Syria's insurgency beyond Good Guys and Bad Guys

[ProSense]

4. So your preference is for Assad's brutality because he's a "secular despot"?

The Assad regime has managed to be significantly more brutal than a terrorist organization.

Assad admitted to bombing area after chemical attack took place.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023637203

Russia Today Airs Fake Footage of Rebels Using Sarin Gas in Syria
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023691313

Assad Tells Kucinich Chemical Weapons ‘Not a Secret Anymore’ During...Fox Interview (updated 2x)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023692289

Syria gives Russia chemical weapons evidence
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-gives-russia-chemical-weapons-evidence-095511215.html

Russia Denounces U.N. Chemical Report on Syria
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023690377

Of course, the facts aren't going to stop the attempts to absolve Assad by blaming the rebels.

Denmark's Foreign Minister Søvndal’s remarks on UN report of chemical weapons use in Syria
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023678152

Iceland’s Foreign Minister Welcomes Syria Agreement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023678152#post4

The chemical attack is on top of the ongoing brutality of the Assad regime.

UN rights chief condemns use of chemical weapons

By JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press

The U.N. human rights chief said Monday there is little doubt that chemical weapons were used in Syria but she did not specify which of the combatants was suspected of using them.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay spoke two days ahead of the expected update from a U.N. panel probing for war crimes and other human rights abuses in Syria, including the use of chemical weapons. The 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council, which authorized the probe, is likely to consider a resolution on Syria before the end of its session.

"The use of chemical weapons has long been identified as one of the gravest crimes that can be committed, yet their use in Syria seems now to be in little doubt, even if all the circumstances and responsibilities remain to be clarified," Pillay...noted that when she first urged action to end the Syrian crisis two years ago, some 2,600 Syrians had died in the conflict. Now the number of dead is over 100,000.

"The international community is late, very late to take serious joint action to halt the downward spiral that has gripped Syria, slaughtering its people and destroying its cities," she said. "This appalling situation cries out for international action, yet a military response or the continued supply of arms risk igniting a regional conflagration, possibly resulting in many more deaths and even more widespread misery."

- more -

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/body-told-chemical-weapons-gravest-crimes-20197253

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023627997

Syrian forces responsible for Banias massacres: U.N. report

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. rights investigators have established that Syrian government forces were almost certainly responsible for two massacres last May in which up to 450 civilians were killed, a report published on Wednesday said.

The report documented eight mass killings in all, attributing all but one to government forces, but said both government and rebel fighters had committed war crimes including murder, hostage-taking and shelling of civilians in their battle for territory.

The killings in Baida and Ras al-Nabaa, two pockets of rebel sympathizers surrounded by villages loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on the outskirts of the coastal town of Banias, sent a chilling message of the price to be paid for backing the rebels.

The U.N. commission of inquiry has not been allowed into Syria, but its 20 investigators carried out 258 interviews with refugees, defectors and others, in the region and in Geneva, including via Skype, for their 11th report in two years.

- more -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/us-syria-crisis-warcrimes-idUSBRE98A0D520130911