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7.21.12

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Military Resistance 10G17

Members Of Congress From Both Parties Condemn War In Afghanistan:

It Is Time That The Congress Listen To 72% Of The American People Who Say: Bring Our Troops Home Now, Not Later
I Have Signed Over 10,474 Letters To Families Who Have Lost Loved Ones Since We Were Lied To To Go Into Iraq
The Policy Adopted By The United States In Afghanistan About As Effective As Trench Warfare In World War One

Jul 18, 2012 By David Alexander. Reuters Condemning the war in Afghanistan as a waste of lives and money, U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday debated whether to approve $608 billion in defense spending next year. A string of war-weary lawmakers from both parties in the House of Representatives expressed anger with corruption in the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, skepticism about any lasting progress toward resolving the conflict and exhaustion over the unending cost in lives and treasure. I cannot continue to support legislation that sends billions and billions and billions of dollars to Afghanistan, said Republican Representative Walter Jones, whose district in North Carolina includes Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the U.S. East Coast. I have signed over 10,474 letters to families who have lost loved ones since we were lied to to go into Iraq, Jones added. It is time that the Congress listen to 72 percent of the American people who say: bring our troops home now, not later. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who fought with the mujahideen against the Soviet occupation forces during a visit to Afghanistan in the 1980s, said the U.S.-led war was like a Twilight Zone episode and the longer we stay there, the more enemies were going to make. Osama bin Laden is dead. The Taliban were cleared from Afghanistan years ago, he said. So its time for us to declare victory and bring our troops home. Representative Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, said the nation-building policy adopted by the United States in Afghanistan would be seen through the lens of history as about as effective as trench warfare in World War One. You need an ally thats going to be a partner with you. The Karzai government is corrupt, Welch said. Debate on the measure was expected to continue through Friday. The final version will have to be reconciled with a similar Senate bill before it can be sent to Obama to sign into law. It is not clear when the Senate will take up its defense bill.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

2 Drum Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan IED Blast

Jul 19, 2012 Army Times

Two soldiers based at New Yorks Fort Drum were killed when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Thursday. Sgt. Daniel A. Rodriguez, 28, of Baltimore, Md., and Sgt. Jose J. Reyes, 24, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, died July 18, in Ghazni City. The soldiers were assigned to the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. Rodriquez was a 10-year Army veteran. It was his second deployment to Afghanistan. He also did two tours in Iraq. Hes survived by his wife and three children. Reyes joined the Army two years ago. He deployed to Afghanistan in April. Hes survived by his wife and two children.

Foreign Occupation Servicemember Killed Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan: Nationality Not Announced
July 19, 2012 Reuters A foreign servicemember died following an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Afghanistan today.

Another Foreign Occupation Servicemember Killed Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan: Nationality Not Announced
July 19, 2012 Reuters A foreign servicemember died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today.

POLITICIANS REFUSE TO HALT THE BLOODSHED THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR

Resistance Action
7.20.12 AFP A roadside bomb killed five Afghan policemen, including a district police chief, when it ripped through their vehicle in a volatile part of southern Afghanistan, provincial authorities said on Friday. Four police bodyguards along with district police chief, Ahmadullah, were killed in Sarab district in Uruzgan province late last evening, Abdullah Himmat, the provincial governors spokesman, told AFP. Initially, the Taliban insurgents attacked a security checkpost. When the district chief along with his men went to respond, his vehicle struck a roadside bomb, provincial police investigative director, Gulab Khan said. All five in the vehicle were killed, Khan said.

