With all the talk of Fallujah, Sabra and Shatilla, Jenin, and other “atrocities”, I thought I would revisit one of the worst massacres in the Middle East, The Syrian Massacre in Hama. when I talk about the deafening silence of Muslim on Muslim violence, this is a prime example. In my time here, I have heard Sharon called a war criminal a thousand times? What about the generals in Syria? Did they not kill Muslims?
The silence is deafening… 10,000 to 25,000 civilians in one town! Far more than Iraq in 2 wars with the US. Yet not a peep from those whose outrage is so loud now…
September 21, 2001
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Hama Rules
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
n February 1982 the secular Syrian government of President Hafez al-Assad faced a mortal threat from Islamic extremists, who sought to topple the Assad regime. How did it respond? President Assad identified the rebellion as emanating from Syria’s fourth-largest city — Hama — and he literally leveled it, pounding the fundamentalist neighborhoods with artillery for days. Once the guns fell silent, he plowed up the rubble and bulldozed it flat, into vast parking lots. Amnesty International estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, were killed in the merciless crackdown. Syria has not had a Muslim extremist problem since.
I visited Hama a few months after it was leveled. The regime actually wanted Syrians to go see it, to contemplate Hama’s silence and to reflect on its meaning. I wrote afterward, “The whole town looked as though a tornado had swept back and forth over it for a week — but this was not the work of mother nature.”
It's an attrocity and a shame things have moved no further, the US is poised to level Fallujah as we speak Hama is good example to bring up but who learned from it, certainly not the US or Isreal for that matter...or maybe they did, Hama fell silent didn't it?
OG, I hope you are not trying to defend Sharon for the massacres in Sabra, Shatilla and more recently Jenin. I didnt think Sharon is doing it cos Assad did it back in 1982. Sharon still remains a war criminal, and you can say the same about Assad by the same defintion.
No, I am pointing out the difference. In Fallujah, despite all the hyperbole, as best as I can tell there have been less than a hundred civilian casualties, based on some other threads. In Hama, there were 10,000 to 25,000 civilian casualties! Orders of magnitude difference!
Sabra and Shatilla are not to be minimized. But they are DWARFED by the actions of Syria in this massacre. Yet for all of the "outrage", not a single sole brings this incident up.
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*Originally posted by Ohioguy: *
not a single sole brings this incident up.
[/QUOTE]
sole: 1. Any of various chiefly marine flatfish of the family Soleidae, related to and resembling the flounders, especially any of several European species, such as Solea solea, valued as food fishes.
2. Any of various other flatfish, especially certain coastal flounders.
I dont think soles bring up any political incidents up.
Hafez al-Assad was a Baathist. He is cast from the exact same mould as Saddam Hussain and there is less than a hair's breadth of difference between how low and despicable the two of them are.
The only difference is that the world is still polluted with Saddam Hussain's continued existence, but at least has been cleansed of Hafez Al-Assad.
His son doesn't seem to be quite as brutal, though I'm still pretty suspicious of that heretic.
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*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
and you can say the same about Assad by the same defintion.
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You can, but nobody really does.
Further, in the case of Fallujah and Palestine, negotiable terms are available to prevent uneccesary bloodshed. The insurgents and their mutilation of Americans provided the fuel for the looming conflict. People have been encouraged to evacuate the city. The fight is with the insurgents. But all intents and precautions fall on deaf ears or are twisted on some way to eventually make any action in Palestine or Fallujah "genocidal" , while the Saddams and Assads kill Muslims with impunity.
OG's point was immediately attacked with poor examples of equivocation. So what's left? How to quell Muslim hatred of the U.S. and Israel? Corrupt Muslim dictators snuffing out Muslims who dare to challenge their authority perhaps had the only formula for stability. Offers of democracy? That's a friggin' joke. Why it's "genocidal" for God's sake. Back to the status quo I say. U.S. the hell out of Iraq. Everyone will be happy. No more Muslims will be killed by American soldiers. They'll still die by golly, but it will be a much more palatable death.
My soul (;)) reason for brining this up, is to contrast the approach. For all the nazi-speak around here you would think someone would bring up Syria!. See any reports for Al-Jazeera from Syria? Or Iran for that matter?
You never hear the bullet that kills you. While you all are so hyper-focused on everything done by the US and Israel, you have far worse enemies in your own midst...
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*Originally posted by ravage: *
Is it true that a pakistani general was incharge of this massacre?
I've heard this often, but I've never seen it substantiated.
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No, that was the other massarce in jordan against palestinians. Zia-ul-Haq was a military advisor. I'm sure MS will correct me somehow.
What is it with palestinians and being a pain for every country they live in?