Have you talked to a Syrian lately?

With all of this pre kick off war hype about bombings, murders and chemical weapons one has to ask the simple and hopefully unavoidable question on ATS

Has anyone actually talked to a Syrian living in Syria about Syria?

Or is everyone drinking from the same media well and making the same assumptions?

It seems like every time we invade a country for war or charity they forget to ask the you remember them, people who live there, what they think.

I haven't gone out and tried to meet Syrians but the one I did with family living there says most people support the government and this idea of a rebellion is being fed by the press and not by the reality on the ground.

reply to post by circuitsports


Very good question, I have not spoken to a Syrian myself but my brother in law is Iraqi and he lives here now but his family were living in Syria up until the violence started, having moved there when Iraq was invaded and the general discussion that he and his family have about the situation is that what is happening there is interference from western countries in something that has nothing to do with them,he and his family were made refugees from their homeland and now the rest of his family have to flee from another country because of interference from outside forces again, not my words, his. I just feel for the people of these countries that have to leave their homeland and their way of life behind because of other nations actions.

reply to post by circuitsports


The rebels are jihadis and the gov is trying to hold onto power. Sh*ts on fire, yo.

reply to post by circuitsports

Whoops, double post.

If you are the invading or interfering country, you can't allow too much reality to enter in to your invasion plans. All they want is to keep the demands for war materials high and the dissent low. S&F for ya !!

reply to post by circuitsports

I haven't gone out and tried to meet Syrians but the one I did with family living there says most people support the government and this idea of a rebellion is being fed by the press and not by the reality on the ground.

Can you be more specific? Your statement makes it sound like the entire rebellion is all made up.

Are you saying that the Free Syrian Army was nothing but a bunch of foreign outsider Muslim extremists from the very beginning?

We've all heard that the Free Syrian Army has been hijacked by jihadists, but the question is, how many are citizens of Syria and how many are foreigners from within the region?

I love how the US is already the evil invading country trying to destroy syria, and we dont have any forces on the ground there .................

Just as you accuse people of eating the western media propaganda...........

I urge you to not spread propaganda about the US being an evil invading force on syria.........when we havent set foot on their area.........

I'm glad you posted this. I have been following it for awhile, and while I could be buying into false reverse propaganda, I don't think that is the case. I wrote this on another thread, a really brief and extremely simplified summary of my understanding of it:


Assad is probably not an entirely nice guy, though by all appearances he is not nearly half the tyrant his father was, and Syria is pretty much a police state, think Gestapo and the Stasi, though Assad has made some reforms in the last few years.

His father came to rule by an overthrow of the previous govt. During his rule, one of the things that happened, was a Muslim Brotherhood uprising (in the '80s), which he put down, brutally yes, but that's pretty much the gist, and you can then see why the ever deepening police state. A few years before he died, he got sick and was just about overthrown himself...by his brother, who was pretty much in charge of the military. Yeah. He got better, exiled his brother, jailed/killed the others involved, and carried on. He died and the son came to power, much to the bitterness of the brother. The brother is exiled in France, and guess what? He's all for the 'rebels', who are primarily, you guessed it, Muslim Brotherhood. (that's the Syrians that were involved from the beginning. Of course, by now, the majority of the FSA are non-Syrians that were shipped in).

It is true that the US (and others) has spent millions over the last 10 years or more setting up NGO's all over the middle east, including in Syria, to promote 'freedom and democracy'. Do you think they do this out of altruism? No. They US (and others) also work at fomenting and supporting the malcontents, in this case, the Muslim Brotherhood, ever more bitter since the last go round. A few years go by...and bingo, things start to happen.

So, again, is Assad some kind of Saint? No. Is he what we're told he is? No. Did this 'revolution' just appear out of nowhere? No. Are 'we' involved? Absolutely.

Were there citizens in Syria who genuinely wanted change and political reform, who didn't like Assad? Yes. Was that reform happening? Yes, until the fighting (fomented by 'us') broke out, and all that came to an end until the fighting stops.

