Syria
 

Okay, well with Syria in the news so much and it being the next place we might be involved in to some extent, I came across this quick summary of the place. I like these kind of time saving cliff notes, if you will.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=ElRoN-uNli4

I just hope bashar al-assad is eventually found in a hole hiding somewhere at some point and gets what he deserves.

That was very informative. Thanks for posting.

I heard an interview on BBC World service today with a woman in Syria. She recounted how suspected rebels or sympathizers are interrogated. In this case security forces picked up husband and wife. Husband was forced to watch while wife was raped repeatedly. Husband was beaten when he looked away. I'm not an overly emotional guy, but good grief, that brought me to tears.

It would be very hard not to go house to house looking for those security forces if I was on the rebel side and the tides turned. Revenge can sure feel good in the near term.

There are a couple key issues with Syria, for one the opposition is very small and there is a good chance that the indiscriminate killing will continue on for a very long time. Very different from the Libya situation.

Second, in typical middle eastern political fashion you have an incredibly convoluted history of support. Assad has historically (via Iran) supported Hezbollah in Lebanon who is clearly very shiite, if not for the arms he provides Assad would likely be just the type of leader they rail against. That being said, there are now concerns that the Syrian movement is being taken over by Sunni militants who see this as the new battleground to fight Shiites, essentially taking a reformist movement hostage with a fundamentalist approach. And that never goes well.

All that being said you have the international community essentially appalled by the level of violence, yet scared S-less of the ramifications if the opposition is supported. Do we send weapons to folks that are keen on turning Syria into a terrorist state (perhaps more so that it presently is)?

So that is my take. Who knows that the right course of action is. It sucks that a legit movement is being compromised and innocents are suffering. The middle east is an incredible place, it also has WAY too much baggage and old grudges, sprinkle in the nuts and you have a recipe for disaster.