Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
Jo Bashar kr raa hai Na wo acceptable hai
Jo US krne ja raa hai Na wo acceptable hai !
Both are criminals !
Unofficial report k mutabiq Syria mein last 2 years mein Bashar n co. ne abt 1.5 lakh innocent ppl ko maar dia , And US n co. itne hi log sirf 15 days mein maar kr dikha dein gay !
Nuqsaan na apka hai na mera hai , nuqsan tou un innocents ka hai jo in logo ki politix mein marey jaa rey hain aur marey jaein gay !
I m nt defending Bashar , na hi I m defending Qazi America , jis k paas sb kch theek krne ka solution yehi hota hai k wahan jao aur tor phorr shru kr do !
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
Syria, though weak compared to Israel / USA / France, is still strong enough to cause serious hurt to the population of any of its neighbours.
Turkey and Jordan would be vulnerable to having their important cities at best bombed by the Syrian Air Force; at worst Assad has explicitly stated that he would use chemical weapons on any foreign power that tries to attack Syria. If Amman, Istanbul, Ankara were hit with chemical weapons then millions would die.
That is a major discouragement to any neighbouring country that thinks of direct involvement.
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
Assad and his cronies is not a problem. US can take out that murderer and his top ranks in no time. But the main problem is what is gonna happen after Assad is gone. It will create a power vacuum in a dictator ruled country which has no second or third line of leaders.
Those who are asking for a UN panel to investigate, sure we can do it. It will take one year to create a panel, another 6 months to go to syria, ofcourse asad wont let them go to important places and due to its internal politics and limited mandate the panel will give report in another two years. By that time there will be no child left to protect.
UN panel is worse than our police. Remember Bibi’s case?
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
Actually, I did not say that the other side did it. It is possible that Assad did it, looking at his history. What I am saying is that we need to have prove before putting blame.
And no matter how bad he behaved, it does not mean that he should carry every blame even when he is not involved in it. The other side is no angel either. They are as much brutal, if not more. And if the blame of killing Syrians is to be put then it should be on those countries which stoked the fire by supplying weapons and money to the khawarij like Qaeda, the worst of Muslims.
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
No one is defending Assad, we just don’t trust the US. Like khoji mentioned, why would Assad be stupid enough to use chemical weapons and give the US an excuse to intervene? Would Assad want international forces in Syria? Obviously not, he’s winning. Who stands to benefit from the US invading and would they use chemical weapons to give the US an excuse?
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
The “who benefits” logic is weak because it eliminates the possibility of someone taking advantage of a situation.
Who benefitted from Pakistan’s political repression in East Pakistan in 1970-1971? India benefitted the most, because it was able to split Pakistan in half as a result. Does this mean that the political repression carried out by Yahya Khan was nothing but him executing an Indian master plan?
Iran benefitted the most from the US invasion of Iraq, because it ended up getting rid of an Iranian enemy (Saddam) on the country’s border and replacing it with an Iranian puppet goverment (that of Nuri al-Maliki). Does this mean that Iran was behind 9/11, which the US used as an excuse to start drumming up war against Iraq?
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
It’s not that illogical for him to use chemical weapons.
It’s probably not illegal. The Geneva Protocal which Syria agreed to in 1968 only clearly prohibited using chemical weapons against other countries. Usage within your own borders is possibly legal.
Russia and probably China had his back to prevent the UN voting for intervention. Assad could bet that his friends would stop any UN action against Syria.
Assad’s military position is not that strong. Large parts of his military are weak in both capability and resolution - hence the very many defections. Using chemical weapons accomplishes 3 goals with regard to his military
a) Demoralises the rebels - being subject to massive casualties is demoralising
b) Provides a disincentive for further defections - it’s far more tempting to stay on the side that uses rather than suffers from these weapons
c) it’s likely that the chemical weapons were used tactically, to weaken an area so that Sunni troops from the Syrian army could take control easily. Only the Allawi core of the Syrian military is reliable in a pitched fight - the sunni majority are less reliable. Assad’s arm could have been in a difficult spot and chosen to deploy chemical weapons tactically to reverse the local situation
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
These are not very good incentives, especially when Syrian baaghi themselves proclaim to have chemical weapons capability. Free Syrian Army claims chemical weapons capability ? RT News
A prominent member of the Free Syrian Army claims the rebels have all the components to produce chemical weapons and have the know-how to put them together and use if necessary.
The advantage Syria would have gotten from its use is far less than the risks associated. US said earlier that use of chemical weapons is a red line for it, and now Syria doing exactly that is an invitation to directly involve foreigners.
And having said all that, I still don’t understand why you guys are assuming that Assad would do it, and not Syrian rebels?! The rebels are full of extremist mufsideen of Qaeda. And they have proven themselves to be as much brutal and barbaric as Assad, if not more.
Why are you jumping to conclusions?
The link above is from article written in January 2013. Long before this use of chemical weapons. In this old article, they Syrian ambassador to the UN had said that rebels have gotten control of some of Syria’s chemical weapons, and they might use them to malign Syrian government.
Coincidence?
The EU, US and allied nations have repeatedly expressed their concern that the main threat from Syria’s chemical weapons is that they could fall into the hands of terrorists who have infiltrated the ranks of the Syrian rebels.
The concern increased significantly last month after Syria’s United Nations ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, warned that the Syrian opposition might use chemical weapons against innocent civilians after they gained control of “a toxic chlorine factory” east of Aleppo, and try to blame President Assad’s regime.
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
Perhaps a neutral inquisitive mind would appreciate why it is unjustified to blame Assad for the use of these weapons, after reading reports like the one below:
Conflicting claims on Syrian chemical weapons | SBS News
2 SEP 2013 - 7:21PM
The United States, Britain, France and the Arab League all accuse the Syrian government of being responsible for a chemical weapons attack in Syria but are yet to provide any conclusive proof.
Secretary of State John Kerry says the US has evidence the chemical nerve agent sarin was used in last month’s attack.
But as debate over the merits of any military intervention in Syria continues, a report has emerged saying rebels backed by Saudi Arabia were responsible for the attack.
The American online news site, MintPress News, has published a story suggesting Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, has questions to answer over the chemical weapons attack on August the 21st.
Journalists Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh compiled their story based on interviews with doctors, rebel fighters and their families from the district of Ghouta.
Rebels quoted anonymously say Prince Bandar bin Sultan provided the chemical weapons and one suggests the attack was, at least in part, an accident.
“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions.” The article also quotes Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta.
“My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry.”
Re: Gassing Children in a Damascus Neighborhood; Assad must be a Suicidal Maniac!
Who benefits out of the players directly involved is a very valid question. For months both sides were warned that chemical weapons would mean US intervention. Assad is the incumbent. Why would he invite a stronger presence into his country?
As brutal as he is, Assad cares much more about self preservation, which would dictate that he avoid doing anything to put himself in the cross hairs of the US government. I don’t think it is as clear cut as some people are making it out to be. It is just as likely that someone in the Rebels used chemical weapons to incentivize the international community, as it is that Assad used said weapons to suppress the Rebels.
And even if Assad used the weapons, do people really want the US to invade another country? Have we not spent the last decade complaining about exactly that? And even if Assad was removed, there would be a power vacuum which, as we’ve seen, religious fanatics are quick to fill. The proper way to remove Assad is through sanctions and through negotiations with Russia and China to withdraw their support.
