May 3, 2014, Lilly Martin, OpEd News
Syria began a spiral of violence in March 2011. The leaders of the uprising in Deraa have long gone; some are found now living in Benghazi, Libya. The followers of the Syrian revolution have long since realized the freedom and democracy they thought they were fighting for, was never on the table for offer. The foreign countries and their Arab allies who funded and designed the revolution had never intended they realize any freedoms or democratic reforms. It was all about regime change, even from the very first day.
Now we fast-forward 3 years, and the violence continues with more than 150,000 people having been killed; more than 10 million internally displaced, with over 2 million having fled. Some media centers far removed from the Syrian battle-grounds have labeled the crisis a ‘civil war’. According to the Oxford English dictionary, this label is erroneous. When does a label pasted on in error become political propaganda? We certainly cannot explain the error of BBC and CNN on poor English skills.
The dictionary definition of the term ‘civil war’ states: a war between citizens of the same country. According to BBC, CNN, and others of the western media, we should be able to find Syrian citizens who are fighting other Syrian citizens. But, instead we find Syrian citizens fighting citizens from: UK, USA, Belgium, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Morocco, and Turkey. Some of these fighters are Arabs, and some cannot speak even one word of Arabic. Some are fighting to rid Syria of all heathens, according to their definition of heathens, which includes all Jews, Christians, and Muslims who are not following their new brand of Islam, which was invented by Salafi, Wahabi, and Muslim Brotherhood followers. Some of the men are simply fighting for the $1,000.00 per month cash paid to them by Saudi Arabia. To those fighters, it is just a job. These fighters are armed terrorists, but the media calls them ‘rebels’. The word rebel, in the connotation of a war of rebellion, means someone who is rebelling against a government. Why would a man from Chechnya or Belgium think he has any right to rebel against the Syrian government, when the Syrian government has no effect on his life or rights? Has the Syrian government oppressed or harmed any American or British person?
The Free Syrian Army began as a group of local Syrian men organized and fighting the Syrian Arab Army, which is the national army of Syria. However, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which is the armed wing of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) located in Istanbul, Turkey, made strategic alliances and pledges to Al Qaeda (AQ), the radical Islamic terrorist group of global fame. The FSA felt they would benefit by the numbers, weapons, and training of the AQ fighters. It was a win-win deal, until AQ and their allies of Jibhat Al Nusra (JAN) and Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) began slaughtering the FSA. The decision to eliminate the FSA emanated from the fact that the FSA just wanted regime change, and ultimately greater freedom and democracy, but AQ, J AN, and ISIS didn’t have any goal in Syria short of establishing a caliphate, meaning to transform Syria into a Sunni Muslim state, without freedom and definitely without democracy, as those two concepts are in direct conflict with their ideology.
The two sides on the battle grounds in Syria today are foreign funded and supported non-Syrian terrorists, fighting against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) which is composed of Syrian males, over the age of 18 years, in good health, and not enrolled in a university in Syria or abroad. The SAA is totally Syrian and is secular. There are 18 sects in Syria and all are drafted; there are no religious quotas in the national conscription. When you read in western media that the SAA are “forces loyal to the Alowi government” this is pure rubbish, and more propaganda. Are the men and women in the armed forces of USA loyal to Obama’s regime? A member of any military of any country is loyal to that nation, which means all the citizens. A soldier is not in a political policy-making position. He is drafted, or enlists, and he serves to defend his county from domestic or foreign attack.
Some media have dropped the term civil war, and instead use the term ‘sectarian war’. They try to incorrectly compare the Sunni-Shia divisions we have seen in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq to Syria. Syria is not a Sunni-Shia clash. Syria is 18 different sects. The terrorists in Syria have burnt as many Sunni mosques as churches. The terrorists in Syria have burnt as many Korans as Bibles. It is true that the only sect that had a militia was the Sunni sect, that of the Free Syrian Army, but the men fighting the FSA daily were not exclusively Shites, and were not in a militia; they were Sunni members of the Syrian Arab Army, as well as their fellow soldiers from all 18 sects. The Syrian Arab Army has never been an Alowi army, and has never represented one of the 18 sects exclusively.
