Syria

[AberdeenBud]

I don't. But to dress it up as "popular rebels" v evil dictator is worse.

I'm not, I'm saying that's how it began. It clearly isn't now.

eta - I don't think Assad is an 'evil dictator', merely the front man for a brutal and repressive regime.

[garethbalesstupidface]

thats not how it began though thats the point, thats what our government wants to portray, that doesnt mean its true.

[AberdeenBud]

nobody said it was assad good rebels bad, its assad supported by more of the people than the rebels, assad quite bad rebels effin mental and as bad as it gets.

In what way is The Assad Regime 'better' than the Rebels? Mental.

[garethbalesstupidface]

you like al qaeda? want them in govt somewhere? or people that eat other peoples hearts and execute children in the street for not being islamic enough? cause thats what the rebels are, assad is definitely the preferable option for the time being.

[AberdeenBud]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Syrian_civil_war_(January%E2%80%93April_2011)#cite_note-17

Swathes of evidence in the reference notes, not going to link hundreds of articles.

[garethbalesstupidface]

swathes of evidence of what exactly?

[AberdeenBud]

you like al qaeda? want them in govt somewhere? or people that eat other peoples hearts and execute children in the street for not being islamic enough? cause thats what the rebels are, assad is definitely the preferable option for the time being.

Terrible stuff.

Yes I love them.

Assad and his backers are brutal chunts of the highest order, as are a large portion of what was the rebellion I imagine.

[garethbalesstupidface]

well they are the ones leading the rebels, yes assad is a brutal dictator, but the rebels are fundamental islamic psychos who want syria to be saudi on crack, they are clearly much worse, and neither is representative of the syrian people.

[welshbairn]

Main thing is, the Bahrain Grand Prix will keep going.

[garethbalesstupidface]

and again if we really cared about humanitarian issues we would boycott that too, but we dont so we dont.

[AberdeenBud]

well they are the ones leading the rebels, yes assad is a brutal dictator, but the rebels are fundamental islamic psychos who want syria to be saudi on crack, they are clearly much worse, and neither is representative of the syrian people.

Clearly much worse than a brutal regime that thinks nothing of slaughtering it's own people?

Clear as mud, like most of this conflict. Oversimplification helps no one.

[garethbalesstupidface]

Clealry much worse than a brutal regime that thinks nothing of slaughtering it's own people?

Clear as mud.

according to the uk and us governments (proven liars with major vested interests in painting them as such) they are, and that is also assuming the rebels in the same position would act with restraint and respect for the law, which they clearly wouldnt, given their actions in opposition.

[AberdeenBud]

according to the uk and us governments (proven liars with major vested interests in painting them as such) they are, and that is also assuming the rebels in the same position would act with restraint and respect for the law, which they clearly wouldnt, given their actions in opposition.

So you don't believe innocent Syrian people have been slaughtered by their own government? Deary me.

[garethbalesstupidface]

for anyone who has been living under a rock there is someone called syrian girl who posts videos on youtube about all of this they are well worth a watch, not just because she is smokin hot.

[AberdeenBud]

THE BEGINNING

Syria was a relative latecomer to the Arab Spring. On March 18, 2011, protesters gathered in the southern city of Daraa after Friday prayers. Angered by the arrest and torture of children who had spray-painted anti-government slogans on a wall in the city the month before, demonstrators voiced demands for greater freedoms and political participation.

The protests did not initially demand the resignation of President Bashar Assad. Instead, they focused on the lack of basic freedoms in the country, the monopoly of the Baath party, Syria's security state apparatus and abuses by the elite, Patrick Seale, author of the book The Struggle For Syria, explains in Foreign Policy. Yet security forces responded brutally, firing live ammunition and tear gas at the crowds and killing several protesters.

As anger over civilian deaths grew and protests spread to other cities, Assad offered a series of concessions -- officials implicated in the violence would be fired, a number of political prisoners would be released, and the country's state of emergency would be lifted. The regime maintained its innocence, however, and claimed that foreign agents were to blame for the unrest.

PROTESTS AND VIOLENCE SPREAD

The spring and summer of 2011 were characterized by a steady stream of protests -- often on Fridays after prayers -- and the Syrian government's subsequent violent response to the gatherings. Security forces cracked down hard in the cities of Homs, Hama, and Latakia.

