The Syrian massacre....have we got the wrong end of the stick?

[pdq1]

We have got it all wrong. Its not the Syrian government that have been slaugtering its citizens but neighbouring tribes. We have heard it all before in Iraq...the problem lies between the Sunnis and Shias.

So the Sunnis think they can topple the Syrian government who retaliate with big weapons. But the Shias who want the government to stay take it in their own hands to slaughter Sunni women and children.

So is arming these Sunni rebels not creating more problems and a likely civil war?

Source: Channel 4 news tonight!

[sinderella]

and its all in the name of god. what happened to thou shalt not kill?

[DTCwordfan]

read Iran behind it too, they want a Shiite government as to being able to get at the boys with the dreadlocks to the South.....and to pincer Saudi.

[argorstran]

Foreign news media are giving a very different perspective on that massacre .Have a read of this from PressTV (Iranian) - Page down and read some of the comments . It's always worth getting another perspective because all journalists are biased . Anybody's guess as to where the real truth lies .


http://www.presstv.ir...-victims-executed-un/

[Andyvon]

I quite agree with Argostran. Many media agencies happily blame one side or the other for such acts. It's happened for years. The Germans were saddled with the Katyn Woods Massacre until 1989 because it suited the West to do that.

There are two sides to every story an somewhere down the middle hides the truth. The massacre is a terrible thing, but let's be careful when we listen to whatever is spouted on TV. Remember WMDs?

[ichkeria]

Argorstran you are very naive if you think Press tv has it's finger on the pulse of what's happening in Syria. It's no coincidence that both they and Russia Today, mouthpieces for governments which back Assad, pump mis and disinformation about what is happening. The Assad regime employs thugs to do it's dirty work for it and thoroughly exploits tribal and sectarian differences for it's own end, just as Saddam Hussein and later Iran, Syria and Al Qaeda did in Iraq

[naomi24]

Sinderella, //what happened to thou shalt not kill?//

Wrong book.

[emmie]

i was watching a new item the other evening and it gave an insight into the problems in Syria, and it was far more balanced, perhaps not the word i was looking for but it didn't heap blame entirely on Assad and his regime.
You only have to look at Afghanistan to see there are more sides to these conflicts. And that our presence is wanted or needed.

[emmie]

apologies it missed out our presence is NOT wanted or needed, typo

[ichkeria]

There's two separate issues here:
Who's responsible for the violence and
What if anything can/should we do about it

In the first case of course all the violence isn't coming just from the government - there is now a conflict going on, partly sectarian, partly purely political. But the government controls the main armed forces and also controls the Shabiha militia responsible for frightful blood-letting throughout the country. These people take it out on any innocent civilians who happen not to have fled before they arrive to mop up after the government's heavy artillery has "softened them up".
Secondly, it seems wrong, particularly in the light of very recent atrocities, to continue to give to the Syrian regime that they can continue to behave in this way. Safe havens near the Turkish border, say, for civilians, very severe sanctions against Syrian officials at home and abroad, and overwhelming pressure on Russia to cease propping up the child killers (a difficult task the latter one as they don't appear to have any moral compass whatever), even some sort of operation such as a drone-directed operation to prevent or deter the heavy shelling. Because at the moment the Syrian government feels as though it can do as it pleases.
Plainly however arming individual opposition groups would be a very dangerous thing to do, but maybe it will have to come to that.

[argorstran]

Ichkeria , all TV organisations are mouthpieces for the countries they represent including the BBC .
If you believe otherwise then you are incredibly naive . No-one , including you can conclude where the truth lies from TV broadcasts . You are also displaying anti-Russian racism again (as you do with many of your answers ).