A refugee crisis is only half the story in Syria

[Sally]

If only Assad could have sat down with the opposition and made some concessions instead of having his police mow down protestors in the street, there wouldn't be this crises with Syrian refugees.


A refugee crisis is only half the story in Syria

Michael Petrou on why it’s time to confront our original failure in Syria: allowing Bashar al-Assad’s reign of terror to continue

Michael Petrou

September 3, 2015

0

(Mohammed Badra/Reuters)

We failed Alan and Galib Kurdi, and their mother, Rehan, long before they drowned trying to cross from Turkey to the Greek island of Kos.

A photo of Alan, 3, lying dead on a beach, face down with his arms at his side as if sleeping, has caused international outrage about the plight of the millions of Syrian refugees who have fled their homes for a chance at a better life in the West.

Tima Kurdi, sister of the boys’ father, Abdullah, who survived the crossing, lives in British Columbia.

She told media she had tried to sponsor another brother, Mohammed, to come to Canada. She says her hope was to eventually bring Abdullah’s family over as well.

Mohammed’s application was not immediately successful. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander told the CBC it was returned with a request for additional documentation. Tima says Abdullah then used money she sent him to hire smugglers to ferry his family to Greece.

Continue reading at:

A refugee crisis is only half the story in Syria - Macleans.ca?

 

[tinydancer]

Tima's greatest wish? Stop funding the rebels.

 

[irosie91]

Our big mistake took place over the past 45 years------the mistake was allowing the ASSADS to screw the Syrian people------HAFEZ should have caught a bullet in his head long ago---

 

[tinydancer]

If there is one good thing that will come about because of this horrible tragedy is that many will have to confront the hard truth that we in the west have been attempting to depose Assad and replace him with an unelected government that is sanctioned by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

And we have done so by funding paid mercenaries. We have decimated the country with this fake civil war . We have allowed ISIS to have become the most powerful terrorist organization in the world all in the quest to remove Assad from power.

This is disgusting.

 

[irosie91]

If there is one good thing that will come about because of this horrible tragedy is that many will have to confront the hard truth that we in the west have been attempting to depose Assad and replace him with an unelected government that is sanctioned by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

And we have done so by funding paid mercenaries. We have decimated the country with this fake civil war . We have allowed ISIS to have become the most powerful terrorist organization in the world all in the quest to remove Assad from power.

This is disgusting.

you got only one part right-----"we allowed....." We allowed all kinds of horrors. We allowed Pol Pot to live----we allowed adolf hitler to live----we allowed Osama bin Laden to live---we allowed Saddam Hussein to live----and we allowed Hafez al assad to live (among others). It is disgusting ------aim the drones

 

[tinydancer]

Our big mistake took place over the past 45 years------the mistake was allowing the ASSADS to screw the Syrian people------HAFEZ should have caught a bullet in his head long ago---

Oh and our assisting the terrorists errrrrrrrrrrr the rebels has made life better?



I think not. Just like Libya. Just like Yemen. Thank heavens the Egyptians came to their senses and banned the MB again.

 

[irosie91]

Our big mistake took place over the past 45 years------the mistake was allowing the ASSADS to screw the Syrian people------HAFEZ should have caught a bullet in his head long ago---

Oh and our assisting the terrorists errrrrrrrrrrr the rebels has made life better?



I think not. Just like Libya. Just like Yemen. Thank heavens the Egyptians came to their senses and banned the MB again.

you should give up "thinking"------it is not working out well for you-------you do not do it DEEPLY enough. The civil war in Syria was not CREATED by the USA------instigated by the ALL POWERFUL CIA-------you are afflicted with a condition which produces delusions-----probably a toxic delirium-----but so informing you will not help. The ASSADs have been brutalizing people in Syria and even outside of Syria for 45 years-----then came the "ARAB SPRING"------and---another factor is-----Iranian imperialism. All of these factors led to the current civil war in Syria-------sorry-----but I accept the fact that you prefer to live in your bubble "UNCLE SAM DID IT"------such comments are popular in the cafe

 

[Coyote]

If only Assad could have sat down with the opposition and made some concessions instead of having his police mow down protestors in the street, there wouldn't be this crises with Syrian refugees.


A refugee crisis is only half the story in Syria

Michael Petrou on why it’s time to confront our original failure in Syria: allowing Bashar al-Assad’s reign of terror to continue

Michael Petrou

September 3, 2015

0

(Mohammed Badra/Reuters)

We failed Alan and Galib Kurdi, and their mother, Rehan, long before they drowned trying to cross from Turkey to the Greek island of Kos.

A photo of Alan, 3, lying dead on a beach, face down with his arms at his side as if sleeping, has caused international outrage about the plight of the millions of Syrian refugees who have fled their homes for a chance at a better life in the West.

Tima Kurdi, sister of the boys’ father, Abdullah, who survived the crossing, lives in British Columbia.

She told media she had tried to sponsor another brother, Mohammed, to come to Canada. She says her hope was to eventually bring Abdullah’s family over as well.

Mohammed’s application was not immediately successful. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander told the CBC it was returned with a request for additional documentation. Tima says Abdullah then used money she sent him to hire smugglers to ferry his family to Greece.

Continue reading at:

A refugee crisis is only half the story in Syria - Macleans.ca?

They interviewed Tima's husband on NPR today, talking about his nephews and Abdullah. It was heartbreaking.

 

[irosie91]

Our big mistake took place over the past 45 years------the mistake was allowing the ASSADS to screw the Syrian people------HAFEZ should have caught a bullet in his head long ago---

Oh and our assisting the terrorists errrrrrrrrrrr the rebels has made life better?