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MILITARY NEWS

Treatment Of Bradley Manning Should Shock The Court

Either The Water At Fort Leavenworth Has Amazing Mental Health Healing

Properties Or He Was Subject To Unlawful Pre-Trial Confinement

www.bradleymanning 20 July 12 By Dan De Luce, Agence France-Presse Evidence showing the mistreatment of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning at a military brig should shock the conscience of the court, his lawyer said Thursday. The US Army soldier accused of handing over a trove of secret documents to the WikiLeaks website was subjected to harsh, unlawful conditions for nine months at the brig even though psychiatrists concluded he was not at risk of committing suicide, said David Coombs, his defense counsel. Manning was placed under maximum custody at the US Marine Corps Brig in Quantico, Virginia as the result of a direct order from a commanding officer, witnessed by two colonels, Coombs alleged at a pre-trial hearing. Other cases have revealed excesses but this one should shock the conscience of this court, the lawyer added. After his solitary confinement from July 2010 to April 2011, which sparked outrage by rights activists, Manning was transferred to a prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where he was placed under less restrictive conditions after he was evaluated by mental health professionals. Judge Denise Lind agreed to a defense request to have the commander of the Fort Leavenworth brig at the time, Lieutenant Colonel Dawn Hilton, testify next month about how Manning was evaluated and why he was not placed in solitary confinement. Mannings lawyer said he planned to file a 100-page motion arguing his client suffered illegal detention conditions while awaiting his court-martial, and said his improved

treatment at Fort Leavenworth made clear that he had endured an injustice at the Quantico brig. Either the water at Fort Leavenworth has amazing mental health healing properties or he was subject to unlawful pre-trial confinement (at Quantico), Coombs said. But the judge rejected a request from Manning to have UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez appear as a witness. Prosecutors had argued that Mendezs testimony was not relevant as he never visited Manning during his detention at Quantico. Mendez requested a visit with Manning but US military authorities would not allow him to conduct an unmonitored meeting with the accused, Coombs said. The judge also ruled Thursday that prosecutors have to meet a defense request to produce in court a tear-proof smock, blanket and mattress similar to those issued to Manning during his detention at Quantico. The blanket was essentially a large piece of sand paper, Coombs said. The trial for Manning is tentatively due to begin in September but may be pushed back as late as February next year, the judge said. Manning, 24, was a low-ranking intelligence analyst deployed in Iraq when he was arrested in May 2010 and accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic cables and military logs from Iraq and Afghanistan. If convicted of aiding the enemy, he faces a possible life sentence.

It Is The Syrian Army Troops Who Are Afraid, At Least When They Leave Their Garrisons And Bases
When You Think Of Why We Are Improving And Getting Stronger, It Is Not Because More Weapons Are Coming In From Outside

The Main Reason Is Because We Are Becoming More Organized, And Because Of Our Bombs.
The Bomb Is Not Only Essential, It Is A Main Part Of Our Success
Improvised bombs have steadily become the most punishing weapon in the otherwise underequipped rebels arsenal, repeatedly destroying Syrias main battle tanks, halting army convoys and inflicting heavy casualties on government ground operations in areas where armed resistance is strong, Western analysts and rebel field commanders and fighters said. July 18, 2012 By C. J. CHIVERS, New York Times [Excerpts] ANTAKYA, Turkey The lethal attack on Wednesday on President Bashar al-Assads senior security chiefs aligned neatly with a tactical shift that had changed the direction of Syrias long conflict: the opposition fighters swift and successful adoption of makeshift bombs. Bombs have been in rebel use since violence intensified in Syria in late 2011. But since midspring, anti-Assad fighters have become bolder and sharply more effective with their use, and not only in what is apparently their hand in the assassinations in Damascus. Improvised bombs have steadily become the most punishing weapon in the otherwise underequipped rebels arsenal, repeatedly destroying Syrias main battle tanks, halting army convoys and inflicting heavy casualties on government ground operations in areas where armed resistance is strong, Western analysts and rebel field commanders and fighters said. In this way, even as the anti-Assad fighters have appealed for international intervention and other forms of material and military support, local fighters have created their own informal buffer zones, pockets of the Syrian countryside that are now largely free of government ground troops. The bomb is not only essential, it is a main part of our success, said a former Syrian Army artillery major, who called himself Abu Akhmed and leads a fighting group in Idlib, a northern Syrian province, in a meeting in a house in this Turkish city crowded with fighters. When you think of why we are improving and getting stronger, it is not because more weapons are coming in from outside, he added. The main reason is because we are becoming more organized, and because of our bombs.

