Real Oppression In Syria; Speak Out, Your City Gets Shelled

by: Bill Egnor AKA Something The Dog Said

Thu May 12, 2011 at 07:10:40 AM MST

There is a lot of talk on the Right about the tyranny of the government. There is this meme that we are oppressed here in the United States and that we must be ready to "rise up" an "take back our nation". This kind of talk always makes me mad. The reason is that it is complete and utter BS.

Let me show you what oppression is like. I know that people have not been watching it very carefully, but what oppression looks like is Syria. In the last two months there have been protests there. What do the protesters want? More services in the cities and countryside that is not near the capital Damascus. They want to have some voice in who runs the country. That's it.

What has happened? Well more than three cities have been shelled. Saying shelled is not very descriptive because almost none of us have ever been near artillery, yet alone on the receiving end. A tank or artillery shell makes a ripping noise as it flies through the air. It is distinctive and it add to the fear because when it lands there a huge explosion. As in walls of building collapsing.

If you are out side near this, you pretty much die. If you are a little further away you are in danger of shrapnel from the shell and from debris of whatever it hits. The pressure wave can knock you down, and will certainly leave you disoriented and your ears ringing.

These are weapons designed to be used against other armor and artillery, yet the Syrian government is using them against its people, the civilian people.

This is not the first time that there has been as massive repression of the Syrian people by force. Back in 1982 the city of Hama rose up in a revolution. By the end of the fighting there were between 20,000 and 40,000 people killed. The Syrian government used aerial bombing and tanks. They then surrounded the city and shelled it for three weeks.  

Meanwhile, In Syria: Mass Resignations By Ba'ath Party Officials

by: Bill Egnor AKA Something The Dog Said

Thu Apr 28, 2011 at 06:50:35 AM MST

Over the last few days tanks have been deployed in Deraa and other cities inside Syria. The various security forces have opened fire with live ammunition on protesters with more than 400 reported dead. It is hard to know exactly what is going on in Syria as the Assad government had expelled all foreign journalists. However in the days of the internet reports and video are leaking out.

Today there is a major development. The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that 400 members of the Ba'ath Party have resigned the government and the party over the killing and oppression of the protesters. Here are excerpts from two of the mass resignation letters:

From the Deraa officials:

"In view of the negative stance taken by the leadership of the Arab Socialist Baath Party towards the events in Syria and in Deraa, and after the death of hundreds and the wounding of thousands at the hands of the various security forces, we submit our collective resignation."

From officials in Banias:

"Considering the breakdown of values and emblems that we were instilled with by the party and which were destroyed at the hand of the security forces ... we announce our withdrawal from the party without regret,"

Syrian Cabinet To Resign! Assad Attempts To Appease Protesters

by: Bill Egnor AKA Something The Dog Said

Tue Mar 29, 2011 at 06:32:03 AM MST

With an active war in which the US, NATO and other nations participating raging in Libya it is easy to get distracted from the other prodemocracy protests happening in the world. One place in particular that is of great interest but not very much reporting is Syria.

The Baathist Party of the Assad family has ruled this Mediterranean nation since 1963 with Hafez Assad ruling from 1970 until his son Bashar took over after his death in 2000. Al Jazeera is reporting that today that the Cabinet is likely to resign and there will be some kinds of reform implemented.  

These reforms come in response the continued and growing protests in Syria. Like Egypt Syria had been under and emergency law that allowed the government to basically suppress dissent with impunity. There are closed courts, a ban on public gatherings, restrictions on the press and political parties other than the Baath Party.

This regime has long used these powers to keep a very tight lid on its control of the nation, but the so-called Arab Spring seems to have arrived there as well. Over the last month or so protesters have gone to the streets demanding change like they see in Tunisia and Egypt. Even when security forces have fired on the crowds with live ammunition, they not only kept coming out and protesting but have grown in size.

All this presents a very difficult position for Assad and his party. They can try to crack down on the protesters even more aggressively, after all the amount of confirmed news that comes out of Syria other than its state run media is small and they could stonewall. This, of course, risks going the route of Libya and to some extent Yemen, with the possibility of Generals and other members of the government defecting and perhaps an all out civil war.  

No Accountability For Rendition In US, But Maybe In Canada

by: Bill Egnor AKA Something The Dog Said

Tue Jun 15, 2010 at 05:38:35 AM MST

On Monday the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of one such innocent victim of torture, Mr. Maher Arar, a Syrian born Canadian citizen. In 2002 he was returning to Canada from a trip abroad. At a stop over at JFK Airport he was detained by the US Government and held in solitary confinement for two weeks without access to an attorney. Mr. Arar was then deported, not to his nation of citizenship, Canada but, to Syria and put in the hands of the Syrian intelligence services, who are well known for their torture activities.