In These New Times

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“Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”

-George Santayana

The Syrian conflict began around March of 2011.  According to the United Nations, between 20,000-40,000 people have been killed and about 1.5 million people have been displaced.

As we read the news headlines about the Syrian conflict and we talk to our family living in Aleppo and throughout Syria, we find ourselves confused.  What is the truth?  The media leads us to believe that the conflict began as a civil war where protestors were demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.  There have been sporadic news reports in America of the Syrian government’s army using force against unarmed protestors.  From a distance, of course, this sounds wrong and must be stopped.

However, there is another side to the story.  Personally, we have family and friends that live in Syria.  They tell an entirely different truth of the situation as they live in it.  Just as we did, they immigrated to Syria following the Armenian Genocide.  They remained in Syria, where they have since had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Syria has always been welcoming of the Christian Armenians.

In Aleppo today, there is an outright war between the opposition forces and the Syrian people/government.  Who are these opposition forces, where did they come from, and why are they fighting against Syria? Are they peaceful protestors or are they foreign sponsored terrorist soldiers waging a war against Syria?  As is seen and reported by many in Syria, these rebels are not peaceful.  They are actually mostly non-Syrian, foreign-sponsored and heavily armed soldiers.  Just where have they come from and who is providing arms to these rebels?

The conflict in Syria is clearly an overt proxy war in which the war itself is instigated by a major power that does not itself participate.  Who exactly is fighting this proxy war?  It is clear that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar support the opposition and have provided training and arms to the Syrian opposition fighters. But, what exactly is the United States role in this proxy war?  Former U.S. Special Operations officials have reported that Al Qaeda is in Syria and is part of the Syrian opposition forces.  This has also been reported by many other American and international news agencies.

So why is the U.S. fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan to wage a “war on terror” while we are supporting the very same Al Qaeda in Syria?  Just who is Al Qaeda?  Who are these terrorists?  Why is the United States waging this war in Syria and lining itself up with Al Qaeda?

In a news interview, U.S. President Barack Obama was asked why the U.S. is funding Syrian opposition when there are reports of Al Qaeda heading up the Syrian opposition.  The President stated that “we will provide non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition” with the emphasis being on protecting human rights.  Yet, American support for the terrorists trying to overthrow Syria has nothing to do with human rights.  According to Reuters, “The State Department says the U.S. government had set aside a total of $25 million for ‘non-lethal’ assistance to the Syrian opposition.” This was said to be mostly communications equipment, including encrypted radios.  So, if the U.S. is only sending “non-lethal” support, then why are we facilitating the transfer of weapons to Syrian opposition forces through other countries?  The United States government granted a non-governmental organization called the Syrian Support Group a license to fund the Free Syrian Army (FSA), commonly known as the Syrian opposition forces.  In addition, the United States has set up a center for the Syrian insurgency in Adana, Turkey.  This area is a major U.S. military and intelligence center and is located about 60miles north of the Syrian border.  The New York Times reported that “the weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some anti-tank weapons, are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”  Even though the U.S. isn’t actually providing the weapons itself, the U.S. CIA is directly part of this process by distributing assault rifles, anti-tank rocket launchers and other ammunition to the Syrian opposition.   Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and many others have been covering up the crimes of the opposition forces.  They have been getting international support for this terrorist organization and this alone is deeply disturbing to us as United States citizens.

Just exactly what role is the U.S. playing in this war?  Why would the U.S. support Al Qaeda in Syria to bring down the Syrian Government? Why are innocent Syrian citizen’s lives not valuable to the United States?  Why wage this proxy war in Syria just to get to Iran?  Obama’s statement that the United States is providing only “non-lethal” support to the Syrian opposition is an outright cynical lie.  The American citizens do not want the bloodshed of tens of thousands of innocent Syrian citizen’s lives and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Please stop using innocent Syrian lives to wage war against Iran.

We need to stop the violence in Syria.  Let’s use diplomatic means.  This is barbaric.  A Genocide is taking place in Syria.  Videos have emerged showing the Syrian opposition forces carrying out mass executions in Aleppo.  The Western sponsored fighters are assassinating civil servants, kidnapping and killing journalists who are trying to make independent assessments of the situation, and bombing entire population centers to create fear in the citizens.  They are using extreme violence and terrorism on the civilian population.  The people of Syria largely support Assad and are pleading with us to end this violence.  The foreign-sponsored terrorist opposition forces are committing atrocities in Syria.  The people are desperate and in dire need of some assistance.  This is clearly not about protecting human rights!  Please help stop this violent attack on Syria and its people.  Let’s gather together and put a stop to the human rights violations in this proxy war in Syria, even if it is being sponsored from our own backyard.