.

Hell no, Australia and Indonesia, duh!

[Rob Lister]

The atrocities are trivial compared to many other places that never seem to make the news.

If we are to do invasion and nation building, it should be Risk! based. As in, the board game Risk!. As such, we should start with Mexico.

Hell no, Australia and Indonesia, duh!

you can't get there from here.

[Bruce]

The atrocities are trivial compared to many other places that never seem to make the news.

If we are to do invasion and nation building, it should be Risk! based. As in, the board game Risk!. As such, we should start with Mexico.

Hell no, Australia and Indonesia, duh!

Beat me to it.

That was the strategy I used every time, and nearly won every time. My buds would compete heavily with each other while I would build up in Australia and then clean up the board.

Mexico and Brazil were usually the last strongholds.

[Rob Lister]

Obama doesn't want to piss off Iran by attacking their ally.

As opposed to the industrial sabotage he directed at Iran via stuxnet? (btw, more Change You Can Believe In)

I'd like to see evidence the US and/or Israel is behind it, but yes I could believe it.

I too missed the press release wherein the US and Israel took credit. By coincidence though, I ran across this article wherein everyone else seems to think our/their involvement is a foregone conclusion.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mi ... /?p1=blogs

The list of ways that STUXNET code originally developed by the US and Israel is being widely distributed, learned from and exploited goes on, and the full Data Center Pro post is worth reading if you want to understand how these attacks might eventually be carried out on the data centers on which the Internet and our financial infrastructure depends.

Further, the article paints a pretty dire picture of the fallout from the [unintended] release of this worm; hackers without any sort of nation/state backing are developing their own versions and having more than a little success in its rather wide distribution (i.e. your computer and possibly mine too).

[ed]

It's completely in character for Bashar Assad to kill women and children, just like his father before him.

How come these news people just noticed? Maybe it's because now is when they want a war?

Remember the Maine!

The atrocities are trivial compared to many other places that never seem to make the news.

you mean africa? that is simply their nature and it would be racist to criticize.

[Cool Hand]

Yeah, Rwanda in 1994 is the biggest piece of evidence damning Western indifference and inaction. Hell, practically the whole UN pulled out their forces there at the very moment the people of Rwanda needed them most. We left them defenseless against the murderous, genocidal warlords and sat back and watched nearly a million people die in a couple of months, and many more millions flee their homes and friends and families as refugees. It's one of the most shameful episodes of global inaction in recent modern history.

CH

[Rob Lister]

It's completely in character for Bashar Assad to kill women and children, just like his father before him.

How come these news people just noticed? Maybe it's because now is when they want a war?

Remember the Maine!

The atrocities are trivial compared to many other places that never seem to make the news.

you mean africa? that is simply their nature and it would be racist to criticize.

Not necessarily. If I can wax serious for a moment (though I know it is not generally in my nature), I think that if we, as a nation, decide to intervene in the political and criminal affairs of other nations that are not actively pursuing aggression against us or our interests, then we ought to clean up our own neighborhoods first.

Here I'll link to the first article I found by googling the terms ==atrocities Mexico==. It is more random than sought. Feel free to find others.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/05/13/wo ... s-drug-war
50,000 men, women and children...and counting. This is only what has been 'reported'. The unreported, undiscovered monstrosities are probably five or ten times that number.

This matters. This is in our neighborhood. This is in our national security interests. This doesn't require long lines of logistics, lengthy deployments or worse, distasteful military right-of-way alliances with unsavory border nations like Pakistan (unless you consider Texas unsavory).

Mind you, I'm not demanding we should get involved there, I'm saying that if we are to be involved anywhere, that should be our first objective. Let those nearer (geographically, culturally and politically) areas of the world deal with their own neighbor nightmares.

And once we have Mexico straightened out, they can move south on their own, should they so choose. That should keep us busy for the next 50 years.

[DrMatt]

How long before Syria blames Israel for the killings?

[Nyarlathotep]

How long before Syria blames Israel for the killings?

Well, the news I was reading the other day already said that Assad is determined to find out what 'monsters' would do such a thing. Isreal would make a good scapegoat for that, though my favorite suspect is the One Armed Man "real killer" that OJ was pursuing through every golf course in California until he got arrested again.

[Bruce]

How long before Syria blames Israel for the killings?

Well, the news I was reading the other day already said that Assad is determined to find out what 'monsters' would do such a thing. Isreal would make a good scapegoat for that, though my favorite suspect is the One Armed Man "real killer" that OJ was pursuing through every golf course in California until he got arrested again.

Did anyone check to see what Zimmerman was doing at the time? Anyone? He's already murdered one child after all...

[DrMatt]

BTW, the Assad family are Alawit.

Let's depose this heretical spread and get a Real shmeer^TM instead.

[Abdul Alhazred]

BTW, the Assad family are Alawit.

Let's depose this heretical spread and get a Real shmeer^TM instead.

Epicurean!

[Bruce]

Every time I hear the term "sectarian violence", I think of long-nailed business administration assistants launching paper weights at each other.

[Nyarlathotep]

Every time I hear the term "sectarian violence", I think of long-nailed business administration assistants launching paper weights at each other.

I see what you did there.

[Rob Lister]

So, do you think Obama will have the balls to send it troops during an election year?

Maybe the troops coming back from Afghanistan can stop by Syria on the way...

Well, I'm already not voting for him so I doubt I'll be not voting for him more if we send American troops in. I do not see an up side to it.

I'm all for Iraq, Turkey, or Jordan sending in their troops. I wish them luck.

Seems Turkey has a set.

(Newser) – Syria confirmed this morning that it did shoot down a Turkish F-4 fighter jet yesterday, saying it was flying low and well inside Syrian airspace, reports the BBC. Turkey has not said yet whether it considers the incident provocative, and much could depend on whether the plane's crew survived. Turkey-Syrian relations have deteriorated badly since the Syrian uprising began 15 months ago. But with Turkey being a NATO member, should the shooting down of the Turkish jet be considered an attack, it could ramp up pressure for the West to get militarily involved in Syria, notes the AFP.

So far, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had a measured response to the shooting, promising he would "decisively take the necessary steps" after the facts were clear. But Turkey has already allowed a command center for the Free Syrian Army to be set up in Istanbul, staffed by 22 people who are mostly Syrian nationals, and is helping to funnel a variety of weapons to rebel forces, reports the Guardian. Saudi Arabia has also reportedly offered to pay salaries for the Syrian Free Army, in an attempt to encourage further defections from the Syrian military. In addition, there was a report yesterday of rebels killing 26 government supporters on Thursday, which the Syrian government called a "massacre."