Some thoughts on Syria/Aleppo. Feel free to research what I've written, and correct me if I've got anything wrong. I have no agenda, just simply trying to understand the mess that Syria has become, and whether or not we are told the whole 'truth'.
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Pro-Democracy Revolutionary or Terrorist?
There definitely were some genuine pro-democracy dissidents at the start of this conflict. Many refugees attest to this. At the original 2011 protest in Damascus, there were several thousand people. (Note: there were many more thousands at the pro-Assad rallies).
Peaceful protests quickly became violent. At one of the original demonstrations, several Syrian policeman were shot and killed, as were four of the protesters. According to many sources, it was the protestors who fired the first shots; not the Syrian police, as is usually reported in western media.
From very early on, it has been reported that the dissidents were receiving arms from Turkey and Lebanon, (potentially funded by the USA and Saudi Arabia). All with vested and long standing interests in toppling Assad.
Arms and anger also appeared from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, who had been oppressed by Hafez al-Assad (Bashar's father), because of his adamance that government should be secular, not Islamic. The Muslim Brotherhood's ultimate goal was/is to replace Syria's secular government with an Islamic one. They were eager for revenge, and it's unclear as to how many of them there were at those original protests, perhaps posing as 'pro democracy' protesters. It's possible that what were simplistically described in our media as pro-democracy demonstrations, were made up of a significant number from the Muslim Brotherhood, who, as I said, wanted an Islamic government, not necessarily a democratic/pro human rights one. By all accounts, the Muslim Brotherhood were armed and violent from the outset.
The protests spread. Some Syrian army soldiers defected (though most remained loyal). Violent clashes between the Syrian army and the armed protesters ensued. Many innocent, genuine pro-democracy protesters were killed in the crossfire.
Assad offered reforms, but they were rejected out of hand.
From the beginnings of the fractured 'uprising', hardline Islamist groups like Nusra Front (formerly 'Al Qaeda in Syria', and supported by Saudi Arabia), gradually became the more prominent of the rebel groups, undermining efforts by the reportedly more moderate Free Syrian Army, who, by mid 2012, were not much of a force.
In 2013, the Syrian government offered amnesty to the rebels, and many accepted. The offer of amnesty to all rebels has remained ever since. Surely from around this point, any genuine pro-democracy dissidents will have realised that they were massively outnumbered by the Islamist rebel groups of varying extremes; And thus surely they will have realised that, to continue fighting Assad, they would effectively be fighting to install an Islamic government?
For a genuine 'freedom fighter' to continue to fight alongside jihadists, seems a strange choice, given the kind of archaic, anti-freedom laws that would be installed under Sharia law. Surely they will have either accepted amnesty or fled the country long ago?
(Perhaps they didn't trust the amnesty offer, but I've not seen any reports of those who have accepted it being treated badly by the Syrian government. That's not to say they definitely haven't).
Aleppo's Liberation
The inhabitants of east Aleppo had been offered 'safe passage' out of the city on numerous occasions - flyers were dropped by Russian/Syrian planes, explaining where the safe passages were.
But some of the rebel/Jihadist groups in east Aleppo reportedly refused to let any civilians leave, shooting anyone who tried to escape. Cue the bombardment and civilian casualties by the Russian/Syrian jets. Awful, but what choice did they have? It was either that, or allow the rebels/jihadists to gradually recruit more civilians. (The rebels have reportedly been stockpiling food - according to Reuters. And some civilians have said that they were bribed with food rations to 'join up'). The rebels had also been bombing and killing civilians in government controlled western Aleppo.
Who is more barbaric - the Syrian government/Russia for going ahead with the bombing, or the rebels for refusing to let civilians leave? (And for indiscriminately bombing west Aleppo).
