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AFP - Getty Images
A protester in Homs throws a tear gas bomb back towards security forces on Tuesday.
Campaigners expressed alarm Wednesday after Arab League observers in Syria said they saw "nothing frightening" during a visit to Homs, the city activists say is the epicenter of nine months of deadly clashes with government forces.
"Some places looked a bit of a mess but there was nothing frightening," Sudanese General Mustafa Dabi, the chief of the monitoring contingent, told Reuters by telephone from Damascus.
"The situation seemed reassuring so far," he added after his team's short visit to the city of one million people, Syria's third largest.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday that security forces fired tear gas at tens of thousands of protesters in Homs, and that 40 people were killed in the city on Monday and Tuesday alone.
A video clip posted on the Internet on Tuesday appeared to show the monitors touring the Baba Amr district of the city as angry residents shouted at them and tugged on one monitor's jacket, pleading them to enter their neighborhoods as gunfire erupted in the background.
Amateur video appears to show government trucks leaving Homs, Syria following several days of violence. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
The Arab League obervers are checking whether Syria is keeping its promise to withdraw troops from cities and halt the violence that has threatened to spiral into civil war.
Foreign journalists and other observers are banned from Syria, making it difficult to verify claims by activists or the government.
However, the United Nations estimates 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since the nine-month crackdown on opposition protests began.
Meanwhile, live footage carried on al-Jazeera television on Wednesday also showed gunfire and black smoke rising above Syria's central city of Hama as dozens of men marched through the streets chanting" "Where are the Arab monitors?"
Cloak of respectability?
Given the brief and limited nature of the monitors' tour on Tuesday, the comments by the chief monitor could heighten the concern of opposition activists that the observer mission could be used as a cloak of respectability by Damascus, issuing assessments whitewashing President Bashar Assad's record.
It also highlights concern over the choice of a Sudanese general to head the mission.
Dabi has held senior Sudanese military and government posts, including in the Darfur region, where the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says the army carried out war crimes and the United Nations says 300,000 people may have died. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity.
At least twenty people have been killed near Homs, Syria, as gunfire sweeps through the city for a third straight day. Msnbc military analyst Ret. Col. Jack Jacobs talks about the future of Syria's leadership.
Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, who studies Sudan and has written strong criticisms of its government, told Reuters the choice of a Sudanese general was a sign the Arab League might not want its monitors to produce findings that would force it to take stronger action.
"There is a broader question of why you would pick someone to lead this investigation ... when he is part of an army that is guilty of precisely the sort of crimes that are being investigated in Syria," Reeves said.
"I think a Sudanese general would be one of the least likely people in the world to acknowledge these findings even if they are right there before him... It doesn't make any sense unless you want to shape the finding. They want it shaped in ways that will minimize the obligation to do more than they already have."
'Shouting into a void'
A Baba Amr resident and activist, who gave his name as Omar, expressed frustration at the Arab League visit. "I felt they didn't really acknowledge what they'd seen -- maybe they had orders not to show sympathy," he said.
"But they didn't seem enthusiastic about hearing people tell their stories, we felt like we were shouting into a void."
"We placed our hopes in the entire Arab League," said Omar. "But these monitors don't seem to understand how the regime works, they don't seem interested in the suffering and death people have faced."
Amnesty International said Sudan's military intelligence, at the time Dabi led it, "was responsible for the arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearance, and torture or other ill-treatment of numerous people in Sudan."
Jehanne Henry, Sudan researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said that as head of Sudan's military intelligence in the 1990s, Dabi "certainly would have been in a position to know what the security services were doing at that time."
"He obviously does not fit the profile as a human rights monitor," she added.
"We have no confidence at all in the Arab League mission," Dr Mousab Azzawi told msnbc.com on Tuesday. "The very people investigating Syria are wanted for war crimes by the ICC -- it is some of bad joke."
