Posted on 03/17/2015 5:43:22 PM PDT by Steelfish
CBS NEWSMarch 16, 2015 Clarissa Ward On 4 Years Of Civil War In Syria
Sunday marked four years since Syria plunged into chaotic civil war.
As the conflict enters its fifth year, President Bashar Assad remains resolute in the face of a rebel movement determined to remove him from power. The consequences of the war are staggering: more than 215,000 people have been killed and nearly 4 million are now refugees.
The change was precipitated by the formation of the Free Syrian Army, and with it, the militarization of the conflict, said Ward. "The fiercer the bombardments came from the regime side, the fiercer the response was from the rebel side, and then gradually we saw the arrival of the Islamists on the battle field and this really completely changed the character of the uprising altogether."
Ward said that what allowed the multitude of extremist groups to begin carving out their own defacto territories within Syria, was the rest of the world's seeming indifference to the crisis.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Leading from behind meaningless red lines has its consequences. Obama is a POS president and a pathetic narcissist as a person. The arab spring has been a most deadly season. Thanks Valerie.
Remember that the whole Syrian “civil war” was started by His Arrogance, Benghazi Clinton, and the rest of the NWO rat pack through NGOs, false flag operations and the support of the Saudis.
Lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta was a member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.
Syria hosted Zarqawi’s terrorist group al Tawhid’s training casmp at least as early as summer 2002; the group, a predessesor of al Qaeda in Iraq and ISIS, had the goal of toppling Jordan’s king and was involved in the 1999 Millennium plots, an element of which was to bomb the Radisson Hotel in Jordan where American including US military personnel often stayed.
The US military chaplain Yee received his Islamic training in Damascus before being selected by the AMF-VAC [an organization associated with convicted terrorists which was permitted by the Clinton Admin to select muslim chaplains for service in the US military and in ULS prisons.] Yee is known for smuggling classified documents and terrorist communications out of Gitmo to the Syrian regime.
Syria also played host to Iran’s fav terrorist Imad Mugniyeh and his son. Imad Mugniyeh is known for the 1980s bombings of the Marine barracks, the French soldier’s barracks , and the US embassy in Lebanon that took hundreds of lives and wounded many more. He’st also the men behind the abduction to Iran and torture and murder of American CIA station chief William Buckley and the abduction, torture and murder of US Marine Col. Higgins. And also the bombing of the Jewish center in Argentina more recently. Mugniyeh was finaly tracked down and killed in Damascus, Syria in 2008 in a joint Israeli-US attack just minutes after he met with his Iranian contact and Syrian General Mohammed Suleiman, a senior advisor to President Bashir al Assad and the man in charge of Syria’s nuclear reactor project. Suleiman was killed months later by a sniper by Israel as part of an effort to slow Syria’s nuclear efforts.
Interesting Wikipedia trivia involving Syria, a USN pilot shot down by the Syrians, and Obama’s pastor of 20 years:
While on a bombing mission, the two-man crew from Attack Squadron VA-85 was hit by an infrared homing missile (SA-7 or SA-9) into the engine nozzle upon dropping its bomb-load, while still in a dive through 1,800 feet (554 m) AGL. The fuselage and a wing were immediately engulfed in flames, and then the right side engine erupted.
The pilot, United States Navy Lieutenant Mark Lange, a Naval Aviator, tried to control the aircraft in order to safely eject the crew. After a rapid, low-level descent, the Intruder was seen to pull up and likely stalled, resulting in a crash on a 1,000 AGL [clarification needed] hill, above a village surrounded by Syrian Anti-aircraft artillery positions. Lange ejected both himself and Goodman in the final moment, but his parachute failed to properly deploy by the time he hit the ground. Lange’s left leg was severely injured and he died shortly after capture by Syrian troops and Lebanese civilians. Goodman, rendered unconscious, broke three ribs, injured a shoulder and a knee during the landing, but was otherwise stable. He was captured and awakened by the Syrians and taken to Damascus.
Captivity[edit]
Goodman was held for more than a month, during which the U.S. government made numerous attempts to free him. He had a few visitors, including Ambassador Robert Paganelli who brought him Christmas dinner.
Freedom[edit]
In January 1984, Jesse Jackson travelled to Libya and Syria within a party of approximately 20 volunteers including; Wyatt T Walker, Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan. The mission’s peaceful purpose was accomplished, as they secured the release of Goodman.[2][3]
———http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Goodman
Wiki’s sources :
2. Walters, Ronald (2007). Freedom Is Not Enough: Black Voters, Black Candidates, and American Presidential Politics (American Political Challenges). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, p. 34. Excerpt at Google Books.
3.Jump up ^ Martin, Roland (10 April 2008). “New Details Emerge on Polygamy Raid; McCain Makeover?”. Election Central (CNN). Retrieved December 9, 2008. “the fact that it was Reverend Wright who accompanied Reverend Jackson to get a Navy pilot, Goodman, out of Syria, who also was on that trip with Louis Farrakhan. Reagan praised that mercy mission for getting the pilot back.”
-——http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Goodman
/snip
How trustworthy the sources are, I don’t know, but various regimes have a habit of releasing hostages or POWs to American leftists whose political status in the US they wish to raise for these regimes’ own purposes and future benefit. We’re always glad to get our people back, but be aware the regimes do not release hostages/prisoners to just anyone... they do it to get the most bang for their buck.
Excellent Frontline program on “The Rise of ISIS” this week - does a good job of unraveling the Sunni-Shiite maze - and comes down hard on Obama’s contribution to the mess in the mid-east - Bush’s surge in Iraq had stabilized the country pretty well, with more moderate Sunni leaders pacified with lots of money and the promise of power in the new government led by Shiite Maliki - the more radical Sunni including a lot of Saddam’s old guard were driven north into Syria - then Obama pulled all our troops out of Iraq and on the day Maliki was in Washington to celebrate the great event he received a call telling him that a Sunni plot to assassinate him had been uncovered (most probably a setup) - he shared the news with Obama, who replied that all countries had their problems and had to handle them the best way they could - Maliki took this as a signal that the US would not interfere in anything he did, and his drive to purge the government and army of Sunni influence began (fueled by the fear that without our influence in Iraq a Sunni civil war, led by Saddam’s old forces, would drive him from power) - the Sunni population saw the promise of power-sharing evaporate and rebelled, bringing brutal reprisals from Maliki, and ISIS, led by battle-hardened veterans of Saddam’s army, was off and running - virtually to a man those involved in the Obama administration who had tried to deal with the situation felt that he had mishandled it - as then Defense Secretary Panetta said at one point “I respected the decision because he was the commander-in-chief, but I thought it was wrong” - and someone else observed “There were some phone calls to be sure, but no one saw the administration do anything to help or hurt Maliki in what he was doing” - and this from PBS - catch it if you can......
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