Following the victory of the Syrian army in east Aleppo, at least 14 NATO officials were found hiding in a bunker, including officials from the USA, Saudi Arabia and Israel. This was confirmed on Facebook by a Syrian MP. (This hasn't been reported in the mainstream press, for some reason. Perhaps to protect their families? Or perhaps because NATO/our 'establishment' all have something to hide?). We can only assume that these NATO officials were there working alongside the 'moderate' rebels. But even with the influence from these officials, (whom you would assume would want to help the civilians), the rebels STILL refused civilians 'safe passage' out of the city. This suggests that it was the more extreme rebels who had most control of east Aleppo.
NATO (along with Saudi/Turkey/Qatar/Israel) have been supporting these rebel/Jihadist groups for years now, whether directly or indirectly. They are so intent on 'regime change', that they are prepared to let arms get into the hands of radical Islamists, usually the west's number one enemy, ('War On Terror' anyone?). Just recently Obama signed a waiver to arm more so-called 'moderate' rebel groups. It is widely accepted that it is impossible to prevent these weapons from getting into the hands of extremist groups like Nusra Front, (a rebranded Al Qaeda), as it cannot be guaranteed that they won't fight alongside the more 'moderate' rebels, at some point. And, are the groups deemed 'moderate' by the US really that moderate? Who knows. Of course any rebel group will say that they are, in order to get the support. Does the US REALLY believe that there are enough of these 'moderate' rebels to topple Assad AND beat Nusra Front/other extremist groups?!
Saudi Arabia support Nusra Front, (they reportedly encouraged them to change their name, because, let's face it, Al Qaeda have some baggage). Being such close allies with Saudi, are the USA secretly compliant in this support? Or perhaps the US/CIA have been knowingly arming jihadists directly? This would not be the first time - they did so in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Surely NATO should be encouraging the rebels to accept the amnesty offer? Not continue arming a never ending rabble of rebel groups of varying levels of extremism; Thus prolonging an un-winnable war, and causing more deaths?
Who is to blame?
Did NATO, along with their Gulf allies, cause this war? Without their intervention, arming the original protesters and supplying foreign mercenaries, (and without an overexcited and biased media, following the Arab Spring), the protests may have dissipated quickly.
Or, perhaps if Assad had stood down? They did have an election in 2014, overseen by a committee from 30 countries. Assad won 88% of the vote. The vote was only in government controlled areas, but Vanessa Beeley, an independent journalist who has been to Syria several times during the conflict, reported seeing Syrians in refugee camps rushing to vote for him. Furthermore, the Syrian government has suggested that they will carry out another election, with the UN overseeing it, providing all the rebels accept amnesty and NATO etc stop intervening, but there is little chance of the security council accepting this offer.
Or, is the west's inaction to blame? NATO could have carried out a full ground invasion and/or airstrikes - huge battles, huge civilian deaths, Assad removed, power vacuum, chaos, another Libya, a lot of very unhappy Syrians who seem to genuinely like their leader and country, nuclear war? (If Russia still decided to get involved).
Russia
Russia's involvement changed things hugely. Without Russian intervention, the removal of Assad, followed by the vacuum and chaos, will have become a far more likely outcome; The rebels/Jihadists, with support from NATO etc, may have toppled the Assad government. It seems very naive and far fetched to believe that a democratic government and leader, along with a stable and peaceful society, would have followed. Just look at what happened when Ghadafi was 'removed' in Libya. Is it not quite likely that Nusra Front would have joined forces with ISIS and taken over Syria to form a giant Caliphate? And forced all the people of Syria to live under strict Sharia law?
Many argue that Putin only intervened in Syria in order to gain influence in the region, but US secretary of State John Kerry has said, (in a leaked recording), that Russia intervened because they could see ISIS growing stronger and they understandably did not want an ISIS controlled Syria on their doorstep.
