The reason that there’s so much media attention at the moment on the uprising in Syria is mostly because of the Hama massacre, which occured in 1982, when the Syrian president Hafez al-Assad (father of the present Syrian president) ordered the army to quell a revolt by the Sunni Muslim community. The Syrian security forces butchered about 20,000 people (estimates varied between 10,000 to 40,000 murdered. 20,000 is a generally accepted figure these days). This was the last time there was an uprising in Syria.
Robert Fisk, writing in The Independent, has a very good handle on it…
Robert Fisk: The people vs the president
I’ll reprint these words from Fisk’s article:
In 1980, Assad’s father, Hafez, faced an armed uprising in the central city of Hama, which was put down by the Special Forces of Hafez’s brother Rifaat – who is currently living, for the benefit of war crimes investigators, in central London – at a cost of up to 20,000 lives.
Point being that in the 1980s the world was an even madder place than it is now (what with the Cold War and all) and there was very little outcry about what took place in Hama. The fact that the people behind the Hama massacre are still at large, and one of them is living quite openly in London, is perhaps evidence of this.
What should also be pointed out is that there have been many other massacres in Syria before and since Hama. Syria is a state that routinely murders its own people, just like Iran (who are presently helping the Syrian regime), Libya, Bahrain and all the other scumbag despot states in the region.
The most breathtaking thing about the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East is that the people of this region, so long-suffering, suffering sustained largely by the West, are no longer prepared to die in torture chambers and by death squads, but are prepared to die for a concept called ‘freedom’, as defined by them, not the West.
It’s very difficult to predict what will be the outcome of these uprisings. The despots and their torturers and murderers will hopefully be strung-up: no mercy.
To be a bloodthirsty, thieving dictator in the Arab world and Persia (aka Iran) is not a good career choice at the moment. Perhaps I will sound bloodthirsty by saying this.
Nah, these lowlife scumbags deserve everything they get, and more.
