Syrian Slaughter Is A Family Tradition

BLUF

Since 1963 the Assad family has been conducting its own apartheid regime. The Assad family appears to be Alawite, a Shi’ia sect. I say this because, since 1963, Sunni’s have been the target of the Assad vulgarities and tortures. Hafiz al-Assad took over and scrubbed the military and intelligence apparatus of Sunni muslims.

It would appear that the State Department and the White House are tongue tied as to what to say about the Shi'ite violence against Sunnis in Syria. Where did we see this before ... Iran, 2009 or so?  

Foreign aid to Syria was only just recently halted.

BACKGROUND

“While the international trend is heading progressively towards promoting respect for human rights, the Syrian regime is moving against history and the spirit of the age, in a direction contrary to the Syrian, Arab, and international public opinion. Thus, the repressive nature of this regime represents the utmost setback to values and principles acknowledged by international legitimacy.”

Many of the articles and assessments of Syria’s human rights practices, including the current Clintonian State Department, use words like “poor” and “struggling” as descriptors. I use the term abysmal. Since 1963 Syria has suffered horrendously under an iron fist. For the UN to look at the last five months and urge, insist, and demand the violence against his own people stop is ludicrous seeing that the impotent international body knew of Syria’s apartheid policies and practices for decades, not years but decades.

This year al-Assad has slaughtered approximately 2,200 people. This number ignores the people who were tortured, raped, and worse. Amnesty International reported that during the period of 1979 to 1999 Syria used at least 38 different forms of torture. Of these forms of torture, water boarding and sleep deprivation are the least horrific used.

Opening an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Ms Pillay said: "The gravity of ongoing violations and brutal attacks against the peaceful protesters in that country demand your continued attention." It would appear that the victims of these attacks are largely Sunni and that the perpetrators are entrenched Alawites, a Shi’ite sect. Where else have we recently witnessed Shi’ites slaughtering there citizens? Oh, yes, Iran in 2009. Again, nothing said and nothing done.

"It's troubling that he has not kept his words," Mr Ban told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York. "I sincerely hope that he heeds... all [the] international community's appeals and calls." Troubling, to say the least; the impotence of the UN and the depravity which is being allowed to continue, paid for in no small part by US Tax Dollars, is troubling to the UN. It is enough to make me vomit.

In previous posts I pointed out the largest and most powerful voting bloc in the UN is comprised of OIC/OPEC states. On the Human Rights Council sit, among others, Jordan Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia which apparently voted in support of Assad. Again, the UN fails human rights and humanity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14620671

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/syria-un-ban-idUSN1E77L0PO20110822

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/un-rights-body-demands-1132416.html

http://www.shrc.org/data/pdf/1275.pdf

http://www.shrc.org/data/pdf/1275.pdf

And, Still, They Die

Obama and Clinton condemn Assad. Assad condemns the US for condemning him. Really, what else was expected? And still they die whil Obama dithers http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/19/bloomberg1376-LQ81D01A1I4H01-3UCMJ86N4F4U087RIKG7MPDOCE.DTL

BLUF

It is more expedient and safer for Obama and Clinton to build a stronger international outcry against Assad than to actually do anything. By safer I mean that his ratings will take a straight line drop if he gets us into another messy spot right now. Libya is still going on and Obama cannot take the pressure of getting into another war, particularly after having lambasted Bush for doing that.  I also do not believe that Obama will do anything until the Organization of Islamic Countries tells the UN to get America into the game.

BACKGROUND

Syrian troops have continued their assault on the Syrian people. In events that are frighteningly similar to those of 1993 in Bugojno where Croats were rounded up and held captive at the Iskra Soccer Club before being tortured and executed, Syrians are undergoing a mass arrest and detention that is most likely to end in mass murder.

The people being rounded up and held in the stadium in Latakia were simply trying to escape the onslaught from the government forces. Many people have been killed trying to run away. Perhaps now that a Palestinian camp in Latakia has been shelled and evacuated the Arab Street (read Gutter) will rail against Assad. Why not? Israel gets slammed for defending themselves against Palestinian rockets, why not Assad getting a slap on the wrist for shelling a Palestinian refugee camp?

The White House said the US was working with other countries to pressure Assad to end the "outright murder of his own people." This statement has come from Jay Carney, but still no real action. Carney says that Obama is talking with other countries about what to do. "The Syrian people deserve a peaceful transition to democracy; they deserve a government that doesn't torture them, arrest them and kill them. And we are looking, together with a broad array of international partners, to increase pressure on President Assad"

Obama is going on a three day bus tour that has already cost more than $2.2 million dollars. Assad is using naval bombardment, snipers, and tanks against his own citizenry. Where is the outrage? Where is the disgust? Edmund Burke said that when good men do nothing, evil triumphs.