Assad 'the Brutal'
In the aforementioned leaked recording, Kerry also says that the US allowed ISIS to grow in order to put pressure on Assad. For some inexplicable reason, Assad is considered a bigger enemy than militant Islamism; so much so that the US are willing to favour ISIS, and support very questionable Syrian rebel groups, many of whom will fight alongside Nusra Front (Al Qaeda). Syria is a country that, by middle eastern standards, was relatively stable and functional. And officially secular - Sunni and Shia Muslims, and Christians, living peacefully side by side. Yes, Assad and his government are guilty of human rights abuses, but are they nearly as barbaric as as ISIS? (Or Saudi, for that matter?). And also, who isn't guilty of human rights violations? 500,000 Iraqi children died following the first Gulf war, due to cruel US sanctions. The west cannot take the moral high ground on human rights abuses!
Could it have something to do with the fact Syria is fairly socialist, or anti-Israel, that the USA/NATO etc hate them so much? Will the USA do anything to weaken anti-Israel countries in the Middle East? Or perhaps it is something to do with a gas pipeline? Or something to do with opening up their markets for trade? Or do they just want to weaken any non-globalist, or pro Russian, country? Or all of the above?
Why is it that we particularly hate Assad? The barrel bombs? As reported recently, Saudi have been using British made 'cluster bombs' in Yemen, yet they remain a staunch ally. And I don't see a huge difference between Assad's 'barrel bombing' and the USA's bombing of, for example, Fallujah, in 2003. The chemical attack in Ghouta? (This is what almost pushed the west into full-on war with Syria). Despite what we were told by our media/politicians, there is no conclusive evidence, as far as I can tell, that this attack was carried out by the Syrian government. On the day of the attack, the government had the UN inspecting their chemical weapons stockpile. What kind of crazed, stupid madman would carry out a chemical attack on the same day as having the UN inspect their chemical weapons?! Also, the missile reportedly had a 2km reach, and the 2km around the bomb site were all rebel held areas; and there is some evidence that Turkey/Saudi Arabia were funniling chemical weapons into Syria, for the 'rebels'.
Crimes have been committed on all sides since 2011, but they must be judged in the context of war and the threat/reality of significant outside intervention.
Motive and Who to Trust?
Syria was/is a sovereign nation, where a lot of the population do genuinely appear to support Assad. Russia was invited by Assad to assist in the removal of the 'terrorists'. According to international law, this is legal. NATO's involvement is not.
You have to question NATO's motives; Why target Assad and not other countries, like Bahrain, where the government crushed protests, arresting, killing & torturing thousands?
Why, in 2006, did the CIA decide on a policy of undermining Syria by any means possible? (According to Wikileaks). And even as far back as 1986, the CIA had planned for regime change, desiring a complaint Sunni Sectarian state, good for USA 'business interests' (according to a declassified CIA memo).
Why, in 2006, did the CIA decide on a policy of undermining Syria by any means possible? (According to Wikileaks). And even as far back as 1986, the CIA had planned for regime change, desiring a complaint Sunni Sectarian state, good for USA 'business interests' (according to a declassified CIA memo).
The CIA should not be underestimated. During the conflict, they have had an annual 'Syrian budget' of $1billion. And they have a long history of toppling foreign governments. Did they influence the Syrian situation right from the beginning? Somehow encouraging some Syrian people to revolt? Was it them who arranged for Saudi/Lebanon to pass on weapons to the original protesters? Did they carry out a covert operation at those first protests to kill Syrian policeman/protesters and stoke up fear and anti-government fervour? Who knows, but it's not out of the question. This is the CIA.
The Media
It's extremely hard to know what sources and evidence to trust. When our corporate media is owned by a handful of very rich men, who may have real, or just ideological ties with western governments, how do we know that the general narratives of their newspapers/tv news shows haven't been influenced by this? As for the other newspapers/tv shows, that are not owned by these rich men, they need sales/viewers/advertisers, and so most likely will stick with the general narrative that others purport. Just imagine if The Guardian suddenly started sympathising with Assad? Or if they suddenly started saying positive things about Russia/Putin?
There are a few mainstream journalists who go against the mainstream narrative (Robert Fisk, Seamus Milne, Patrick Cockburn), but on the whole, mainstream newspapers/tv news are just an echo chamber.