Does the FSA, and ergo the Muslim Brotherhood, actually represent that 'freedom and reform'? No, though they seemed to in the beginning. What their aim is, an Islamic state, translates to less freedom, not more. (It is now Secular).

And guess what? A lot of those people who were railing against Assad for change, and even for him to be gone? A lot of them are now on his side, if only because they know what will replace him is worse.

There are also other opposition groups who are calling for change and reform, but it's not a requisite that Assad go. There are those that are okay with Assad going; But what they all agree they do NOT want, is foreign intervention under any circumstances. And guess what? NONE of those groups, or members of those groups, are part of, or even invited to be a part of the 'official opposition' being paraded around by "The Friends of Syria" and now being recognized by other countries as the "Official representatives of the Syrian people".



Another thing I recently came across suggested that the govt the father overthrew to come into power was felt to have been a western backed coup with which we're quite familiar. Again, this gives context as to 'why he just won't step down' and why most Syrian people would not want him to, even those that do not like him. It was not that long before the father came to power that they were ruled by the French, and one of the things the father stood for, what the Baath party stands for, is secular and Pro-Arab, anti-Western policies. So it does seem to me that no matter how many Syrians wanted reforms and greater freedom, and even an end to Assad rule, the LAST thing they would want would be outside interventions with their country and politics from either FUKUS countries, or Islamist ones.

Originally posted by ManBehindTheMask
I love how the US is already the evil invading country trying to destroy syria, and we dont have any forces on the ground there .................

Just as you accuse people of eating the western media propaganda...........

I urge you to not spread propaganda about the US being an evil invading force on syria.........when we havent set foot on their area.........

edit on 10-12-2012 by ManBehindTheMask because: (no reason given)

The united states has openly provided material support to Syria - are guns and other weapons given somehow less than boots, maybe but not by much. And that certainly raises another point of how we may be responsible for arming terrorists.

By our very definitions the rebels are terrorists attacking a legitimate government and we are helping them.

I'm not accusing people of anything more than anyone else is guilty of. Getting there news from the same places. Not the people.

I do know that I am watching a documentary about the oil industry and there are 2 ceo's saying they love these conflicts because it keeps the price at the pumps high and they are getting rich as a result. Certainly they aren't the only ones.

The guy I spoke with was no one special I just noticed as he was pulling in to work at Home Depot he had both a Syrian and american flag in his rear window so I asked him about it.

I'm looking for the article which breaks down the funding for and names the NGO's in question. This is not a theory, this is in fact one of the places US tax dollars are going; and it's happening all over the world, not just the middle east. Here's one article, but not the one I was looking for:

"War On All Fronts" lewrockwell.com...

Much of the Russian political opposition consists of foreign-paid agents, and once the law passes leading elements of the Russian political opposition will have to sign in with the Russian Ministry of Justice as foreign agents of Washington. The Itar-Tass News Agency reported on July 3 that there are about 1,000 organizations in Russia that are funded from abroad and engaged in political activity. Try to imagine the outcry if the Russians were funding 1,000 organizations in the US engaged in an effort to turn America into a Russian puppet state.(In the US the Russians would find a lot of competition from Israel.)

Actually, remember the outcry about the UN monitors at election time? Even though the UN monitors almost every other country's elections and is encouraged to do so by the US? Imagine Russian NGO 'election monitors' and how that'd go over...Most people just can't, or don't, turn things around to think about how they'd like it, or how it'd go over here...As I've said in other threads - imagine other countries sending arms and funds to the Republicans to overthrow Obama. Imagine them recognizing Mitt Romney as the head of the Free American Army; and a group of foreigners calling themselves "The Friends of America" having meetings, with no Dem's present or invited, now suggesting to the world that Mitt and the FAA are legitimate and are representing all Americans? And blaming Obama for all of the chaos ensuing?! Are you starting to see how crazy this is?!

The Washington-funded Russian political opposition masquerades behind “human rights” and says it works to “open Russia.” What the disloyal and treasonous Washington-funded Russian “political opposition” means by “open Russia” is to open Russia for brainwashing by Western propaganda, to open Russia to economic plunder by the West, and to open Russia to having its domestic and foreign policies determined by Washington.

