Today brings news of air strikes on the city of Raqaa by Syrian air force planes. Between 25 and 30 people were killed, most of them civilians who were hit when a crowded bakery was hit by an air to ground missile. Raqaa is a city in northern Syria of about half a million people which is presently under the control of ISIS. The Assad forces made no attempt to warn the people in Raqaa of the impending strike. There were no military positions in the bakery. Other positions which did have military value were hit, but the strike on the bakery just killed civilians.
So here's the question: where are the UN, the EU and president Obama? Why aren't they condemning this raid by the Syrian air force? After all, when a month ago targets with actual military value were hit by Israel in Gaza, the outcry from these same places was quite loud if anyone described as a civilian was killed. So why the silence? Indeed, the Assad forces have already killed over 150,000 Syrian civilians in the last three years, some by gassing, some by bombing, others with bullets and many more by starvation. Where are the marches denouncing Assad in Europe and by leftist organizations in America?
ISIS is no more of a terrorist group than Hamas. ISIS beheads journalists; Hamas kidnaps and kills young boys. ISIS executes opponents by crucifixion; Hamas launches thousands of rockets at civilian areas in the hopes of spreading maximum death. It is certainly fair to describe both groups as being part of the scum of the Earth. These are not "religious" people following the word of God; they are crazies who use religion as an excuse for heinous acts of the worst kind.
What Assad and the Syrians have done is much, much worse than what the Israelis did in Gaza. Without a doubt, civilians died in both the fight against Hamas and the one against ISIS. The main difference, however, is that Assad and Syria targeted civilians for death while Israel did what it could to minimize civilian casualties.
So I ask again, where are the UN, the EU, president Obama and all those left leaning groups that so loudly condemned the Israelis?
Now don't get me wrong. I think that civilian casualties are sadly an undeniable part of war. When a military force (be it terrorists or not) is placed inside a city, any attack to dislodge that force is going to cause civilian casualties. They cannot be totally avoided. Those who complain about such casualties do not understand the nature of war. The slaughter by the Assad forces of civilians goes way beyond the inevitable casualties, however. Assad's Syrian army has massacred thousands and thousands for no reason other than to intimidate his opponents into giving up. That is a flagrant violation of international law and it is totally unacceptable. I just think that the level of hypocrisy in the discussions of civilian casualties is so great that it needs to pointed out.
So here's the question: where are the UN, the EU and president Obama? Why aren't they condemning this raid by the Syrian air force? After all, when a month ago targets with actual military value were hit by Israel in Gaza, the outcry from these same places was quite loud if anyone described as a civilian was killed. So why the silence? Indeed, the Assad forces have already killed over 150,000 Syrian civilians in the last three years, some by gassing, some by bombing, others with bullets and many more by starvation. Where are the marches denouncing Assad in Europe and by leftist organizations in America?
ISIS is no more of a terrorist group than Hamas. ISIS beheads journalists; Hamas kidnaps and kills young boys. ISIS executes opponents by crucifixion; Hamas launches thousands of rockets at civilian areas in the hopes of spreading maximum death. It is certainly fair to describe both groups as being part of the scum of the Earth. These are not "religious" people following the word of God; they are crazies who use religion as an excuse for heinous acts of the worst kind.
What Assad and the Syrians have done is much, much worse than what the Israelis did in Gaza. Without a doubt, civilians died in both the fight against Hamas and the one against ISIS. The main difference, however, is that Assad and Syria targeted civilians for death while Israel did what it could to minimize civilian casualties.
So I ask again, where are the UN, the EU, president Obama and all those left leaning groups that so loudly condemned the Israelis?
Now don't get me wrong. I think that civilian casualties are sadly an undeniable part of war. When a military force (be it terrorists or not) is placed inside a city, any attack to dislodge that force is going to cause civilian casualties. They cannot be totally avoided. Those who complain about such casualties do not understand the nature of war. The slaughter by the Assad forces of civilians goes way beyond the inevitable casualties, however. Assad's Syrian army has massacred thousands and thousands for no reason other than to intimidate his opponents into giving up. That is a flagrant violation of international law and it is totally unacceptable. I just think that the level of hypocrisy in the discussions of civilian casualties is so great that it needs to pointed out.
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