There are a few mainstream journalists who go against the mainstream narrative (Robert Fisk, Seamus Milne, Patrick Cockburn), but on the whole, mainstream newspapers/tv news are just an echo chamber.
'Proof' of the media's misinformation came for me on the day of east Aleppo's 'liberation', seeing all the news reports of alleged massacres by the Syrian army/Russians, despite there seemingly being no evidence, and with little mention of the possibility that the jihadists could have done some awful things. Nor barely any mention of the overjoyed and relieved civilians, many of whom can be seen dancing in the streets in videos captured by independent journalists. BBC/Channel 4 News etc kept repeating the same general line, 'we're hearing reports of massacres by the Syrian/Russian forces'.
It was a day of incredible bias, misleading information and propaganda, from the media, our politicians, and the United Nations. And it made me question everything. How much is our media to blame for encouraging/perpetuating these wars? How often do they, (and our politicians) misinform us? Do they sometimes choose a narrative and stick with it, whatever? Do our intelligence services have a degree of influence over the media?
By buying these newspapers, watching these tv news shows, (and voting for establishment political parties with close ties to terrorist supporting countries like Saudi Arabia), are we all complicit in our government's deadly foreign interventions? Has it not been proven, given how we were deceived on Iraq and Libya, that our establishment is, at best, catastrophically failing, or at worst, hugely corrupt?
Here's some specific examples of misinformation/propaganda/bias that I discovered, on the day of east Aleppo's liberation, and the following days/weeks
* Both Channel 4 News and BBC reported that the Syrian/Russian armies were massacring civilians, burning babies etc, on their entry into the city. I looked but could not find any evidence. Most of the sources used by western media are on the rebel side, so of course they are going to say such things.
* The UN's official statement on the situation made a similar claim. Again, no evidence to back it up. And on the following day, when questioned, the UN human rights spokesperson said that there was actually no way of knowing who exactly had done these things. But, too late, the media had their fuel.
* There were videos going around on social media, of Aleppo 'civilians' giving their 'last messages'. One messenger was Lina Shamy. I looked her up and discovered that on her Facebook page, as a former header photo, she has a photo of Zahran Alloush, deceased leader of Islamist rebel group Jaysh al-Islam, who called for cleansing Damascus of all Shiites and Alawites. (I believe the other messengers were either activists or journalists, not ordinary civilians).
* There was a video uploaded by an independent news source, showing some rebels evacuating Aleppo; the video was then acquired by Al Jazeera, who went on to add extra gunfire to it. (The original video had some gunfire at the end of the video, but the Al Jazeera version has rapid gunfire throughout. Why do this?!).
* There was barely any reporting of the civilian celebrations. And barely any interviews with them. The only interviews with civilians that I have seen have been on non-mainstream media news outlets, and in all the videos, the civilians describe a horrific life under the 'rebels'.
* There was no reporting on the NATO officials found in a bunker in east Aleppo.
* All newspaper/tv news sources seem to be on the rebel side, so of course they are going to get a very skewed picture of reality. The only newspaper not to decry massacres by the Syrian forces was the left-wing Morning Star, who were roundly condemned for praising the 'liberation'.
* I have seen/heard little mention of the bombings carried out by the rebels - according to many sources, they have been bombing and killing many civilians in government controlled west Aleppo.
* Tima Kurdi, the aunt of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian child refugee who was photographed washed up on a beach, has said that her attempts to speak out about the reality on the ground in Syria has been ignored by the mainstream media.
* US congresswomen Tulsi Gabbard has been trying to pass a Bill in congress to stop the US from arming terrorists. She has been attacked for it by the media. Surely the media should be attacking the government for arming terrorists?!
* Andrew Ashdown, a British vicar who has visited Syria several times recently, has said that when they interviewed him, the BBC instructed that he was not allowed to say anything on air that Syrian civilians had told him which contradicts the BBC's narrative on Syria.
