Blood on the Streets, the Town of Damascus

“Sixty percent of Syrian society is less than 24 years old, and they want to be part of drawing and designing their future.”

Syria is one of the most deeply demented countries not only in the Middle East but in the world.  It has been operating under a government-ordered, freedom-curtailing “State of Emergency” for decades.  Decades.  The people there are long overdue for a change and the opportunity to live in a free society.  The terrorist-sponsoring family dictatorship “business” – and yes, the ruling of these countries is absolutely a business for all of these despots – needs to go.

The people are waking up.  Yesterday they held protests across the country.  And the animals in the Syrian military fired on them, several are dead now.

From the New York Times:

Human rights groups said that since protests began seven days ago in the south, 38 people had been killed by government forces — and it appeared that many more were killed on Friday.

The new round of protests and bloodshed came one day after the Syrian government tried to appease an increasingly angry popular revolt with talk of improved political freedoms and promises of restraint.

Instead, it unleashed its forces, firing on peaceful demonstrators in and near Dara’a, according to a witness. There were reports of security forces firing on civilians in cities around the country, as well. For the first time since the protests began, crowds called for the downfall of the government and in one instance tore down a billboard-size photo of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

What kept the Egyptian Army out of the protest clashes and on the sidelines maintaining order was the fact that Egypt’s highest-ranking and most respected officers have mostly received their training in the United States.  They went to Army colleges in the US.  These Egyptian officers were fed an educational diet that consisted of concepts like civilian control of the army and democracy.  Mubarak and the previous generation of Egyptian military leaders were trained by the Soviets, but that more brutal generation is no longer calling the shots.

American training and ideals have been a key reason for the Egyptian army’s restraint.  This is why the Islamo-fascists weren’t able to co-opt the protest and why Mubarak didn’t dare unleash his Interior Ministry police on the people – the army was watching.

In Syria, there is no such check on Al-Asad.  He is a puppet of more brutal powers in the region and clearly a sick bastard to have ordered gunfire on civilians.  I hope this episode ends with his being dragged through the streets.

Source:

Syrian Troops Open Fire On Protesters in Several Cities (NYT)

See Also:

YouTube video of the bodies in the aftermath