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Updated at 3:31 p.m. ET: Three high-ranking officials in President Bashar Assad's regime were killed Wednesday in a Damascus bomb attack, state television reported, the most serious blow to Assad's high command in the country's 16-month-old rebellion.
Killed were:
- Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha, 65, a former army general, was the country's most senior Christian government official. Assad appointed him to the post last year.
- Assad's brother-in-law Asset Shawkat, who was widely seen as a member of the president's inner circle. After years as deputy head and then chief of military intelligence, he was appointed deputy defense minister, a position that allowed him to wield power out of the limelight.
- General Hassan Turkmani, Assad’s senior aide and head of the crisis unit that managed the ongoing conflict.
SANA via Reuters, file
Syrian Defence Minister Dawoud Rajha was the country's most senior Christian government official.
The bomber -- said by a Reuters security source to be a bodyguard assigned to Assad's inner circle -- struck during a meeting attended by ministers and senior security officials in the Syrian capital as battles raged within sight of the presidential palace.
The men form the core of a military crisis unit led by Assad to take charge of crushing the revolt which grew out of a popular protests inspired by Arab Spring uprisings that unseated leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Within hours, Syrian State TV announced that Brig. Gen. Fahed Jassim el Friej would replace Rajha.
Assad brother-in-law, Syria's shadowy enforcer
A senior officer with the Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the high-level assassinations, a decisive moment in the conflict. Liwa al-Islam, an Islamist rebel group whose name means "The Brigade of Islam," also announced it was behind the blast.
The death of three of the regime's most senior operational commanders could seriously dent the effectiveness of Assad's army, as it fights battles across the capital.
Bashar al-Assad's defense minister and brother in law were killed in an attack today, as the crisis in Syria unfolds. NBC's Richard Engel has the details of the escalating concerns.
By nightfall, activists said Syrian army artillery had begun shelling the capital from the mountains that overlook it.
The White House said on Wednesday that time is running out to find a peaceful solution to the violence in Syria and added it did not know the whereabouts of Assad.
AFP - Getty Images, file
A file picture taken on June 13, 2000 shows General Assef Shawkat, the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was killed Wednesday.
He did not appear in public or make a statement in the hours after the attack.
Security sources said Assad was not at the meeting where the attack took place.
"The window is closing, we need to take action in a unified way to help bring about the transition that the Syrian people so deserve," White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a news conference.
Both the U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and his British counterpart, Phillip Hammond, said Assad's regime must ensure that the vast Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles remain secure.
"The situation in deteriorating," Panetta told reporters on Wednesday, NBC News reported.
The U.N. Security Council put off a scheduled vote on a Syria resolution. President Barack Obama spoke with Russia's Vladimir Putin, who has acted as Assad's main protector in the diplomatic arena.
A BBC News journalist reported that residents very close to the building where the attack took place said they had not heard the sound of explosion and gunfire, and had not seen injured being taken away.
Also on Wednesday, there were reports of explosions at the headquarters of the army's fourth division in Damascus, which is led by Assad's younger brother Maher, considered the second most powerful man in Syria.
It was not clear whether those forces were being targeted.
Photoblog: Who are the Syrian rebels?
Syria's information minister denied on state television that any explosion had occurred at the base.
The capital has seen days of clashes pitting government troops against rebels. The fighting is an unprecedented challenge to government rule in the tightly controlled capital.
For a third straight day, Syrian military fought rebels in the capital where activists say government tanks are fighting back. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
Activists in Damascus said by telephone that Republican Guards sealed off the Shami hospital in the capital after ambulances had brought casualties from the site of the explosion.
In addition to weakening the army command, Wednesday's killings are bound to heighten a sense of paranoia and mistrust among Assad's top ministers and officials.
The attack came as fighting erupted in major Damascus neighborhoods for a fourth day.
The Syrian Military has been using helicopters and firing rockets against Free Syrian Army rebels on the outskirts of the city. Loud explosions were heard and the streets of Damascus were virtually deserted.