The Arab League says Dabi brings vital military and diplomatic expertise to its unprecedented mission to verify that Assad is complying with a deal to end Syria's crackdown on protesters.
For its part, Khartoum says the accusations against Sudan's president are baseless and politically motivated, and puts the Darfur death toll at 10,000.
Reuters and msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.
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What a joke our governments have turned out to be. Is everyone except me stoned out of their minds? Are we so far gone we have to kill the people that are tired of their rulers? Don't they realize if you kill the people you rule you will have no one to rule?
and the Award for Biggest Bugger under the table goes to . . . The Arab League of Horror!
Arabs. LOL!
We, the Syrian people, welcome Sgt Schultz. You see nothing, noooooothing!
Ha ha.What a joke.They saw nothing terrifying..! Just like the witnesses said after The Creature from The Black Lagoon devoured a village.What a joke.They withdrew the tanks and gave the inspectors a free tour of some Cairo movie set.The Assad family is a Nazi type killing machine.And the inspectors saw Nothing?? The regime in Syria is alomst as bad as the terrorist regime in Iran.And they saw NOTHING??
It isn't so simplistic as you paint it. People can be sick of those in charge, but just calling on those people to vacate their jobs without credible replacements doesn't solve any issues.
When the Egyptian people insisted Mubarak vacate his office, those doing the protesting were mostly secularists that got trounced at the polls this past week. So for all their efforts they got ZIP. So apparently they were a small minority doing the protesting. Now instead Egypt has taken a huge step backwards towards a government solely run by religious guidelines such as Iran. They did so because they are afraid from all the violence during the protests, because they believe those practicing Islam are just and good and will provide a stable government devoid of corruption. So basically the majority NEVER trusted the secularists that wished to see a government less dependent on religion to set the guidelines.
See it isn't that simple.
The Arab League must all like the smell of their own rectums because that is precisely where their heads are.
To make a statement that says no murders are occurring within the borders of one of their neighbors is to either show their ignorance or their stupidity. Probably both. Everyone on the planet pretty much know what's going on there while the Arab League sits with its thumb in its ass. The Syrian government kills off its own people and the Palestinians are treated like the proverbial "redheaded stepchild" by their Arab cousins. It has always been like that in the region. Take care of yourself and ignore the rest of the dumb bastards and hope nothing happens in your kingdom.
so far the Arab spring has turned into a radical Muslim power-grab; a democratic government does not go well with a 6th century philosophy.
Im no fan of Syria by any means, but has anyone even wondered that this might not be a populist movement that the media is playing it out to be. Assad still has support of a large number of people so until we see the scales tip support wise in favor of the opposition, I wouldnt assume that the opposition speaks for the average Syrian.
"There's nothing wrong here. I mean, just killing civilians. What's all the uproar about? I've got to go back home and beat my wife, now."
-Arab League Observer-
It makes sense. Why would they want to say anything to provoke NATO into interfering in their region? You don't see the US bitching to the UN about the Mexican drug wars. We don't want them in our territory either.
What I find amusing are the people on here who are surprised and outraged that the Arab League found nothing frightening in Syria. There is only one Arab country that is not run by dictators - Iraq. What do you expect a League of Dictator run countries in the region to find? They need to keep their own populations under control. Undermining a like run country would only weaken their rule. Even if they saw something they wouldn't mention it. This was always going to be a farce.
Al,
Even if Asad does have the support of the majority of people in Syria, he is no longer fit to rule. If 10% of your people protest against you and you slaughter them with the Army, does that make it OK because 90% of the people support you?
Seems like the Nazis had popular support during WWII. So I guess it was OK if they gassed a few million Jews because they had the support of a majority of the people.
Is that how your thinking goes?
Yes, if you can actually pull it off then that makes the left over people the 100% that supports you. That's the first lesson in dictator school.
Once again the dirt has been swept under the rug and the house appears clean .
