Richard Engel "Tweets" This Message Embedded from his Twitter Feed

Richard Engel Twitter June 4 2013:  (Sounds horrifically like Cambodia in the 1970s, all over again)

At least 147 people whose bodies were found in #Aleppo’s river between Jan- March probably executed in govt-run areas, Human Rights Watch
5:40 AM - 4 Jun 2013

Re-blog from Maine Writer - Cambodia - Syria and Other Masacres: A Reader Responds

SATURDAY, JUNE 01, 2013

http://oneturkeyrun.blogspot.com/2013/06/blog-reader-comments-on-syria.html

This blog includes a horrifying list of carnage perpetrated by humanity - and calls for action to prevent more carnage, like the genocide in Cambodia, from happening in Syria. 

Blog Reader Comments on Syria - Challenges "Cold War" Mentality

"Julie, you're writing like a Cold War Warrior!" says blog reader Joe, from Bangor Maine.

He's responding to the May 31, 2013 blog calling on President Obama to employ brilliant international leadership to prevent or deter the Russians from sending military aid to the Syrian government.  This escalating crises has challenged President Obama's international leadership. 

So far, the President has kept our ground troops out of the Syrian civil war, in spite of urgent calls by Senator John McCain to provide assistance to the rebels, many of them being massacred, because they're Christians. 

Joe writes:  Dear Julie:  Yup and Mao (Tse-tung) was involved in the deaths of up to 75,000,000 people in China,  far more than Hitler...and what did the U.S., and President Nixon, and John F. Kennedy and other presidents do?.......Nixon went to China and later established diplomatic relations....."

"Pol Pot killed up to 3,000,000 in Cambodia, what did the U.S. do?"

"Uganda dictator Idi Amin murdered about 1,000,000, and what did the US do?"

"The U.S. Invaded Iraq and overturned Saddam Hussein, a minor league murderer compared to these mass murderers above...and what has happened? The U.S. killed more people than he did,  10 years later after we pulled out ....and, they're STILL FIGHTING .."

"There were 1,000,000 Christians in Iraq during Hussein's time ....now it is down to 300,000 and dropping.....War has many ugly unforeseen consequences...."

"... our (American) stumbling and bumbling interventions do nothing but make matters worse in many cases.  God Bless.  Joe"

Okay, Joe.  You're right.  But, Syria now has an overt offer of Russian intervention. 

In my opinion, Russia increased the heat in an already incendiary situation by offering military aid to the Syrian government, in spite of President Obama's request for them not to do so.  

Joe's answer is this: "It's extremely complex ....I do NOT believe Russia is making the right moves....they're wrong...but our World Cop interventions have created a threat to our freedoms.  (Besides)...Russia has a naval base to protect inTartus, Syria"

Tartus hosts a Soviet naval supply and maintenance facility, under a 1971 agreement with Syria, which is still staffed by Russian naval personnel. 

Joe adds:  "...the Russians have their only Naval Base in that part (Syria) of the world ...the Soviet Union lost 25,000,000 people in World War 2. They have fears and so would we if we had lost that many....Also, there are a number of relationships with Syria including religious and similar groups of people..."

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) provided an op-ed on this crises in this CNN post:

Helping Syrian Rebels is a Dangerous Risk

By Rand Paul, Special to CNN
(CNN) -- The United States has a history of often picking sides in Middle East conflicts to its own detriment. Arguably one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Iraq war was Iran, which now enjoys more power and influence with the elimination of its historic enemy.  Today, Iraq is unstable and its future uncertain.

So, with all due respect to Joe in Bangor and to Senator Paul Rand, the only solution to the Syrian massacre during the current bloodbath going on in the country is to do nothing at all.  Let's allow Russia to sell arms to the Syrian government without intervening.

Okay.  If doing nothing demonstrates American leadership, then so be it.  At least, in doing nothing, the US will be consistent. 

When America abandoned Viet Nam, millions of South Vietnamese were victimized by the victorious Viet Cong, because they were loyal and believed the US would be there for them.   

Americans, led by George Bush 1st, let down the Kurd population after the war called Operation Desert Storm, and they were slaughtered.  In the aftermath of of Operation Desert Storm,, the United States encouraged Kurds and Shiites to rebel against the Hussein regime, but, then withdrew and refused to support them, leaving an unknown number to be slaughtered. At one point, Hussein's regime killed as many as 2,000 suspected Kurdish rebels every day. Some two million Kurds hazarded the dangerous trek through the mountains to Iran and Turkey, hundreds of thousands dying in the process.

So, I suppose President Obama doesn't need to exert any internationally inspired leadership at all to help the Syrian rebels in the face of Russian intervention.  He can just do what his predecessors have done - absolutely nothing. 

I've been to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.  I've visited the Killing Fields of Cambodia.  I've spoken with Vietnamese loyalists who were sent to repatriation camps by the Viet Cong.

Doing nothing is just as destructive as doing something.

Labels: Cold War, Russia, Syria