“Non-governmental organizations” are very governmental. They have played pivotal roles in both financing and running the various “color revolutions” that have established American puppet states in former constituent parts of the Soviet Empire. NGOs have been called “coup d’etat machines,” and they have served Washington well in this role. They are currently working in Venezuela against Chavez.

Again, I'll try to find the article with the names and numbers and post it when I do.

I too wish that we could hear more from people actually living there. I thought that Assad was the bad guy in all of this? Didn't he kill an enormous amount of innocent civilians (including women and children) toward the beginning of this thing? Or were all of those reports made up? Why is it again that he would not allow media access to inside the country?

Now I hear that rebels aren't actually fighting for the common man at all?

I don't know what the real story is anymore with all the potential disinfo floating around.

Originally posted by circuitsports
With all of this pre kick off war hype about bombings, murders and chemical weapons one has to ask the simple and hopefully unavoidable question on ATS

Has anyone actually talked to a Syrian living in Syria about Syria?

Or is everyone drinking from the same media well and making the same assumptions?

It seems like every time we invade a country for war or charity they forget to ask the you remember them, people who live there, what they think.

I haven't gone out and tried to meet Syrians but the one I did with family living there says most people support the government and this idea of a rebellion is being fed by the press and not by the reality on the ground.

I'll answer your question with a question..

Was your Syrian friend a member of the Alawite minority who currently are in power over the majority Sunni. If so, the person has a lot to lose if Assad is forced out...

While that might be true, the only ones who stand to benefit from the FSA's (and ergo the Muslim Brotherhood's) aims are those who want (another) Islamic state; which does not conform with 'freedom and democracy' which is what we're told the 'revolution' is about. Which is quite obvious when you look who's primarily financially backing it - Saudia Arabia and Qatar who are hardly calling for such in their own countries.

Originally posted by clay2 baraka

I'll answer your question with a question..

Was your Syrian friend a member of the Alawite minority who currently are in power over the majority Sunni. If so, the person has a lot to lose if Assad is forced out...

edit on 12/10/2012 by clay2 baraka because: (no reason given)

Honestly I don't know the answer to that but I figured that he was confident that I could ask any Syrian I could find that things weren't what I've heard.

I just think that we should ask the people first. Not the government fed media reports.

found a link to this on twitter:

www.twitlonger.com...

edward dark (@edwardedark)
Posted Tuesday 11th December 2012 from Twitlonger

I am posting here my answer to a reporter about the humanitarian situation in Aleppo, plz read & spread #Syria :

To address your questions, Aleppo has been in a worsening situation ever since rebels stormed it in late July, but now the situation is nearing a catastrophe, thousands will die of mass starvation very soon if nothing is done.

The people most affected are obviously the poorer classes, and those are usually found in the areas under rebel control. the main staple food for most people here is bread, which used to be made in government subsidized bakeries and sold for about 25 lira a bag before the current crisis. now it sells for 200-250, if you can find any. so more than 10x increase, which means people cant afford it which means a lot of people are now facing starvation. the reason for the bakeries shutting down is a lack of diesel fuel to run them, and no materials for making bread as the grain storage silos of the city were looted by rebels and sold off to buy weapons.

the prices for everything, including basic goods has shot up 100% and more. there are no jobs because most businesses and factories have shut down, and people who were once middle class are now in poverty.

all the gas stations in the city closed down when the rebels arrived, so you can only buy petrol at black market vendors and smugglers for 4x normal prices. there is no cooking gas, and no heating oil. the power and water supply is cut off for days at a time in the city, some neighborhoods, both in rich and poor areas, regime controlled or rebel controlled havent had electricity for 2 weeks now because damage to the power grid isnt getting repaired. the only way people can get warm is to chop down trees in the streets and use them for firewood. a lot of the city's trees are now gone.

both regime and rebels dont care and are not providing any aid or assistance to the people. what little aid there is either comes from private donors, or the Syrian red crescent, the only NGO working in Aleppo at this time, but the aid is no where near enough.

Please let the world know about the desperate situation here, thanks

thanks for that contribution