Obama Administration waives ban on arming Syrian terrorist groups

[The Mad Monk]

A) You're not funny. Really, you're terrible at comedy and should leave it to other people.

B) The incident you're referring to was a single rebel leader who had joined the rebellion early, watched multiple family members get slaughtered and who is very clearly suffering from some terrible mental trauma as a result of the fighting. The 'heart eating' incident was actually a badly thought out act of savage machismo, and didn't involve eating a heart, just pretending to bite into it to fire his men up into savagery. I assume you were also quick to share lots of jokes when America soldiers went temporarily insane and did things like shooting up villages in Iraq or taking trophies from dead Afghans?

Oh and an interesting fact about the heart incident, the Syrian soldier whose heart was cut out had just been found with a phone in his pocket on which he'd recorded him and his buddies raping a couple of local women and then murdering them afterwards.

A) it was up to Poly standards, don't be such a stick in the heart.

B) he's a commander, not just some poor schlub who lost it.

Oh) did the person who found that also discover Iraqis dumping preemies out of incubators in Kuwait?

[kentonio]

Because, you know, just biting into somebody's heart is perfectly acceptable. Like beating and executing seven prisoners of war.

No-ones trying to say it's acceptable. It was ****ing horrible, and if the country wasn't in a state of complete anarchy it'd be reasonable to expect him to be locked up for it. What is also unacceptable however is all the bigots who use this one incident to say 'Hey look, all those Syrians are just cannibalistic monsters!' or like Zevico clearly wants to do 'Hey look, Muslims are cannibalistic monsters!'. War ****s with people and makes them do really, really ****ing horrible things sometimes. There is no larger picture here.

[kentonio]

A) it was up to Poly standards, don't be such a stick in the heart.

No it wasn't, it was just ****.

B) he's a commander, not just some poor schlub who lost it.

So what? When the commanders are also fighting on the ground, that actually makes it harder for anyone to do anything about.

Oh) did the person who find that also discover Iraqis dumping preemies out of incubators in Kuwait?

Is it so hard to believe that being faced with another atrocity might send people over the edge?

[The Mad Monk]

If you believe that, you're an idiot.



http://www.historytoday.com/richard-...ing-your-enemy

Cannibalism is a hard one to find evidence of, because no army in their right mind would allow that kind of story to leak out.

So you agree that the rebel army is not in its right mind?

[DinoDoc]

No, he bit into it as an act of machismo, he didn't 'eat' it.

From the CNN write up: Video: Syrian rebel cuts out soldier's heart, eats it
Are we supposed to believe you or our lying eyes?

The use of 'jihadi' is also pushing it,

“I swear to Allah, soldiers of Bashar, you dogs—we will eat your heart and livers! Allahu Akbar!”
I'm sure he's fighting for a nice secular state that's free of oppression.

Quick, everyone hide the women and children from those monsterous Muslims!

If that were the aim, why do anything other than show the video?

[kentonio]

So you agree that the rebel army is not in its right mind?

I agree that the Syrian rebels are certainly in no position to manage the flow of information in the same way that say the US or Russian forces could do. They're a rag tag collection of insurgents for ****s sake.

[kentonio]

From the CNN write up: Video: Syrian rebel cuts out soldier's heart, eats it
Are we supposed to believe you or our lying eyes?

Or you could read the accounts of the guy himself, the other people there and the other Syrian commanders, most of who were appalled by it also.

“I swear to Allah, soldiers of Bashar, you dogs—we will eat your heart and livers! Allahu Akbar!”
I'm sure he's fighting for a nice secular state that's free of oppression.

Yeah, because obviously a commander shouting **** to spur his men on is an accurate representation of the future goals of a possible Syrian state. For ****s sake..

[The Mad Monk]

No it wasn't, it was just ****.



So what? When the commanders are also fighting on the ground, that actually makes it harder for anyone to do anything about.



Is it so hard to believe that being faced with another atrocity might send people over the edge?

1) Either this guy is field grade with a combat command, in which case OF COURSE he's "fighting on the ground", as in every other army in the world, or he's a general, in which case WHO THE **** LET HIM BE A GENERAL?

2) Is it so hard to believe that someone made that up after the fact as a half-assed cover once they saw the damage?

Now I'm late for the Faire.

[Felch]

There you go running off at the mouth again about things you obviously know little about. No, the Republican Party most certainly is not a big tent party. Not even remotely. They have literally purged all of the moderates by labeling them "RINOs" and then primarying them until there aren't any left. They are absolutely obsessed with ideological purity and eliminating anyone who shows the slightest hint of not towing the party line and that just isn't conducive to being a "big tent party" where diverse viewpoints are tolerated much less encouraged.