Nobody Is Blameless
Despite all of the misinformation, some things seem clear - it is a grade A mess. All sides have blood on their hands - Assad, for not standing down/holding an immediate election following the original protests; Assad and Putin, for killing civilians, in order to free the surviving civilians from a rabble of rebel/Jihadist groups.
However, if it is true that the rebels had effectively been keeping the civilians hostage, they must take much of the blame. (Also note: The west are hardly innocent when it comes to 'collateral damage').
Imagine we had the same situation in the UK; a genuine reformist protest movement hijacked by jihadist extremists. Imagine these jihadists were being supported, supplied and armed by multiple foreign forces. Imagine your hometown became overrun with jihadists who enforced strict sharia law, torturing/killing anyone who didn't obey. How would our government deal with it? Would it be possible to deal with humanely? Would you want your government to try and liberate you, even if that meant possible death, or would you rather stay living under the rule of jihadists?
I also think it's important to take western imperialism (neoconservatism) into account. Overreaction seems far more understandable when you have that threat.
We in the west seem to think that we have a right to 'spread democracy' throughout the world; we seem to think that we have authority on the best system for running a country, with our corporation influenced 'democracies', our huge inequality, our child poverty, our horrid treatment of 'whistleblowers' (aka 'traitors'), our homelessness, our institutional racism (how many unarmed black men were shot dead in the US last year?), our Guantamino Bay, our drone bombing of civilians, our inhumanely expensive healthcare (US), our erosion of freedoms (internet surveillance), our corruption, our housing crisis, our loyalty to barbaric Saudi, our 'boom and bust' economies, etc.
We in the west seem to think that we have a right to 'spread democracy' throughout the world; we seem to think that we have authority on the best system for running a country, with our corporation influenced 'democracies', our huge inequality, our child poverty, our horrid treatment of 'whistleblowers' (aka 'traitors'), our homelessness, our institutional racism (how many unarmed black men were shot dead in the US last year?), our Guantamino Bay, our drone bombing of civilians, our inhumanely expensive healthcare (US), our erosion of freedoms (internet surveillance), our corruption, our housing crisis, our loyalty to barbaric Saudi, our 'boom and bust' economies, etc.
Does the west's globalist agenda for 'spreading democracy' cause these devastating wars?
In any case, just focussing on Syria, NATO, (and Saudi/Turkey etc) have immense blood on their hands, for encouraging a civil war despite there being no significant, unified and moderate opposition, and despite Assad being a popular leader amongst most Syrians; For arming an array of 'moderate' rebel groups; And for sticking to exactly the same course of action for years despite no change; For sticking to their biased and self-interested assessment that this is a 'revolution', and not just an incredibly fractured 'uprising' of sectarian groups, propped up, emboldened and supplied by outside intervention.
If this war had anything to do with 'humanitarianism', the intervention would have ended long ago. Effectively all NATO etc are doing now is trying to topple Assad and replace him with a sectarian government. And Islamic governments are rarely either democratic or pro human rights.
I fear that this stubbornness by NATO, and the refusal/inability of the media to change their general narrative (that Assad and Putin are the ultimate evils in this world - even more evil than militant Islamic extremism), thus keeping public opinion on side, is costing/has costed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Surely our real enemy should be Saudi Arabia, who fund ISIS and Nusra Front, and who are committing atrocities in Yemen with OUR weapons. By toppling Assad, the West are just helping them spread their evil ideology. The West are not helping to spread democracy; All they are doing is helping to spread strict Sharia/Wahabism. The hypocrisy of the West's close friendship with Saudi, whilst condemning Assad, is unreal. Western governments argue that they need them as an ally, as they give vital intelligence about terrorists; but it is they who fund and arm jihadists and export the militant ideology (Wahhabism).