The bombs that Abu Akhmed described, known in Western military jargon as improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.s, have done more than kill Syrian soldiers and deny the Syrian Army access to Syrian terrain. Joseph Holliday, a former American Army intelligence officer who is now an analyst covering Syria for the Institute of the Study of War, in Washington, said the changes were not in the rate of attacks, but in a rapidly evolving prowess. The percentage of I.E.D. attacks compared to overall rebel activity has not increased in a statistically significant way, Mr. Holliday wrote by e-mail, just hours before the assassinations in Damascus. What has increased is the percentage of effective attacks. But, he added, what has increased the most, and this has been the hardest thing to put a finger on through open source research, is the number of what U.S. military might call catastrophic I.E.D. attacks. By that he meant bombs that destroyed heavily armored tanks, or caused large numbers of casualties. Although precise casualty estimates are impossible to obtain, one senior Obama administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity under administration practice said that by June the Syrian military was suffering an average of 20 dead soldiers a day in various types of attacks, and several times that number of wounded. This would be a significant drain on a force already suffering from defections and now trying to suppress an escalating guerrilla conflict by conventional means. The exact means by which anti-Assad fighters have improved their manufacture and use of bombs, and who trained them, is not clear. Mr. Holliday said the capability comes in part from the expertise of Syrian insurgents who learned bomb-making while fighting U.S. troops in eastern Iraq. But many fighters and commanders from Idlib, Hama and Aleppo who were interviewed over the past week spoke of their success with bombs in a different way. Sensitive to being compared to groups that have detonated bombs indiscriminately, they said that they were fighters using the only tools they had to succeed, and that they aimed at only military targets. They said the uptick in their success was a result not of outside help, but of local trial and error, and in some cases, they were forced into the experience by economics. With prices of guns and ammunition soaring, they noted, bombs could be made with cheaper materials, giving fighters with limited means or limited access to traditional infantry arms an inexpensive way to fight.

One example was telling: A single rifle cartridge, they said, can cost up to $4, often more than the price of a single blasting cap, the primary explosive used to detonate a makeshift bombs main charge. (Multiple fighters and commanders in the past week said factory-grade electric blasting caps were available for $1.50 to $3 each, with most costing about $2.) Another commander who also used the name Abu Akhmed said he bought blasting caps and then made the main explosive charges himself using urea-based fertilizer, sugar and sulfur, among other things, part of recipes fighters took from the Internet and circulated between rebel fighting groups. It took time, he said, to master the skill: Once when I was making a bomb, I burned part of my house. The fighters also said they had learned many ways to explode their bombs, including via a direct electrical wire connection or remotely via a radio or cellphone signal. Anti-Assad commanders credited the bombs with helping to change the fighters psychological experience of the battle against their government. Many rebel fighters, who said they were once afraid of government forces, now said they saw government ground operations as opportunities to kill Syrian troops along the roads, weaken the government and frustrate the army a shift that emboldened them and engendered confidence. Now, they said, it is the Syrian Army troops who are afraid, at least when they leave their garrisons and bases, and it is the rebels who sometimes feel like hunters. You dont see trucks any more, soldiers riding in trucks in the northern countryside, another fighter said. The last time we saw trucks, everybody was excited.

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FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass, 1852

Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on youYe are many they are few -- Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1819, on the occasion of a mass murder of British workers by the Imperial government at Peterloo.