I can, to a point, understand the reluctance of the UN and its lackeys to not get involved in or say anything about Syria. The UN is already bleeding out in Sudan and have been for years. The UN suffered assault after assault along the Ethiopia/Eritrea border. They proved utterly useless in Bosnia in protecting citizens with “gun free” and UN safe zones like Prijedor and Srebrenica. So, why get into it with Assad? Why do anything without the permission of the OIC (the largets voting bloc in the UN)? Why go to Syria when there is no shelling, sniping, or bombardment of rural areas and cities in Burma?

Burma? Really, UN? I thought that sub continent Asian country ceased to exist and has for years been called Myanmar. I know the UN is going to just waste time and dither while people are slaughtered, raped, murdered en masse globally. These crimes are being committed daily by their own member states while we, the people of the US, pay them with our tax dollars.

So, Obama and Clinton feel that it is better for all if Assad hears more and more nations say that he has to go. Fine; what happens if, in six months, all the countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia say that Assad has to go. Will he? Will he just step down to accept a trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity? Omar al-Bashir and Khadafy are both under warrant for war crimes such as slaughtering their own people.

In my opinion it is easier and more expedient for Obama to say little and do nothing about Assad. Obama’s ratings plummeted as the Libya intervention lingered, and lingers, on. Assad will continue, unfettered, unchecked, until he has completely cleansed his country of anyone who would dare say that he was not a kind and benevolent leader.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/world/middleeast/17syria.html?_r=1

http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/08/16/un-rights-investigator-to-visit-burma-next-week/

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/united-nations-needs-harsh-sanctions-against-syria

Peacekeepers Attacked In Darfur

Darur ... this is where the arab muslim group known as janjaweed are oeprating, too. Janjaweed is an arabic term that means "devils on horseback" and their goal, as stated, is to ethnically cleanse the region of black Africans and repopulate it with Arabs.

Security Council condemns attack on UN peacekeepers in Darfur

  UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the attack on the UN and African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) peacekeepers that occurred on Friday.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack on UNAMID peacekeepers in Darfur on Aug. 5, which resulted in the death of a Sierra Leonean soldier and left another seriously wounded," said the statement that was read out by Hardeep Singh Puri, permanent representative of India to the UN and the president of the Security Council for the month of August.

In the statement, the Council said that "UNAMID is working with the Sudanese police to find the perpetrators, encouraged the government of Sudan to ensure that they are swiftly brought to justice, and stress that there must be an end to impunity for those who attack peacekeepers."

"The members of the Security Council reiterated their full support for UNAMID and called on all parties in Darfur to cooperate fully with the mission," said the statement.

A vehicle carrying UNAMID peacekeepers came under attack from unidentified gunmen in Duma village, located 37 kilometers northeast of the South Darfur capital, Nyala on Friday.

UNAMID is in charge of protecting civilians in the restive Darfur region of Sudan, which has experienced fighting since 2003 between the Sudanese government and members of rebel groups.

Forced conversions to Islam are rising

In the United States this is still called kidnapping and rape Pakistan: Bishop of Islamabad warns forced conversions to Islam are rising as another Christian girl is abducted As with the situation in Egypt, this is not at all the first time we have seen such behavior in Pakistan. Two such prominent cases in Pakistan have been those of Saba (or Sarah) and Anila Masih, and Farah Hatim. The news organization Fides has reported that "at least 700 Christian girls are kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam every year." Hindu girls are targeted as well, and many cases go unreported, or are brushed aside by authorities. Here is yet another case. Thankfully, Mariam Gill was returned to her family, but not surprisingly, her thwarted captor is making threats. "Punjab: Christian woman forced to convert and marry her kidnapper," by Jibran Khan for AsiaNews, August 6 (thanks to Kenneth):

Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Another young Christian woman in Pakistan has been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her kidnapper. Despite a formal complaint, police did not intervene because the author of the crime is a “respectable businessman”. Local Muslim religious authorities also claim that the woman’s conversion was legal. However, her case however is similar to that of Farah Hatim (see Jibran Khan, “The drama of Farah Hatim, common to many women in Pakistan,” in AsiaNews 25 July 2011) and is indicative of a climate of impunity for people who abuse Christian women. The bishop of Islamabad warns that the “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate”.

Mariam is a young Christian woman from Kahota, a town some 20 kilometres from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. She was abducted on Wednesday by one Muhammad Junaid, a local Muslim, who forcibly converted her to Islam and married her.

The young woman’s father, Munir Gill, said that Junaid is an “important businessman”. He had “his eyes on my daughter and asked her for marriage.” He complained to the man’s fathers “without results”.

“Mariam went to the market on Wednesday, but never returned,” said her brother Sohail Gill. “We searched for her everywhere. Some people in the market told us that they saw Muhammad Junaid forcefully taking Mariam from the market. We went to the police to register a case, but they delayed the application and showed no interest in the matter.”