An army barracks near the "palace of the people," a huge Soviet-style complex overlooking the city from the western district of Dummar, came under rebel fire around 7:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. ET), activists and a resident said.
"I could hear the sound of small-arms fire and explosions are getting louder and louder from the direction of the barracks," Yasmine, who works as an architect, said by phone from Dummar.
In a visit to a Syria refugee camp, British Foreign Minister William Hague listened to harrowing stories of the people who have been forced to flee their homes. Nearly 140 thousand people have crossed the border from Syria into neighboring Jordan to seek sanctuary from President Bashar al-Assad's deadly onslaught. NBC's John Ray reports.
Video footage broadcast by activists purportedly showed a fire in the barracks overnight as a result of an attack by mortar rounds, but residents who saw the fire said they had not heard explosions to indicate it was a result of an attack.
Dummar is a secure area containing many auxiliary installations for the presidential palace and the barracks is just hundreds of yards from the palace itself.
Fighting in Sunni areas
Fighting also erupted overnight in the southern neighborhoods of Asali and Qadam, and Hajar al-Aswad and Tadamun -- mainly Sunni Muslim districts housing Damascenes and Palestinian refugees.
Syrian TV via AFP - Getty Images
An image taken from Syrian TV shows security forces during armed clashes with gunmen the TV called "terrorists" (unseen) in the Al-Midan district of Damascus on Wednesday.
Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that has dominated power in Syria since a 1963 coup.
PhotoBlog: Behind Syrian rebel lines
NBC News staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
they said the terrorist in the story. how do they tell the difference?
They kill people in their home countries, they kill people out of their home countries... why must there be religious fanatics? In my opinion, organized religion causes nothing but pain and suffering. It's a method of control through fear, and in the cases of Fanaticism, violence.
Judaism, Islam, Christianity.... it's all the same God. They just worship him in different ways. Is it really a reason to kill another human being? Isn't that exactly what God preaches against?
So few people have a brain to analyse what they have been taught and teach the same crap to their children without any evidence whatsoever to support their ridiculous beliefs. The kill in the name of God and always think something is wrong with the other people's religions but can't look in the mirror at the fallacies of their own religion. Right now some reading this will just brush it off, but few even spend 2 hours studying the things that they profess to believe. A physicist or a chemist has to study many hours from a variety of books and prove/disprove theories or at least reproduce them. The biggest sham in the world is the bible and people actually believe it came from God because that is what they have been told and let all reason go by the wayside. I appreciate a thinking mind like yours; keep spreading the rational thoughts, maybe someone will read them, and begin to THINK.
I don't think it's terrorism if you're attacking a military target. The suicide bomber probably wasn't wearing a rebel uniform so this guy would be militia or an irregular. I think to be a terrorist you have to be out of uniform and targeting civilians.
The suicide bomber is a terrorist to the people that support Assad's Syrian government, but a patriot to those that oppose Assad"s Syrian government.
Since the use of the word " terrorist" is a quote from Syrian government controlled television, it shows which faction is in control of the media.
When the Syrian television description changes to "patriot" it will be all over for Assad.
sorry guys my ? was an attempt at humor.
freecascadian: then why is it that the resistance fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan are labelled terrorists when they attack our military?
@ angry guy: Biased Reporting :\
@f hill,
I caught it and enjoyed the irony :)
Subtlety doesn't always work around here so now I always use the ;) to prevent mass hysteria.
Some of the villagers like to circle with torches and pitchforks so this is rather tame really ;)
@Abyzmi,
Your post was fantastic and so sadly true.
Based on my observations and reading it would seem that religion will either make someone a better person or a Bigger Monster. Sadly I've yet to truly hear of one that does not have its wackos at one time or another.
Abyzm, try actually and honestly learning something about those religions and you'll understand why the god of Islam is not the God of the Jews or Christians.
Abyzmi
U ask; Why must there be religious fanatics?
Answer; Because there are religions!
Which only adds to the obvious, religion is an illusion created to manipulate masses through hope.