Ten Implications Of The Damascus Bombing

The Rebels Have Sympathizers In High Positions Within The Regime The Defection Of The Sunni Tlass Family, Who Had Dominated The Ministry Of Defense And Regime Business Interests For Decades, Is A Straw In The Wind
On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood is a significant force among the rebels, and it likely will play an outsized role in a post-Baath Syria. It has ties to the Muslim fundamentalist party, Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip. Hamas could therefore become and more formidable adversary for Israel, if it is supported by both the Egyptian and Syrian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. July 19, 2012 By Juan Cole, Juancole.com/ [Excerpts] The bombing of the Security Headquarters of the Baath government of Syria on Wednesday killed the Minister of Defense, the deputy Minister of Defense, and the Assistant to the vice-president and head of crisis management office Gen Hassan Turkomani. It wounded the Minister of the Interior (i.e. head of the secret police) and a member of the national security council. Some reports said that also wounded was Hafez al-Makhlouf, a cousin of the president on his mothers side of the family and a key security figure. The Makhloufs, especially Ramy, are the business wing of the al-Assad cartel, and their billionaire ways were among the sources of discontent that provoked the uprising. What does this bombing mean for Syria and the Middle East? 1. It demonstrates that the rebels have sympathizers in high positions within the regime. The bomb had to have been planted by an insider. 2. It follows upon this conclusion that the al-Assad regime is unlikely to be able to emulate the Algerian military, which crushed the Islamic Salvation Front in a brutal civil war from 1992 through the early zeroes of the present century. Some 150,000 Algerians are said to have died in the dirty war, with atrocities on both sides. But when the smoke cleared, the junta was still in control, and its favored secular civilians were in office. In all that time, the Muslim fundamentalist opposition never laid a glove on any of the high officials or officers.

But the Algerian elite closed ranks against the Islamic Salvation Front, having a cultural set of affinities and a common source of patronage in the state-owned oil and gas sector. If the rebels in Syria can reach into the Security HQ this way, and assassinate the highest security officials of the regime, that ability does not augur well for Bashar alAssads ability to win the long game, as his counterparts did in Algeria. 3. The targets of the bombing were likely intended to send a message to Syrias minorities. The minister of defense, Daoud Rajha, was a Christian. The Christian minority, which could be as large as 14% of the population, has been on the fence during the revolution, and some actively support the secular nationalist regime because they fear Muslim fundamentalists will come to power. Rajhas assassination was intended to warn them to join the revolution or at least get out of its way. Likewise, Assef Shawkat, the deputy minister of defense, was an Allawite Shiite and was married to Bushra, the sister of Bashar al-Assad. If it is true that Hafez Makhlouf was wounded, he was another prominent Allawite. The rebels are largely (with significant exceptions) Sunni Muslims, from the majority community that has not typically held its fair proportion of high office. 4. The rein of terror unleashed by the Allawites on the Sunni rebels, using Ghost Brigade death squads, has backfired big time. Many Sunnis formerly allied with the regime have turned on it, including at the highest levels. The defection of the Sunni Tlass family, who had dominated the ministry of defense and regime business interests for decades, is a straw in the wind here. 5. The rocket-propelled grenades smuggled to the opposition by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as part of their proxy war against Iran, are allowing the rebels occasionally to kill tanks and take down helicopter gunships. The more such weapons they have, and the more sophisticated they are, the more they help level the playing field for the rebels. 6. Defections and desertions of Sunni enlisted men and low-level officers could accelerate in the wake of the bombings, as soldiers become convinced that the regime will eventually fall. They wont want to risk their lives fighting for a ship that is anyway sinking, and wont want to risk being seen as war criminals in the aftermath. 7. The economic disruptions in the capital could be decisive. With the rebels now fighting in districts like Midan and Tadamun, the Syrian business classes are not going to be making any money for a while. Since for them, the purpose of the Baath Party is to throw them licenses and government contracts, they will turn on it if it is unable to satisfy their needs. 8. The fall of the Baath regime in Syria would leave Hizbullah high and dry. Its rockets and other weapons, and some of its communications and code-breaking abilities, depended on Syrian help. The leader of the Hizbullah Shiites of south Lebanon (a

neighbor of Syria), Hassan Nasrullah, gave a speech Wednesday unapologetically supporting the Baath regime and sending condolences to the families of those killed. If the regime does fall, the new government is likely to have a grudge with Hizbullah for a while. The downside of any weakening of Hizbullah is that it could encourage Israeli expansionism in South Lebanon, as in the 1980s and 1990s (Israels leaders have long wanted to steal the water in south Lebanons rivers). 9. On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood is a significant force among the rebels, and it likely will play an outsized role in a post-Baath Syria. It has ties to the Muslim fundamentalist party, Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip. Hamas could therefore become and more formidable adversary for Israel, if it is supported by both the Egyptian and Syrian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. 10. Given the proliferation of medium weapons among the rebels, the longer the civil war goes on, the more likely these arms are to flow into Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, enabling small guerrilla groups in those countries to challenge the status quo. If the Baath hangs on for years rather than months, the whole region could see more decades of instability. That is why Jordan just declared martial law and has begun turning back refugees at the Syrian border, why Israels security establishment had an urgent meeting Wednesday, and why Syrias other neighbors are watching developments there with anxiety and suspicion.