The Arab League turned out to be a far bigger farce then I thought . This uprising will only continue and get worse from here on out . True civil war is just around the corner in Syria .
bob
Don't worry. World has huge list of bigger farce than Arab League: UN and all its bodies, IMF, WB, Human rights groups of all labels and more!
Some don't wake up when events worse than Syria, Iran occur in African countries, Bahrain, Yemen and some more nations!
It seems most wear glasses provided by Saudis, oil companies and lobbyists!
Jonathan, you keep expecting the rest of the world to see life through your eyes. The Arab League is compromised of different countries that all have different priorities. They all don't like each other either and so somehow you are expecting this bunch to have a conscience. When Libya was in dire need of help, the Arab League looked to the west to provide all the fighting power while they sat around grouching about how the mission was being run. That should tell you something. Equally, when SH unleashed WMD on the Kurds, please notice the reaction of the Arab nations which was NOTHING.
Put a mirror in front of their faces. Maybe then they will see something frightening!
theboys: "The Arab League is compromised of different countries that all have different priorities". If they do only "compromises", what for the Arab League is there? Is it another Ramadan style soap opera company?
Were the UN, human rights groups, US, British and others dead during genocides of Christians in Sudan?
You appear to be waking up only when Libya or Kurds are attacked. Of course, then the question of wearing Saudi glasses come in the picture.
Looks like Assad's people have whispered in the "observers" ears upon arrival and reminded them that they all have families and if they would like to keep them alive then they had better signal that it is nothing but peace and love in Syria.
Any hope the Arab League would be different than the rest of the murderous religious fanatics and factions in the ME just went out the window. What a waste of space....
see no evil, hear no evil...
In another monitoring project, the Arab league has determined that North Koreans are happy and well fed.
"Arab League observers in Syria said they saw "nothing frightening" during a visit to Homs"
What is the problem? Sunni dominated Arab Leaque picked the right head, a Sudanese Gen. As we all know he is an expert in "human rights."
It is better to close down that Syrian human rights observatory functioning in Britain. Are they funded by seventh century bigoted Sunni beasts of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and some more?
Assad's is far better ruler than most of the Sunni rulers of ME. Why not permit him to clean up his nation?
After all Syria does not have many infidels. So followers of religion of love and peace have to tear some to pieces.
Let them do their religious duties. Why should Amerika, West interfere in their religious purification business?
Absolute BS!
It was obvious from the beginning that this impotent group of "observers," led by an army general from Egypt, or wherever he was from, would come to this conclusion! And the beat goes on...
Would you expect anything else from Arabs? They have no regard for human life. Sudanese General? Great choice! Send a friggin cannibal to check on human rights violations. Another reason to turn certain places into sheets of glass. What happened to the other observers? Assad is likely performing BJ's on them to get them to rubber stamp his atrocities.
Patently absurd to bring some of the dumbest amongst us as in a Sudanese General to tour the area. Transparency is not one of the Arab Leagues strong points.
Transparency is a big issue! What do the rulers of the Arab League nations have? Some are as good as bigoted seventh century beasts.
A farce from the beginning and a very sad and hard kick in the a$$ to all of the Syrian people!
I can see the war will be long and bloody there.
Rulers like Assad understand only one thing and to get his attention the resistance will have to arm itself and us gorilla tactics.and if things don't start to reverse themselves in the good ole US of A we may see an example of just that.
Gorilla tactics? What's that? Throwing bananas at them? Beating their chests? Give us a hint.
Killing people tired of their rulers. How horrible. It hasn't happened in the US since 1865, if you forget Waco and Ruby Ridge.
I forgot them the day after.
"Nothing frightening"? Killings, suppression, repression, human rights violations are all in the big picture. Stop all these, change the regime and start anew, that's what I would say. Let Syria be liberated.
What do you expect from an Arab League mission headed by Dabi? Dabi was involved in the genocide in Darfur so for him this seems natural?