The violence reached new heights toward the end of 2011 as the conflict appeared to militarize. "You now have on average as many as forty people being killed a day. That's one dynamic; the killing has increased, particularly since the Arab League monitors arrived at the end of December," Council on Foreign Relations Middle East expert Robert M. Damin explained in January 2012.

A growing number of defectors -- loosely organized in the Free Syrian Army -- staged guerrilla attacks against security forces. In December and January, two separate bombs targeting security forces killed dozens in the Syrian capital Damascus.

'MASSACRE' IN HOMS

In February 2012, regime forces launched a brutal assault on the city of Homs and the rebel-held neighborhood of Baba Amr in particular. Bombs and rockets rained down on the city for weeks, killing hundreds of people -- many of them civilians. Government forces eventually retook control of the city, driving the Free Syrian army out. British photographer Paul Conroy described the siege of Homs as a "massacre." Talking to Sky News, Conroy said Syrian forces were "systematic in moving through neighborhoods with munitions that are used for battlefields." He added that "men, women and children" were "cowering in houses" and "beyond shellshock."

The regime's strategic victory in Homs was followed by attacks on the rebel strongholds of Idlib andDaraa. "Shelter is hard to find when mortars take out entire sides of buildings," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught reported from Idlib. "Syrian army tanks and army personel carriers fire randomly and indiscriminately into the streets," she wrote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/syria-crisis-explained_n_1263647.html

[garethbalesstupidface]

So you don't believe innocent Syrian people have been slaughtered by their own government? Deary me.

I didnt say that, though I dont necessarily believe slaughtered is the right term. some have clearly died. why you would automatically believe that because your govt told you so is another matter though.

there are many reports of white westerners carrying out some of these acts of 'slaughter' btw. white westerners as in the cia and mi6, britain has a group of people called the increment, mixture of mi6 and sas operatives, they are allegedly killing syrian civilians to blame it on assad, large numbers of them, in very brutal fashion. there are many reports of this if you look for them, you just wont find them on the bbc.

why would you blindly believe reports that assad is doing this and dismiss reports that it is actually us?

[AberdeenBud]

Syrian civil war grew out of a popular uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, part of Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East.

http://middleeast.about.com/od/syria/tp/Syrian-Civil-War-Explained.htm

[garethbalesstupidface]

take the 'massacre' in homs, good example. you've not been there, neither have I. lets say that is the legitimate (in as far as a govt that hasnt been democratically elected but does retain sovereignty can be legitimate) putting down of insurrection by the government, painted by western media as a massacre. just hypothetically speaking lets say thats whats really going on. how would you know the truth one way or the other?

who is independent enough to simply report the facts? its not our media, and its not theirs. so why do you take the word of our media as gospel? have we not lied enough yet to bring some doubt into your mind? iraq? gulf of tonkin?

[AberdeenBud]

I didnt say that, though I dont necessarily believe slaughtered is the right term. some have clearly died. why you would automatically believe that because your govt told you so is another matter though.

there are many reports of white westerners carrying out some of these acts of 'slaughter' btw. white westerners as in the cia and mi6, britain has a group of people called the increment, mixture of mi6 and sas operatives, they are allegedly killing syrian civilians to blame it on assad, large numbers of them, in very brutal fashion. there are many reports of this if you look for them, you just wont find them on the bbc.

why would you blindly believe reports that assad is doing this and dismiss reports that it is actually us?

Where will I find them, on David Icke's website?

What is the correct term if not slaughtered then? Butchered? Murdered by the state for protesting?

[garethbalesstupidface]

Syrian civil war grew out of a popular uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, part of Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East.

http://middleeast.about.com/od/syria/tp/Syrian-Civil-War-Explained.htm

but we already have an opinion poll showing the uprising isnt 'popular' at all. just cause you have a media outlet, doubtless with its own agenda, saying that it was that doesn't prove anything, and isnt nearly as valid as an opinion poll carried out by a nation with a vested interest in saying that it was, showing that it wasnt.

this is my point, believe nothing you are told over syria, look for your own information and make balanced judgements,