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Victory To The Syrian Revolution, No To Foreign Intervention, And Power To The People!
All The Major Powers Do Not Indeed See Any Advantage In The Collapse Of The Syrian Regime

Because Of Its Lengthy Collaboration With Western Imperialism

Their Solution Regarding The Syrian Revolution Has Always Been The Same: To Keep The Structure Of The Regime Intact, While The Only Debate Is On Bachar Al Assads Fate
The Mobilization Of The Working Class And Exploited Is At The Heart Of The Syrian Revolution

The Syrian revolution is part of the revolutionary process taking place in the Arab world, and should not be separated. The Syrian people are struggling like Egyptians, Tunisians, Bahrainis and other democrats, socialists and anti-imperialists in the region. July 18, 2012 by syriafreedomforever Video: Tariq Ali on the grim choice facing Syrians. TARIQ ALI says we are witnessing in Syria a new form of re-colonisation by the West, like we have already seen in Iraq and in Libya. Many of the people who first rose against the Assad regime in Syria have been sidelined, leaving the Syrian people with limited choices, neither of which they want: either a Western imposed regime, composed of sundry Syrians who work for the western intelligence agencies, or the Assad regime. The only way forward, in the interests of all Syrians, says Ali, is negotiation and discussion. But it is now obvious that the West is not going to let that happen because they are backing the opposition groups who are against any negotiation. (http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/tariq-ali-what-is-really-happening-in-syria) ************************************************************* As these words came out from an important figure of the International left, it is necessary to answer and contradict them and for others also on the left to show that this is not an opinion shared by all comrades. This is why I will deconstruct the interview of Tareq Ali and demonstrates not only his wrong analysis and information on the Syrian revolution but his elitism as well. *************************************************************

[Tariq Ali:] a new form of re-colonization by the West and But it is now obvious that the West is not going to let that happen because they are backing the opposition groups who are against any negotiation
Yes, the US, France and the UK have declared that it wants a resolution adopted at the Security Council that includes Chapter VII of the UN charter, which allows for punitive measures against regimes considered a threat to world peace, including economic sanctions and military intervention, and yes Russia and China have applied their vetos to it several times now. But should we stop the analysis here and therefore say the West wants regime change in Syria? The international community as a whole and without exception, has actually been trying to implement a solution like Yemen to Syria since the beginning of the Syrian revolution,

as we saw during several meetings between U.S. and Russian officials, the US President Obama in June going as far as to declare that We agreed that we need to see a cessation of violence, that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war, and the Russian Prime Minister Putin adding that We have found many common points on this issue, (see for more info: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/28/syriawashington-moscow-us-russia). After follow-up meetings, Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, and Sergei Lavrov, Putins foreign minister, have agreed to attend an international summit on expediting Syrias political transition to be convened in Geneva end of June by the UN envoy, Kofi Annan. At talks in Geneva, the five countries of the UN Security Council (Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain) along with regional actors including Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq, have agreed on the following framework: a transition government, which would include members of Assads administration and the opposition. The role of Assad was not clear in this transition proposal. The NATO has on its side repeatedly declared its unwillingness to intervene in Syria and that the conflict should be resolved politically. The solution regarding the Syrian revolution has always been the same: to keep the structure of the regime intact, while the only debate is on Bachar Al Assads fate. All the major powers do not indeed see any advantage in the collapse of the Syrian regime because of its lengthy collaboration with western imperialism (see previous articles on the subject on the blog, such as http://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/understand-the-syrian-regimeand-the-dialectics-of-the-syrian-revolutionary-process/). *************************************************************

[Tariq Ali:] Many of the people who first rose against the Assad regime in Syria have been sidelined
The word Mr Tareq Ali should be using is not sidelined, but more exactly assassinated, imprisoned and forced to exile. Yes, a high number of great activists and opponents, people behind the organization of demonstrations, civil disobedience, and strike campaigns have been indeed targeted specifically by the regime, in addition to the 15 000 other martyrs. Nevertheless, those who have survived still play an important role in the Syrian revolutionary process, and are trying to foment various popular forms of resistance against the regime.

