Deadly Optometrist or Secret Military Regime Pulling Strings?

How could an optometrist be so evil? I don't believe it. I don't think it's possible he would have made such choices on his own.. we're missing something..

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/...ss_igoogle_cnn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rima Maktabi, CNN

Witnesses: Major military operation underway in Syrian city
April 25, 2011 1:45 a.m. EDT


(CNN) -- A major military operation was underway Monday in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, witnesses said.

As the witness spoke, the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background, along with people screaming, "Allahu Akbar" -- meaning "God is great."

"There are around 3,000 soldiers in Daraa now. They are breaking into people's houses, firing randomly at houses," the witness said. "We were sleeping and not protesting."

Another witness described an onslaught of tanks infiltrating the city.

"Before dawn prayers, around 4:30 a.m., the Syrian security forces broke into Daraa," the witness said. "There were so many tanks that entered the city from its four corners. People were heading to mosques when the attack started. People in mosques started warning the people through loud speakers, but the gunfire had already started."

The witness added that ambulances were not allowed into the city and that electricity and phone lines were down.

CNN was unable to independently verify the accounts.

Anti-government protests that have taken hold in many parts of Syria began in Daraa last month after a violent crackdown by security forces on peaceful demonstrators protesting the arrests of youths who scribbled anti-government graffiti.
A Syrian opposition activist in Washington said he has also heard reports of a major operation in Daraa.

"Army with tanks are entering Daraa right now from Dahia bridge. Very heavy firing, no electricity and no mobile coverage," he wrote in a note to CNN.

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Uhh...seriously? Dictators are dictators. The Syrian "system" is ruled by a minority sect that's put itself at the helm of every power center of the state. They will do quite a bit to stay in charge.

1) Basshar Assad was born in Massachusetts.

2) He was studied eyes in England.

3) He was called a moderate by Hillary Clinton, or something.

4) His eyes are always pleasant -- look at this.

5) He speaks English fluently.

6) He inherited his position -- he didn't take it with violence.

That's all I got.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by agamemnus

1) Basshar Assad was born in Massachusetts.

2) He was studied eyes in England.

3) He was called a moderate by Hillary Clinton, or something.

4) His eyes are always pleasant -- look at this.

5) He speaks English fluently.

6) He inherited his position -- he didn't take it with violence.

That's all I got.

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Are you kidding me? Most Arab leaders (or at least children of Arab leaders who inherit a position) a educated in the West and have some innocuous professional/academic degree. Assad is about as nasty as they get, though I'll grant he might be better than his father. The only reason he doesn't get as much press as other bad guys is that his strategic importance outside of his immediate neighbors isn't so huge - Syria's military is large but shitty, and they don't have significant resources (e.g. oil revenues).

Forget Syria. Let's talk about Bahrain, where the monarchy is brutalizing its own people even with US bases looking on in such a tiny country the size of the West Bank...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...n-2276390.html

Excerpt:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by By Patrick Cockburn

Bahrain sentences four men to death for killing two policemen

A Bahraini national security court has sentenced four men to death for killing two police officers during the pro-democracy protests that were crushed by the authorities last month.

The sentences are likely to deepen divisions between Bahrain's Shia majority, which has been demanding greater political and civil rights, and the Sunni monarchy, backed by Saudi Arabia and the Sunni-dominated Bahraini security forces.

A further 400 people who have been detained are expected to be prosecuted, according to the state news agency.

"The people are very angry," Ali al-Aswad, a Bahraini MP, said. "This comes as a surprise as the defendants were not allowed any lawyers in court and we did not know what was going on." He added that the government had moved quickly to try those it held responsible for the death of the two police officers, but had done nothing to investigate the killing of 26 Bahrainis, including four who died in custody, during the protests.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and the Bahraini royal family appear to have adopted a policy of systematically terrorising the Shia of Bahrain, who make up 70 per cent of the indigenous population.

The royals have directed the crackdown against Shia activists and institutions. Shia mosques and shrines are being demolished or wrecked and anti-Shia graffiti has been painted on the walls.

Mohammed Sadiq, of Justice for Bahrain, said: "I have no doubt that they [the defendants] were tortured." He said the authorities were trying to prove that the pro-democracy movement had used violence. "They are trying to provoke people to take up arms but we are going to remain non-violent." In addition to the four men, another three were sentenced to life imprisonment for the same offence.

The script of a Bahraini television documentary, released by the authorities last night, contained the "confessions" of the men, according to a government statement. "Today is the day when justice prevails and when the long arm of the law catches all those who betrayed the nation and undermined its security," the documentary said.

The monarchy appears to have largely succeeded in breaking up the pro-democracy movement since it launched a counter-offensive on 15 March. It has detained doctors who treated injured demonstrators. And patients who had taken part in the protests were dragged from hospital beds, according to the US-based Physicians for Human Rights. Even waving the Bahraini flag has been treated as an offence.

The role of the condemned men in the protest rallies is uncertain. They had denied the charges. "They were activists in their villages and we think they were targeted because of their activities," Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Centre Human Rights, was reported as saying. "This will deepen the gap between the ruling élite and the population." Other Bahraini sources said the young men, who are all Shia, were not previously known as campaigners or activists.

Bahrain's state news agency said the defendants had "every judicial guarantee according to law and in keeping with human-rights standards." It did not say when the sentences would be carried out.

Relatives who attended the trial said there were discrepancies in the evidence given by the coroner and the prosecution. Three of the four policemen who died were run over by vehicles.

Last night, Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority, said: "The verdict is a clear indication of the community's utter condemnation of barbarous crimes and a profound commitment to the protection of precious lives, human dignity and fundamental rights regardless of [colour], gender, sect and nationality."

The Bahraini government has traditionally claimed that demands for greater rights by the Shia in Bahrain are manipulated by Iran, though US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks say there has been no evidence of this. Iran has denounced the repression in Bahrain, but there has also been an angry response from Iraq, where 60 per cent of the population is Shia and Shia religious parties dominate the government. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia, normally stays out of politics but has criticised the Bahraini government.

Eyewitnesses in Bahrain said masked riot police who raid houses often include officers with Saudi or Jordanian accents or Pakistanis who speak little Arabic. Human-rights activists said Bahrain has long imported police and soldiers.

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Bahrain hasn't killed 500 protestors...

Bahrain is a lot smaller than Syria... about 20 times population-wise. 26*20 = 520...

It doesn't really scale that way and you know it.

????

It reveals a certain scale.

Sure, 200 dead in Syria in one day is a lot, but Syria has a lot of people, a lot of police, etc and Bahrain doesn't. You might argue that a lot of those Syrians protesting are urbanites and over-represent the country compared to those protesting in Bahrain, so ok: x10?

It's even worse in a way, because 400 people "are expected to be prosecuted"... again, multiply by 20, or 10.