Yesterday, a local Muslim religious leader, Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “converted Mariam to Islam and celebrated her marriage with Muhammad Junaid”.

The police are no help:

“Muhammad Junaid is a respectable Muslim businessman,” said Amir Mirza, a police officer in Kahota. “The young woman converted and married him of ‘her own free will’.

It would not be surprising if she were also forced to sign a document stating she converted freely, so that on paper, there was "no compulsion in religion" (Qur'an 2:256). Islamic law is replete with various means of coercion to attempt to induce non-Muslims to convert, and Sharia enforced on society ensures believers and non-believers at least go through the motions of observing the laws. Ultimately, those in power could care less about splitting hairs on where persuasion ends and "compulsion" begins, and challenging them could endanger life and limb.

For Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “Muhammad Junaid is a true follower of Prophet Muhammad. He has fulfilled Sharia. Converting a non-Muslim is a pious act. Only a true Muslim can do that.”

But:

Yesterday, Mariam Gill was interrogated by local officials. She told them that she was abducted and forced to convert and that she has no intention of abandoning Christianity.

At the end of the meeting, they decided to return the young woman to her family, urging the two sides to reach an agreement. However, Muhammad Junaid issued threats, saying that if he did not get the young woman back, there would be “terrible consequences” to pay.

Contacted by AsiaNews, the bishop of Islamabad Rufin Anthony described the case as “a dreadful incident”. In his view, “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate. The matter needs to be checked, kidnapping of Christian girls is becoming a common practice in Punjab. Law enforcement agencies need to enforce the law.”

Young Christian women are not alone. Many young Hindu women have been forced to flee across the border into India in the face of government and police indifference.

“It is time to take concrete action to guarantee the safety of minorities in Pakistan,” the prelate said.

http://www.gnsec.com/modules/d3pipes/index.php?page=clipping&clipping_id=51465

Pakistan Kills Its Own

Yet ANOTHER government that is part of the United Nations is killing more of its own people based on ETHNICITY. What will the president say?

Fighting in Pakistani city of Karachi claims 34 lives

Shops and vehicles have been set ablaze

At least 34 people have been killed since Monday in the latest bout of ethnically fuelled violence in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi.

Officials said 11 people were shot dead on Tuesday, while 23 had been killed the previous day.

Targeted killings and clashes claimed more than 200 lives in Karachi in July.

Armed groups supported by Pakistan's main political parties are said to be responsible. Police officials say the groups are controlled by criminals.

But critics say that Pakistan's ruling coalition appears unwilling to bring them to account.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Karachi was enduring "a reign of terror and bloodshed", and that the government would pursue "every possible action to restore peace".

"We have ordered surveillance planes to be brought to Karachi for locating and weeding out the killers," he added.

Injured people have been pouring into hospitals

"I want to warn those... miscreants that... you have tested the government enough. Neither our people nor our government will tolerate any more of this. There will be strict action... I won't say anything else now. You will see the action yourself."

Provincial home department official Sharfuddin Memon said some bodies had been found riddled with bullets, and others showed signs of torture and were tied up in sacks.

"The criminals want to destabilise the efforts for a permanent peace in the city," he said.

Police said dozens of motorcycles were set alight inside a factory, and that a roadside restaurant and several vehicles were also torched.

In a recent report, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said 490 people had been killed in targeted killings in Karachi during the first half of the year, compared with 748 in 2010.

'Game of death and destruction'

The BBC's Syed Shoiab Hasan in Karachi says that the killings are becoming increasingly indiscriminate.

“Start Quote

Karachi is in the grip of a multi-sided wave of insecurity-driven political, ethnic and sectarian polarisation”

End Quote

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

Our correspondent says that it is not just political activists who are being targeted - shopkeepers, cafe owners, truck drivers and even pedestrians have all been gunned down.

Increasingly, he adds, there is an ethnic dimension to the violence - members of both the Pashtun and Urdu speaking communities have been targeted.

Shops and vehicles have been set ablaze and markets have been shut for several days in the affected areas.

Police officials say activists of the Pashtun-dominated Awami National Party (ANP) as well as those of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - supported by the majority Urdu speaking community in the city - are responsible for much of the violence.

The parties have continued what is increasingly a battle for land and votes - despite being partners in the country's ruling coalition.

Our correspondent says that the government appears helpless to stop the violence, which has wreaked havoc.

Security officials say this is because senior politicians are protecting many of those involved in the killings.

They say the violence will continue until security forces are allowed to arrest these men.

On Monday, the HRCP called for a political solution.

"Karachi is in the grip of a multi-sided wave of insecurity-driven political, ethnic and sectarian polarisation that has greatly undermined its tradition of tolerance and good-neighbourliness," it said.

"While gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order, they do not appear to be the main directors of the horrible game of death and destruction; that distinction belongs to more powerful political groups and it is they who hold the key to peace.”