Mr Tareq Alis argument misses the millions of people struggling on a daily basis in Syria against the regime. The students, workers, unemployed, peasants, Syrians from all communities and ethnicities, Palestinians refugees struggling against the Syrian regime should be considered by any serious analysis, all the more revolutionary analysis. Today, not a week goes by without the voices and songs of the students of the University of Damascus being heard at the presidential palace, close to a hundred meters, while almost daily demonstrations take place at the universities of Deraa and Deir al-Zur. Aleppo University has suspended its course for fear of an uprising even more important for young people, while the bullets are more numerous than the books at the University of Homs. The working people were also targets of repression. During the month of December 2011, successful campaigns of civil disobedience and general strikes were held in Syria. They have paralyzed large parts of the country, showing that the mobilization of the working class and exploited is at the heart of the Syrian revolution. This is why the dictatorship, seeking to break the dynamics of protest, fired more than 85,000 workers between January 2011 and February 2012 and closed 187 factories (according to official figures). The bulk of the protesters of the Syrian revolutionary movement actually include the economically disenfranchised rural and urban working and middle classes who have suffered from the accelerated imposition of neoliberal policies by Bashar Al Assad since his arrival to power. Did Mr Tareq Ali see the position and the mobilization of the Syrian people of the Syrian occupied Golan against the regime and in solidarity with the struggle of their brothers, sisters, comrades throughout their country? They have understood long ago that the liberation of the occupied Golan goes through Damascus and the overthrow of the Assad regime. Kurds, Assyrians and other Syrian ethnic minorities have also been a driving force in the struggle against the regime, which has discriminated them for the past 40 years. Palestinians have participated in the revolution among their Syrian brothers and sisters and have paid a heavy price, something that should not be lost within the Syrian and Palestinian struggle for freedom. Yarmouk refugee Camp has witnessed huge demonstrations Friday July 13th against the regime.

The Palestinians refugees in Yarmouk Camp have after the shelling by the regime of Tadamon neighborhood close by to the camp welcomed its residents who fled to Yarmouk camp. They brought to schools and mosques mattresses, blankets and other provisions to aid tens of families that left Tadamon while being shelled. Same scenes have been witnessed in other regions of Syria, Palestinian refugees welcoming in their camps Syrian fleeing the shelling of their cities, neighborhoods and villages. As chanted in the streets Syrian and Palestinians have shown there are one hand, in other words united against the regime. The Syrian people continued as well to repeat their rejection of sectarianism, despite the regimes attempts to ignite this dangerous fire. The protests and messages of solidarity between Syrians have not stopped. (see Statement by the LCC Regarding the Massacre that Happened in Teremsah http://www.facebook.com/notes/%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7/a-statement-by-the-lcc-regarding-themassacre-that-happened-in-teremsah/496131610413980). The popular movement has also reaffirmed its struggle for the unity of the Syrian people and against the divisions, developing a sense of national solidarity and social that transcends ethnic and sectarian divisions. Therefore should these people be considered and just treated as sundry Syrians who work for the western intelligence? Should the downtrodden, the exploited and the discriminated of Syria, who are the bulk of the Syrian popular movement, be called just simple instrument of Saudi and US imperialist policies?

Qatar And Saudi Arabias Role In Arming The Armed Opposition?

The far majority of the armed opposition groups are struggling against the regime with basic equipment (including army Kalashnikov, Dragunov sniper rifle, machine gun PKT and rocket launchers RPG-7) stolen or purchased from the corrupt Syrian army. The more sophisticated equipments were, especially Metis and Kornet anti-tank missiles, generally gained and captured in battle with the regular forces of the Syrian regime or by buying them to corrupt officers This is does not mean some arms and ammos were not delivered to the armed opposition groups but not as portrayed as organized and in big quantity.