No religion Know peace. There chew on that a lil
The world would be a better place if the Middle East didn't exist. That part of the world has been a pain in the ass since man walked the planet.
Bob and Abyzmi I'm a Christian and peacefull. I go to church every Sunday and not once in my life has a Priest ever taught anything but love and peace and helping your fellow man. So educate yourself and stop hating. These are radical people teaching hate and violence. Not their religion!
Rob,
Unfortunatley quite a few religions teach love to mean priests love young boys while also pontificating how gays are sinners. As far as "helping" that usually mean helping themselves to the parishoner's money
Bigoted Sunni Saudi, Kuwaiti, UAE barbarians got richer by putting us on Iraqi wars and manipulating oil prices in between.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially Sunni Saudi inspired Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days of rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims and Muslims.
The backwars march towards Islamic religious Nazism has been quite fast.
Religion has been and always will be a curse on all of us. I speak of course of ORGANIZED religion. Thats why most of the founding fathers of the US were Diests not christians. Dieism preaches a belief that while they do believe that the universe was made by a higher ordered being that being has no imput in the day to day lives of the creatures here on earth.On the matter of a soul the say if we do have a soul this entity if you will has the right to do whatever with it once we pass on. Ben Franklin George Washington Thomas Jefferson were all Diests. So much for this being a Christain nation and Christians down through the ages have started more wars than any other sect.
A terrorist is someone who kills people on "our side".
I agree that religion is a primary cause, but I also think it is used as a cloak by many of the religious leaders for the real motivations of power and mostly GREED. They fight over control of the masses because they want the power and money.
I sometimes wonder if women would be as evil as men - I would think not, especially mothers - maybe we would be better off with women running our religions and governments.
CPO Sharkey,
"When the Syrian television description changes to "patriot" it will be all over for Assad."
Right, and it will probably be all over for the Russians, too, as far as their naval base at Tartus, Syria, is concerned. I'm sure that if Assad falls, and the rebels come to power, they are not likely to look favorably on the Russians who have been supporting Assad. That may be one reason why the Russians have recently sent 11 more warships to that area.
What a mean thing to do to those men!
How refreshing suicide bombers killing their own...hey maybe if we leave mideast, they won't have us to easily blowup so they'll turn on each other, kind of like the old mad comics...instead of spy vs spy, now it can be suicide bomber vs suicide bomber vs suicide bonber....cool
@Rob-1699252
Educate myself? You say that with such malice. I grew up religiously as well. The only things I learned were that if I didn't live the way that the church wanted me to, I was never going to be happy.
THAT is why I dislike religion. I find that I am quite happy without it, just as you are quite happy with it.
When I was talking about the people who kill each other for the sake of religion, I was more referring to the Fanatics. And yes, there are christian fanatics as well. Remember Oslo last year?
Of course I understand that not all religious individuals are so full of malice and contempt. Not all Muslims are bad people, for example as does seem to be the common belief.
But when a religious organization stops being run by God, and instead turns into a mechanism for control, and in my opinion, there's not one that has not been made into an abomination, then religion becomes a bad thing.
You have the right to tell me I'm wrong, of course, just as I have the right to tell you my opinion on Religion... though calling me uneducated is rather insulting.
I'm not saying the middle east is great but don't label them like William above did. They have really only been a pain to the west in the last 70 years. If I recall it was the western nations who started the last 2 world wars (with the exception of Japan). They also moved to control the middle east after WW1 which led to our current situation. Also the dark ages and roman times were full of conflict all over Europe and the middle east. So you can't count that in a modern world except the religion part.
Something I found online that I think sheds some light on the situation:
Suicide bombing kills top Syrian officials
By Bill Van Auken
19 July 2012
...The use of suicide bombings, including previous attacks such as the May 10 twin suicide car bombings that killed 55 people outside a Damascus military intelligence building, point to the growing role of Al Qaeda-connected militants who have flocked to Syria from elsewhere in the Middle East….
