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| Ander Nieuws week 26 / Midden-Oosten 2012 |
 
 
 
Syria not alone in killing civilians

 
The Chronicle Herald
June 11, 2012
Scott Taylor
 
As the violence intensifies and Syria hurtles ever closer to a full-out civil war, the usual suspects in the western media are beating the war drums and demanding a military intervention.
 
Spurring on the editorial comments calling for immediate air strikes in support of the Syrian rebels and political cartoons depicting Syrian, Russian and Chinese officials dancing on a mound of dead Syrian civilians are comments from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claiming that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is "doubling down on brutality."
 
This callous pop culture quip from Clinton came in the wake of two recent massacres of Syrian civilians. The first occurred on June 1 in the contested city of Houla, in which it was estimated 108 people were killed, with at least 49 being women and children. The second slaughter took place in the village of Mazraat al-Qubeir on Wednesday, with up to 78 people reportedly killed.
 
Those attempting to closely monitor the daily events in Syria have long since recognized that with the absence of any international media and just a relative handful of UN observers there exists an almost complete information vacuum.
 
While no one is denying the fact that civilians were killed in the two recent massacres, both sides are denying responsibility. Those in the rebel camp claim it was pro-Assad paramilitary thugs who committed the atrocities. The Assad regime maintains that it was the act of terrorists seeking to provoke the west into a military intervention on the side of the rebels.
 
To give credibility to the rebels' version, Britain's Daily Telegraph has posted a video clip on its website entitled "Syria: Houla massacre captured on amateur video." The descriptive caption advises viewers that these are "horrifying images in an amateur video uploaded to a social media website believed to show the massacre in Houla, Syria, where one hundred people were killed."
 
Anxious to see some first-hand verification of the rebels' allegations, I watched the entire clip. The extremely grainy and jumpy footage depicts an explosion, a resulting dust cloud, some screaming and someone shouting "Allah Akbar!" (God is great.)
 
The shaky phone camera then moves to a blurry image of a man on the ground bleeding from what appears to be a leg wound. There is more shouting, more Allah Akbar cries, and it appears that the wounded or dead individual is placed in the back seat of a car that speeds away.
 
Not that I am a snuff flick enthusiast but that raw - and did I mention, incredibly blurry - footage in no way depicts what the Telegraph claims. At most, it illustrates a case of collateral damage in a contested city involving a single military-aged male.
 
Regardless of who is responsible for the deaths, Assad is being held accountable by western leaders for his failure to halt the massacres.
 
British Prime Minister David Cameron has decried the Assad regime as "illegitimate" because it is using force to suppress rebel forces.
 
Unsurprisingly, Canada's own bellicose minister of foreign affairs, John Baird, has not only expelled the Syrian diplomats from their Ottawa Embassy but continues to bellow "Assad must go!" at every opportunity.
 
Unfortunately for those western leaders eager to denounce Assad for his complicity in the death of innocent civilians, last Wednesday an errant NATO airstrike in Afghanistan served to blow them off their moral high ground.
 
It was reported that 18 Afghan civilians - women, children and village elders - were killed in a misdirected air strike in Logar province. At first, NATO officials denied any civilian casualties, but as the evidence mounted, an apology was offered along with a promise of compensation for the families of the victims.
 
Since the U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan began, there have been numerous cases of western forces inflicting "collateral damage" on Afghan civilians. Although it is difficult to ascertain exact figures, it is believed that between 12,500 and 14,700 innocent Afghans have died in the fighting between NATO troops and insurgents. The latest UN report cites 2011 as the deadliest year to date in the Afghan conflict, and 2012 is on target to see even more bloodshed.
 
The difference, of course, is that while Assad's security forces are propping up their own corrupt and hated regime, the NATO force is propping up the corrupt and hated regime of President Hamid Karzai.
 
Oh yeah, and we apologize for killing civilians.
 
Scott Taylor is editor of Esprit de Corps.
 
© 2012 The Chronicle Herald
 
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| Ander Nieuws week 26 / Midden-Oosten 2012 |