An article from Robert Fisk, a veteran news reporter on the middle-east, reveals the absurdity of the arming of “good” rebels that is now being proposed by Obama and eagerly endorsed Cameron who is inconveniently fettered by an EU policy that presently forbids supplying weapons.
“....weapons are not just guns. They are currency. They are money. They are saleable commodities the moment you send them across any border. Their value in US dollars, pounds sterling, Syrian pounds or Qatari dinars is infinitely more important than their use in battle. The Western powers are dangerously close to flooding Syria with weapons and ammunition which will officially go to the nice rebels – but will quickly pass to the horrid rebels, who will sell some of them to al-Qa’ida, Iraqi insurgents, Syrian government troops, Malian militiamen, Taliban fighters and Pakistani hitmen. Guns are about money.”
In the Western media, the mantra rarely changes. The Assad regime has "killed 80,000 of his own people" or whatever statistic is used. The entire death toll is blamed on one side in a ferocious bloody civil war where both combatants have access to extensive weaponry. However, the Qatari-funded, pro-rebel Syrian Observatory has said “the confirmed toll included 25,040 Syrian soldiers and security personnel, and 17,107 pro-Assad militiamen." We are talking about 42,147 Syrians dead--and that is when the death toll was 80,000. So by that count, the armed opposition killed more than half of those killed in Syria. Note that in every war civilians are killed: so if the armed opposition managed to kill over 40,000 armed Syrians, it is logical to wonder how many more thousands of Syrian civilians were killed by the armed opposition especially that some Western organization had to grudgingly admit that massacres were perpetrated by the armed opposition. So by this count, using figures by the Syrian Observatory, it is possible to maintain that the armed opposition managed to kill more Syrians than the brutal Syrian regime itself.
In regards to the use of chemical weapons, the American government now “confirms” its limited use by the Syrian government and are once again a conclusion enthusiastically seconded by Cameron . We are well to remember that Colin Powell’s and Tony Blair‘s “confirmations” of Iraq’s possession of WMDs.
So what is actually known about the use? What used to be reported "varying degrees of confidence" is now "high confidence." Those infamous “unidentified spokespersons” and “unnamed intelligence sources” say the United States has acquired blood, urine and hair samples from two Syrian rebels–one dead and one wounded–who were in a firefight with Syrian government forces in mid-March northeast of Damascus. The samples showed that the rebels were exposed to sarin. But it is unclear how much evidence exists – because we are apparently not being allowed to see it.
Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Vladimir Putin, said U.S. officials had briefed Russia on the allegations against Assad. "But I will say frankly that what was presented to us by the Americans does not look convincing," he said. "It would be hard even to call them facts."
War is brutal and it is dehumanising and the majority of victims will always be the innocent unarmed civilians. Eating the hearts of prisoners and slitting the throats of children should not surprise anyone. Nor should we expect that the atrocities are to be committed solely by one side and not the other.
Our peace proposal is simple and involves no partisanship or bias towards either side in the conflict. Cease fighting and stop spilling blood for those who share not a shred of concern for your welfare and who for their own vested interests want warfare.
“....weapons are not just guns. They are currency. They are money. They are saleable commodities the moment you send them across any border. Their value in US dollars, pounds sterling, Syrian pounds or Qatari dinars is infinitely more important than their use in battle. The Western powers are dangerously close to flooding Syria with weapons and ammunition which will officially go to the nice rebels – but will quickly pass to the horrid rebels, who will sell some of them to al-Qa’ida, Iraqi insurgents, Syrian government troops, Malian militiamen, Taliban fighters and Pakistani hitmen. Guns are about money.”
In the Western media, the mantra rarely changes. The Assad regime has "killed 80,000 of his own people" or whatever statistic is used. The entire death toll is blamed on one side in a ferocious bloody civil war where both combatants have access to extensive weaponry. However, the Qatari-funded, pro-rebel Syrian Observatory has said “the confirmed toll included 25,040 Syrian soldiers and security personnel, and 17,107 pro-Assad militiamen." We are talking about 42,147 Syrians dead--and that is when the death toll was 80,000. So by that count, the armed opposition killed more than half of those killed in Syria. Note that in every war civilians are killed: so if the armed opposition managed to kill over 40,000 armed Syrians, it is logical to wonder how many more thousands of Syrian civilians were killed by the armed opposition especially that some Western organization had to grudgingly admit that massacres were perpetrated by the armed opposition. So by this count, using figures by the Syrian Observatory, it is possible to maintain that the armed opposition managed to kill more Syrians than the brutal Syrian regime itself.
In regards to the use of chemical weapons, the American government now “confirms” its limited use by the Syrian government and are once again a conclusion enthusiastically seconded by Cameron . We are well to remember that Colin Powell’s and Tony Blair‘s “confirmations” of Iraq’s possession of WMDs.
So what is actually known about the use? What used to be reported "varying degrees of confidence" is now "high confidence." Those infamous “unidentified spokespersons” and “unnamed intelligence sources” say the United States has acquired blood, urine and hair samples from two Syrian rebels–one dead and one wounded–who were in a firefight with Syrian government forces in mid-March northeast of Damascus. The samples showed that the rebels were exposed to sarin. But it is unclear how much evidence exists – because we are apparently not being allowed to see it.
Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Vladimir Putin, said U.S. officials had briefed Russia on the allegations against Assad. "But I will say frankly that what was presented to us by the Americans does not look convincing," he said. "It would be hard even to call them facts."
War is brutal and it is dehumanising and the majority of victims will always be the innocent unarmed civilians. Eating the hearts of prisoners and slitting the throats of children should not surprise anyone. Nor should we expect that the atrocities are to be committed solely by one side and not the other.
Our peace proposal is simple and involves no partisanship or bias towards either side in the conflict. Cease fighting and stop spilling blood for those who share not a shred of concern for your welfare and who for their own vested interests want warfare.
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