I think not. Just like Libya. Just like Yemen. Thank heavens the Egyptians came to their senses and banned the MB again.

what assistence is the US giving to those you call "the rebels"?? "We" gave them Planes? Bombs? by "we" to whom are you referring? Can you be more specific?

 

[Coyote]

When I listen to the news on this, and hear these people's stories I just want to cry - these are people for christ's sake - not animals, not barbarians - but people. Syria, despite Basheer had a significant, educated, professional populace - thriving urban centers, magnificent historic monuments and was a melting pot of many ancient religions. Caught between the atrocities of Basheer, ISIS/ISIL, warlord militias are millions of people like us. People with no where safe to take their families, no where to go but the hopelessness of refugee camps - what is the future in there? There are people in Germany, Sweden and other places opening their hearts and homes to refugees and others closing them. We don't have a Syrian community or any refugees that I'm aware of in my town. But given how few Iraqi and Syrian refugees the US is willing to take in I'm not surprised. I feel this is something we need to pressure our government on - to admit more. I would willingly house a family and am trying to find out more. My mother, in Chapel Hill, belongs to a church that is involved in helping refugee families from Asia - I believe Myanmar. There are significant refugee communities there but it's a large city compared to where I am.

Sally - I also loved the thread you posted on pregnant women giving birth. The photographs themselves are stunningly beautiful and haunting. Each one is a work of art. Each story is left with a question - what future is there for these women? What future is there for religious minorities and non-compliant muslim populations in Syria under ISIS? ISIS is a barbarian horde - sweeping into territories like Ghengis Kahn. Except it's the 21st century.

 

[tinydancer]

Our big mistake took place over the past 45 years------the mistake was allowing the ASSADS to screw the Syrian people------HAFEZ should have caught a bullet in his head long ago---

Oh and our assisting the terrorists errrrrrrrrrrr the rebels has made life better?



I think not. Just like Libya. Just like Yemen. Thank heavens the Egyptians came to their senses and banned the MB again.

you should give up "thinking"------it is not working out well for you-------you do not do it DEEPLY enough. The civil war in Syria was not CREATED by the USA------instigated by the ALL POWERFUL CIA-------you are afflicted with a condition which produces delusions-----probably a toxic delirium-----but so informing you will not help. The ASSADs have been brutalizing people in Syria and even outside of Syria for 45 years-----then came the "ARAB SPRING"------and---another factor is-----Iranian imperialism. All of these factors led to the current civil war in Syria-------sorry-----but I accept the fact that you prefer to live in your bubble "UNCLE SAM DID IT"------such comments are popular in the cafe

Holy toledo irosie91! It's a well known fact that we in the west have been desperately trying to depose Assad. I'm royally pissed off at my Prime Minister and his conservative government that I have backed since they formed had had their fingerprints all over ME. But politically I have no other option up here. Both the Liberal and the NDP parties are commies.

I'm spitting bullets over our foreign policies and involvement. Not just in the ME but over the Ukraine as well. And if I wasn't in the middle of elections right now I'd be nuking my fellow conservatives over their bullshit involvement.

Here you go. It's not my opinion that we're involved. Hell's bells it is a FACT we are involved and have been since this bullshit aka Arab Spring movement started. Freaking trying to hand over the ME to the MB is nuts. But here we are.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/w...d-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?_r=0

Middle East
C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition
By ERIC SCHMITTJUNE 21, 2012

WASHINGTON — A small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers.

The weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some antitank weapons, are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the officials said.

The C.I.A. officers have been in southern Turkey for several weeks, in part to help keep weapons out of the hands of fighters allied with Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, one senior American official said. The Obama administration has said it is not providing arms to the rebels, but it has also acknowledged that Syria’s neighbors would do so.

 

[Sally]

When I listen to the news on this, and hear these people's stories I just want to cry - these are people for christ's sake - not animals, not barbarians - but people. Syria, despite Basheer had a significant, educated, professional populace - thriving urban centers, magnificent historic monuments and was a melting pot of many ancient religions. Caught between the atrocities of Basheer, ISIS/ISIL, warlord militias are millions of people like us. People with no where safe to take their families, no where to go but the hopelessness of refugee camps - what is the future in there? There are people in Germany, Sweden and other places opening their hearts and homes to refugees and others closing them. We don't have a Syrian community or any refugees that I'm aware of in my town. But given how few Iraqi and Syrian refugees the US is willing to take in I'm not surprised. I feel this is something we need to pressure our government on - to admit more. I would willingly house a family and am trying to find out more. My mother, in Chapel Hill, belongs to a church that is involved in helping refugee families from Asia - I believe Myanmar. There are significant refugee communities there but it's a large city compared to where I am.

Sally - I also loved the thread you posted on pregnant women giving birth. The photographs themselves are stunningly beautiful and haunting. Each one is a work of art. Each story is left with a question - what future is there for these women? What future is there for religious minorities and non-compliant muslim populations in Syria under ISIS? ISIS is a barbarian horde - sweeping into territories like Ghengis Kahn. Except it's the 21st century.

Your mother sounds like a warm hearted women. There are many groups who have helped refugees settle. I remember in the Los Angeles area there were groups helping the Vietnamese get settled as well as the Russian Jews. I am sure the large Syrian community out here with their churches are doing what they can. I was really impressed reading years ago reading about a Jewish family in a town just west of here taking in two Bosnia Muslim women and their children while the husbands stayed in their city to fight.