A first large delivery was provided in few months ago (March or April), and was allocated to various selected groups operation in and around Idlib, Hama, Homs and the outskirts of Damascus. Each area received several hundred rocket-propelled grenade launchers (with 10 grenades per launcher), Kalashnikov rifles, BKC machine guns and ammunition, according to several sources (http://world.time.com/2012/06/22/opening-the-weaponstap-syrias-rebels-await-fresh-and-free-ammo/). There were also two smaller consignments since the first delivery, but none of it was made following the demands of the armed opposition groups. These latter just took what were given to them. According to various opposition sources, only small amount of arms have been sent by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, while the Turks have denied any role in arming the Syrian rebels. A large amount of armed opposition groups have actually refuse to pledge allegiance to the Gulf groups, a condition by these latter on delivery of weapons and arms. (http://world.time.com/2012/06/22/opening-the-weapons-tap-syrias-rebels-await-freshand-free-ammo/). The claim of Saudi Arabia to pay the FSA elements is still awaited and is not happening until now, while CIA presence in Southern Turkey is more an operation to list the armed opposition groups than to assist them in any way. A high religious cleric member of the High Council of Oulemas, the most important religious authority in Saudi Arabia, has actually issued a Fatwa beginning of June forbidding Saudis to go fight the Syrian regime, or in other words to make the Jihad in Syria. Some of the armed opposition groups also used to purchase weapons and munitions via smugglers from Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, but these passages have been weakened considerably as these countries have arrested and forbidden increasingly any movement of arms on their borders. And above all how can the oppressed and the oppressor be put on the same level?

The Only Way Forward, In The Interests Of All Syrians, Says Tareq Ali, Is Negotiation And Discussion
Above all Mr Tareq Ali claims to know whats best for all the Syrians and this is negotiation and discussion with a regime that has refused both since the beginning of the revolution and has only answered with repression and more violent repression. Syrians started to demonstrate peacefully in the beginning asking for reforms and end of corruption, how were they answered by the regime? With bullets, assassination, arrests and torture!

Today as we speak, not a single party or group in the opposition (the real one and not the one accepted by the regime and included in its last government, which has been refused by the Syrians who are still in the streets struggling against the regime) is asking for a dialogue with the regime. All the forces on the ground refuse any dialogue with the regime. The minimum and first demands are the overthrow of Bachar Al Assad and his close associates, a transition government, the establishment of all civil liberties, the end of the repression, the liberation of political prisoners and the return of opponents in exile.

The Syrian People Are Struggling Like Egyptians, Tunisians, Bahrainis And Other Democrats, Socialists And Anti-Imperialists In The Region
No Mr Tareq Ali the Syrian people does not want to discuss and negotiate with a regime that has been oppressing the Syrian people for the past 40 years, that has killed more than 15000 martyrs since the beginning of the revolution, imprisoned and tortured tens of thousands, that has shelled and destroyed cities, villages and Palestinian refugee camps, implemented neo liberal policies that has impoverished a society as a whole while the close family of the dictator Assad (Rami Makhlouf) accumulated in the same period 60% of Syrias wealth, that has abandoned and announced the loss of the Golan 11 hours before the first Israeli soldier set a feat in the city of Quneitra, that has not shot a single bullet to liberate the occupied Golan since 1973, that has entered in peace negotiations with Israel on numerous occasions, that has collaborated and served western imperialist regime in the region to crush the Palestinian movement and the left in Lebanon in the seventies and in many other cases (Jordan 1970, black September, Iraqi war in 1991, and 2003 see http://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/understand-the-syrian-regimeand-the-dialectics-of-the-syrian-revolutionary-process/). The Syrian revolution is part of the revolutionary process taking place in the Arab world, and should not be separated. The Syrian people are struggling like Egyptians, Tunisians, Bahrainis and other democrats, socialists and anti-imperialists in the region. No Mr Tareq Ali, it is not in the interests of the Syrian people to discuss and negotiate with this regime. And Tareq Ali should be reminded as well of the wise words of the French revolutionary St Just who said that those who make half of a revolution dig their own grave. The solution is to overthrow the regime and transfer of power to the people of Syria! Because as written by the French revolutionary Robespierre: when the government violates the right of the people, insurrection is for the people the most sacred and the most indispensable of its duties!