The Arab League are smart enough to know that the conflict is none of their business and a regional issue. They're not getting involved. Somehow Americans can't grasp and do the same.
I find that funny since the people have been asking for intervention from "The West" for several months now, and the US has refused to do anything.
Then they just need to say so and not play this charade of caring. Again, all the horror SH was inflicting on his people, most especially the Kurds, didn't motivate any other Arab country to come to the rescue.
A Sudanese General is the chief of this mission and see's nothing strange. Probably a veteran of the KILLING in Darfur.
If the Arab league checks it and finds nothing then accept the findings. The Arab league can't all be corrupt?? Can they??
LOL The monitors saw "nothing frightening". Lets put that in context shall we. That means yes they saw mangled dead bodies but that is common place in the arab world. Arabs Lol, this is why nothing will change in the middle east. Sure a musical chairs of dictators but you'll never see true democracy. This Arab Spring was a joke that produced little. The Arabs have been and always be a do nothing, create nothing people. Always fighting, always hating, always oppressing, always torturing. I mean look how they treat their own women? What a disgrace.
Who cares what the Arab League finds? Once they put the blinders on, it was a foregone conclusion. Let them all fight to the death. I don't care.
why do we not get story's like this about the DICATOR OF YEMEN, rather one which says our PRESIDENT loves this ruthless killer! how many of you notice how much our police look like GESTAPO, and are being armed with military weapons. the end is near!
Are you kidding me? This is funny like the story of the fox & the chicken story. What is amazing is that these thugs are on the UN security council committee and all have had run ins with the so called "Arab Spring"...
How much do you want to bet - Bashir is going to come out smeling like a rose in this whole dog & a pony show...
As a proud Zionist democrat, I find this whole Mafia like approach by the Arab leaders a "JOKE"....just my opinion!
"Nothing frightening" about 5000 MURDERED. Call us when you KILL 10,000 and we'll take another look. Have a Nice Day, Bye!
Of course there's nothing frightening. Syrian forces have already wiped out the local population, then moved prisoners to a secret military base before getting their tanks out of the streets. Now, the Arab League visitors can go home and report "nothing to see here", and Syria can continue erasing the opposition.
These middle easterm barbarians only understand one thing...violence. Even if the Syrians (or Libyans, or Eqyptions, etc, etc) succeed in ousting their respective current dictators, they will only be replaced by Islamist fundamentalist tyrants. No actual freedom will result. And why does the U.S. care? Because we export more oil than we import! Huh? It sounds like we have more than enough oil to be self sufficient while we work on alternative fuels. Why do we continue to be dependent on mid-East oil? My guess is Big Oil fat cats are yanking our chains with help from their Teapublican good ole boys in D.C. We should cut the cord and let the mid-East fend for themselves.
Yeah, cause they have troops committed in Uganda. They took over Afghanistan, They invaded Iraq, they still have troops in Korea from the Korean War, they still have troops in Japan from that war, and they funded and backseat led a war in Libya. These people are violent and barbaric. You know, I heard they even torture people in Guantanamo, nasty s.o.b.'s And you better be nice to those Teapublican's you so vehemently hate. They are going to be in charge of your healthcare soon, thanks to the current idiot. What will you do when the Teapublicans tell you that you can't have your meds, and it's not cost effective to keep you alive. You never give up your freedom, it's not the current people in charge you worry about, it's the next people in charge.
it occurs to me that now the Arab League has put itself in a sticky situation. its kind of a no win deal from here out. and i am glad to know that it is noit the US being placed in that situation. so they will either turn a blind eye , which can only go on for a limited time or they will have to curtail this dictator. either way they now own the situation.
sure it would appear that their mission is to apply a blind opinion to pre empt a requirement for change. and we should simply stand by and watch. i understand it is extremely hard from a humanitarian perspective to do this, also from a geo political viewpoint. but this is what must happen.
so we mmust stay out of this. i expect this will all play into the demise of Iran if we let it play out and keep our hands off of it.