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I've never been an avid newspaper reader; I watch BBC/Channel 4 News, and read occasional Guardian/Independent articles online. I can't profess to know that all our media has omitted the above details, but I see the general anti-Assad/Putin headlines. And I have spoken to friends and family (who mainly read the Times/Daily Mail), and like me until a week ago, they were not aware of these details - Assad's amnesty offer, the suggestion that they will hold a UN inspected election as part of a peace agreement, the reports that 'safe passage' has always been offered, reports that civilians were being kept hostage by the rebels, the fact that the Syrian army are largely Sunni, or that more Syrian soldiers have died than 'rebels'.
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I'm worried about what will happen now. Before long, NATO will have to give up effectively supporting these Jihadists, and accept their catastrophic failure. This is going to lead to much anger from Islamic extremists, who do exist in our country, (and throughout the world). I fear that this will lead to even more 'blow back' than that which we have already seen. As a result, we will then see even more Islamaphobia against all Muslims, the vast majority of whom, are not jihadists, obviously. The far right will continue to rise, and genuine refugees will be targeted and persecuted.
Those who are 'anti establishment', having seen through all the misinformation, will be labelled as right/left wing nut-jobs, but they (or should I say 'we'?) are on the rise, and for good reason, (as this whole Syria debacle shows).
I'm worried that our governments will continue to use the fear/threat of terrorism to continue in clamping down on our liberty, introducing evermore internet surveillance; Clamping down on 'whistle-blower' websites like Wikileaks, on independent (non mainstream) news sites, labelling them all as 'fake news'.
I'm also worried that, because the Syrian situation no longer fits their narrative, and because they've realised that many people have seen through it, the media will stop reporting on it as much. There are civilians who need aid, I don't question that. But they won't get that aid unless the conflict remains in the news. (Please do some research on the White Helmets before donating to them. There are other, more impartial charities to give to).
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Some sources:
https://gowans.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/the-revolutionary-distemper-in-syria-that-wasnt/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/30/why-no-revolution-exists-in-syria/
https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.beeley/posts/10155951071728868
https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.beeley/posts/10155917543148868
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/06/15/syria-aleppo-doctor-demolishes-imperialist-propaganda-and-media-warmongering/
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/03/us-considering-openly-arming-syrian-al-qaeda-faction-al-nusra.html
https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1392775177399139
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-21/barrel-bombs-and-bullshit-tangled-threads-washington-lies-about-syria-and-russia
http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/05/about-bias-and-propaganda-on-syria/
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/syria-assad-offers-full-amnesty-rebels-putting-down-weapons-668948
https://store.globalresearch.ca/store/new-the-dirty-war-on-syria-washington-regime-change-and-resistance-print-copy/
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/aleppo-falls-to-syrian-regime-bashar-al-assad-rebels-uk-government-more-than-one-story-robert-fisk-a7471576.html
https://www.ajamubaraka.com/elections-in-syria-the-people-say-no-to-foreign-intervention/
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/9054182
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/246709-genocide-in-syria
https://www.facebook.com/james.s.bishop.1/posts/10155216902392923
http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/04/14/false_pretense_for_war_in_libya/
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/forte200411.html
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/08/26/lies-war-and-empire-nato%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Chumanitarian-imperialism%E2%80%9D-in-libya/amp/?client=safari
https://youtu.be/VvOlW7OjbY0
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29/top-secret-snowden-document-reveals-what-the-nsa-knew-about-previous-russian-hacking/
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-14/true-story-how-war-broke-out-syria
https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/19/1940519_syria-4-26-member-of-extremist-terrorist-cell-arrested-in.html
http://www.mintpressnews.com/turkish-mp-faces-treason-charges-after-admitting-isis-used-
turkey-for-transiting-sarin/212107/
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/off-guardian.org/2015/10/07/free-syrian-army-is-just-a-brand-name-without-a-product/amp/?client=safari
https://youtu.be/e4phB-_pXDM
https://youtu.be/ZTX4-wNPIps
https://www.rt.com/news/375864-syria-artificial-conflict-western-msm/
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/02/tulsi-gabbard-true-maverick.html