To compare the Democrats seem incapable of ever coming up with unified policies for the whole party because on every issue they have not less than a dozen different, often contradictory, positions. That's what a real big tent party looks like not one where 99% of the party all agree on virtually every issue.

Oh look, the New York Times agrees with me. Obviously they're just a bunch of right wing hacks.

And here's Rachel Maddow's blog talking about divisions in the GOP. Maybe she should stop running off at the mouth about things she obviously knows little about.

[DinoDoc]

[kentonio]

1) Either this guy is field grade with a combat command, in which case OF COURSE he's "fighting on the ground", as in every other army in the world, or he's a general, in which case WHO THE **** LET HIM BE A GENERAL?

I think you're assuming an insurgent force formed from small groups of individuals has more of a structure than it does in reality.

2) Is it so hard to believe that someone made that up after the fact as a half-assed cover once they saw the damage?

It's certainly possible.

Now I'm late for the Faire.

Go have fun!

[kentonio]

DP

[The Mad Monk]

More news on the moderates!

Syria rebels reject opposition coalition, call for Islamic leadership
ReutersBy Erika Solomon | Reuters – 8 hours ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Powerful Syrian insurgent units have rejected the authority of the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC), badly damaging efforts by Western-backed political exiles to forge a moderate rebel military force on the ground.

Thirteen groups, including at least three previously considered part of the coalition's military wing, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), signed a statement calling for the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad to be reorganised under an Islamic framework and to be run only by groups fighting inside Syria.

The signatories range from hardliners such as the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham battalions to more moderate Islamist groups such as the Tawheed Brigade and Islam Brigade.

"These forces feel that all groups formed abroad without having returned to the country do not represent them, and they will not recognise them," said the statement read in an online video by Abdulaziz Salameh, the political leader of the Tawheed Brigade.

"Therefore the National Coalition and its transitional government led by Ahmad Tumeh do not represent them and will not be recognised," he said.

Western powers and their Gulf Arab allies had encouraged the SNC to lead a credible force within Syria under the FSA's banner and undercut Islamist militant groups piling into the conflict.

This effort to find a partner which the West and its allies could then back with weapons supplies could collapse if the rebel signatories hold their position - some groups have previously backed away from statements with hardline forces.

"If the statement proves to accurately represent the groups mentioned and they do not immediately fall apart again, it is a very big deal," wrote analyst Aron Lund on the blog Syria Comment.

"It represents the rebellion of a large part of the 'mainstream FSA' against its purported political leadership, and openly aligns these factions with more hardline Islamist forces."

CHRONIC INFIGHTING

Since the 2-1/2-year-old revolt against Assad began, Syria's opposition forces have been riven with factionalism and rivalries. There have also been tensions between Islamist groups and those that support a secular vision for a post-Assad Syria.

Charles Lister of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre said the three moderate Islamist groups which signed the statement - the Tawheed Brigade, the Islam Brigade and Suqor al-Sham - had represented SNC's main rebel presence on the ground.

"The inclusion of the core of the SNC force...effectively depletes the SNC's armed wing, the Syrian Military Council," Lister said. "It is likely that the moderate Islamist coalition has ceased to exist as a single organisation structure."

Islamist forces grew in power as the Syrian conflict changed from peaceful protests into an armed insurgency after a fierce crackdown by Assad's forces. Militant groups, some linked to al Qaeda, have become even stronger in the ensuing civil war.

Many Islamist groups that do not share al Qaeda's ideology had maintained a pragmatic stance. But the statement indicates that Tawheed and others have closed ranks with hardliners on the ground rather than the Western- and Gulf-backed SNC abroad.

"These forces call on all military and civilian forces to unite under a clear Islamic framework based on Sharia law, which should be the sole source of legislation," the statement said.

One of the most radical groups fighting in Syria, al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, was not involved in the statement, although it was not immediately clear if that was its own choice or because the other groups deliberately excluded it.

Whatever their ideological background, many opposition groups inside Syria are sceptical and resentful of the SNC, a fractious umbrella organisation for opposition groups abroad.

Critics accuse it of not being transparent with funding and in its political processes. They say it is out of touch with people in Syria, where more than 100,000 have been killed and swathes of territory have been destroyed by combat and shelling.

(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/syria-rebels-reject-opposition-coalition-call-islamic-leadership-092503945.html

Not really looking good for moderate supporters.