Victory to the Syrian Revolution, No to Foreign Intervention, and Power to the people!

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Obama Regime Wants Assad Out And His Governing Structure To Live On:
An Orderly Transfer In Which The Opposition Works With Acceptable Elements Of The Regime And Army
The Slow-And-Steady U.S. Approach Has Angered Some Militant Opposition Leaders, Who Prefer A Decapitation Of The Regime And A Revolutionary Transition
July 18 By David Ignatius, The Washington Post [Excerpts] As Syria veers toward a violent political transition, U.S. officials are hoping to avoid a dangerous vacuum like the one that followed the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq and triggered a sectarian civil war. President Obama is seeking a managed transition in Syria with the twin goals of removing President Bashar al-Assad as soon as possible and doing so without the evaporation of the authority of the Syrian state. The need to safeguard Syrias chemical-weapons arsenal is one reason why the United States is stressing an orderly transfer in which the opposition works with acceptable elements of the regime and army. The slow-and-steady U.S. approach has angered some militant opposition leaders, who prefer a decapitation of the regime and a revolutionary transition. U.S. officials believe that Syria is nearing the tipping point, after a bombing on Wednesday killed Asef Shawkat, Assads brother-in-law and one of the regimes most notorious henchmen, and Dawoud Rajha, the defense minister who was the regimes most prominent Christian. Fighting had raged Tuesday in the Damascus suburbs, with

Syrian tanks and helicopter gunships attacking opposition forces a few miles from downtown. A U.S. official this week described Syria as a Levantine version of the Wild West. Assads forces have lost control of many parts of the country: They cannot hold what they clear, is how one U.S. official put it, using a buzz phrase of U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine. Syrias borders have become porous, turning parts of the country into what one observer describes as Opposition-stan. In this chaotic environment, every intelligence service is gaming it out, trying to understand the opposition and its leadership and structure, the U.S. official said. The CIA has been working with the Syrian opposition for several weeks under a nonlethal directive that allows the United States to evaluate groups and assist them with command and control. Scores of Israeli intelligence officers are also operating along Syrias border, though they are keeping a low profile. The main transit routes into Syria come from the four points of the compass Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. The two key axes, in terms of Western assistance, are Turkey and Jordan, both close allies of the United States. The two potential flash points for spreading the sectarian fighting are Lebanon and Iraq, both of which have substantial Shiite militias allied with Iran, which backs Assad. In dealing with Syrias substantial chemical-weapons arsenal, the United States will have two goals: preventing Assad from using them against his own people and preventing extremist members of the opposition from capturing these weapons of mass destruction and gaining operational control of them. Libya was a test case for controlling chemical weapons amid revolutionary chaos. CIA officers on the ground helped the Libyan opposition secure the main chemical-weapons bunker at Waddan. The CIA also helped connect the new Libyan government with officials from the deposed regime of Col. Moammar Gaddafi who were knowledgeable about the location of the weapons. The CIA team, working with the Libyans, discovered that in addition to the Waddan stockpile, the regime had imported perhaps from Iran chemical-weapons artillery shells that were hidden in Sabha, a town in the central desert that is Gaddafis ancestral home. These were moved to Waddan, where they are now awaiting disposal, under international supervision. The Syrian denouement promises to be much bloodier and more destabilizing than what happened in Libya.

The United States still wants Russian help in managing the Syrian transition, but officials warn that as the situation becomes more violent, the window for effective international cooperation may be closing.

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DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Comment Unnecessary

Demonstrators protest against attacks on working class incomes and benefits announced by the Spanish government in Barcelona July 19, 2012. REUTERS/Albert Gea

Demonstrators protest against attacks on working class incomes and benefits announced by the Spanish government in the centre of Madrid, Spain, July 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

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