What the hell is going on in Syria? Men, women, and worst of all children are being slaughtered left and right. I read one article that said “they killed entire families, from parents on down to children, but they focused on the children.” I am usually strongly anti-war, but in this case, I think a regime change is warranted. The only question is who would replace Bashar Assad? If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our constant interfering in the politics of the middle east it’s that the puppet you replace a dictator with can often turn out to be worse than the person who was in power to begin with. Though, in this case, that is hard to imagine.
Now, I don’t know what plans the US government has towards Syria. They may choose not to get involved, because, let’s face it, starting a war in the country would only lead to countless deaths. And I think we’ve already meddled in their affairs enough (we supported a coup of their country in 1949). But as I’ve already discussed, people are already dying in horrific numbers.
Yes, there have been UN observers sent to the country. They can’t do much if Assad stops the killing while they are around, and then resumes once they leave, though. So one of the only possible answers I can see is to increase the amount of observers in country. This won’t stop all the killing, but it might make Assad a bit more hesitant about indiscriminately killing people while they’re around.
Even Russia, one of Syria’s staunchest allies has recently (sort of) condemned the mass killings in Houla, saying that the Syrian government was at least partly to blame for one of the deadliest events in the 15 month uprising. Just partly? Really, Russia? Yeah, I guess the rebels share some of the responsibility. But can you blame them? If I was being constantly bombed and shelled, I would sure as shit would be uprising too! The Syrian government has brought down apartment buildings right on top of the people living in them.
I can only hope that the Syrian government starts to have a little more respect for humanity, but barring that, at least respect for international law, which forbids pretty much everything they have been doing over the past year and a half.
The photo at the top of this entry is Syrian protesters burning tires and waving independence flags during an anti-regime demonstration on February 4, 2012 (AFP Photo / HO / LCC Syria)