The role of satellite TV channels is immense. People everywhere are watching CNN and BBC and many others, and have come to trust their news coverage of events happening around the world. They have come to rely on the mainstream media to kept them informed on events in far-flung places they will never in their lifetimes visit. They will listen to the news, watch the accompanying videos, and form opinions based on the information presented. If the information is biased or downright lies, then we have entered the realm of propaganda. There are many satellite TV channels that are located in the Arab world, and broadcast in Arabic. Channels such as Wessal, Safa, and others. These are channels that feature an Islamic cleric who gives fiery lectures on the importance of killing certain sects in Syria, the importance of raping little girls in Syria, urges Muslim females to give their bodies freely in sex-jihad in Syria, and who gives the Islamic ideology to back up his urging of the wholesale killing of 20% of the civilian population of Syria, as long as it achieves the goal of regime change.
Furthermore, we must examine the role of internet social media. Facebook is full of pages and groups promoting the killing, rape and mutilation of unarmed Syrian civilians. YouTube is loaded with thousands of videos taken and uploaded by the terrorists themselves. They have hundreds of beheadings, live on camera, and in color. They have several videos of them barbecuing Syrians on grills. One of the most famous videos was of a Free Syrian Army soldier cutting open the dead body of a Syrian and eating his liver. That was so popular on YouTube that a British journalist was sent to Syria to personally interview the cannibal.
The airports, ports, and roads of Turkey are full of terrorists coming in from places around the globe. They are seen at the airport in Istanbul. They are seen at the airport in Adana. They are all over the port at Iskanderun, and they are sleeping, eating, and driving all over the Southern border of Turkey as it approaches Syria. They are found from Yalada to Reyhanli, and everywhere in between. I can’t imagine what fear is in the hearts and minds of decent Turkish citizens who are forced to accept these bloodthirsty foreign terrorists in their midst. One such innocent Turkish woman was attacked and abused by terrorists on a domestic Turkish Air flight from Istanbul to Adana. After reporting her abuse to airline authorities they apologized but said there was nothing they could do about the matter, as the policy of transporting terrorists in Turkey for the purpose of fighting in Syria was a national policy, and not private.
Syria has 23 million people and they are from 18 religious sects. The Sunni Muslim sect is the largest at about 60%. Most of the current Presidential cabinet of ministers is from the Sunni sect. The current Parliament, which was voted on by general election during this crisis, is a very mixed group, with the Sunni sect well represented. Syria is a secular government, and the only secular government in the Middle East. After 40 years of socialist and secular type of government, the topic and labels of sects is disgusting to most Syrians. To the broad and educated mind, those are trivial matters that are only focused on by foreign governments, who are secular as well, or monarchies. I can’t imagine the American public accepting the discussion of religious labels on each elected and appointed official in USA as of vital importance.
The Syrian opposition, SNC, located in Istanbul, Turkey, was founded by Muslim Brotherhood leaders for the purpose of regime change in Syria. The members are mainly followers of radical Islam, which is not a sect but is a political ideology, in direct opposition to both secular ideology and democratic ideology. To cover their true identity, the MB leadership of SNC threw in a handful of Communists, like George Sabra. Communism and radical Islam: the future of Syria? The Syrian citizens, who have not been living in Paris, Riyadh, and London for the last 30 years, find the SNC repugnant and out of touch with Syrian society or political views. This is why most of the Syrian public has never followed or supported the SNC. The SNC is supported and followed by western governments and their Arab allies who don’t care what the Syrian public wants. This is what has made the SNC divided and totally ineffective. The SNC are speaking to, and working for, foreign governments and their Arab allies. For most of the members of SNC it is all about their own paycheck. This is their chance to rake in a large monthly salary, travel expenses, and lavish 5-star hotel living. This is their chance to destroy Syria, which was the land of their birth decades ago, but a home they forgot and distanced themselves from, both physically and emotionally. They have not seen Syria in years; they have no ties there other than some shared dna, which they acquired without their own choice in the matter.
I am an American citizen, living permanently in Syria.
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