….The chief of the UN's humanitarian affairs office followed up the Red Cross declaration with a statement Monday warning both the government and the “rebels” that “directing attacks against civilians constitutes a war crime.” Valerie Amo, the UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, stated: “The escalating conflict in Syria is having a devastating physical and psychological impact on hundreds of thousands of people. As the International Committee of the Red Cross has now described the situation as an armed conflict, international humanitarian law applies across Syria in areas where there is fighting.”
The statements underscore the propaganda character of the reports in the mainstream media, echoed by pseudo-left elements internationally, portraying the Syrian conflict as a one-sided massacre perpetrated by the regime against its own people. In reality, a coordinated campaign by Washington, its European allies and the US-backed monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states has fueled a sharp rise in violence by sectarian-based militias, which have been armed, financed, trained and “advised” by these outside powers.
According to debka.com, a web site with close ties to Israeli intelligence, the widening scope of military operations by the so-called “rebels” has been possible because “Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have substantially stepped up the flow of munitions to the rebels.” Debka.com added, “They are reaching combatants inside Syria as well as the trainees at Turkish military facilities.”
Similar training is also taking place in Jordan.
The Free Syrian Army has been “equipped with hi-tech communications connecting the provinces and linked to the FSA’s high command in Turkey,” debka reported. It noted further: “A foreign 'military adviser' is posted at each provincial command center. They are usually special forces experts mainly from the British, French, Turkish, Saudi and Qatari armies.”
In a display of brazenness and hypocrisy, the major imperialist powers have invoked the violence that they have promoted as a pretext for even more direct foreign intervention in Syria. British Foreign Secretary William Hague Wednesday issued a formal condemnation of the suicide bombing in Damascus, only to insist that the attack “confirms the urgent need for a Chapter Seven resolution of the UN Security Council on Syria.”…
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/syri-j19.shtml
Now if they could just keep up those suicide bombings over there there would be all that fewer of them we have to worry about here.
Here? If you mean the US, I haven't heard of any, so fewer than 0 = ???
Suicide bombings is what they do OVER THERE. The violence we need to worry about is all self inflicted. America is the breeding ground for emotionally and mentally unstable, self gratifying, politically confused/ nut jobs. A suicide bomb here and there is nothing compared to the implosion this country is experiencing. The really scary thing is that, hardly anyone believes that's what's happening. Fame and fortune is more important than freedom and scruples. On another side, imposing ones moral faith on others, using politics and taking away GOD GIVEN free will is neither scrupulous nor of true Bible principle as they claim to be. Free will IS Freedom of choice. That's the whole point! There's a reason we were given free will, Each one of us, no matter where in the world we're from, have a crucial decision we are supposed to be thinking about and making at this time. That's what you need to worry about HOTTICKET. Are you part of the world and what it's doing and how it's living? Or not? Which ever side of that equation you put yourself on will change your life. It's possible to worry less about the things you cannot change.
A trusted body gaurd has killed his own boss as he belongs to a different Islamic sect.
How can you trust any Muslim?
Have not many followers of Islamic cult moved fast backwards?
This is no social crisis, just another tricky day for you...fella
Its the beginning of the end for Mitt Romney. Oops. I meant Bashir Assad.
Childish!
Romney/Assad 2012!
What a bunch of Morons! This is why nobody wants to follow your childish Liberal thinking anymore. Your like dealing with a twelve year old.
northlite, what has Obama done for you? Go back to 2008 and listen to his words, now look what he's done. Look at the lack of transparency, the scandals, 8.3 unemployment, whens the last time you got a raise? Romney might not be the answer,but I'm willing to give him the chance
R-money..............for a worse tomorrow today
Assad needs to crush islam and the muslims terrorist to stabalize that country.
That is the only way to peace. The bible God and alla can not be the same God, do I have to explain?
Roth,
except that they are. Just because the Christian Bible has been updated to make a kinder God does not mean Allah is not God. Saying that is denying that the Old Testament ever existed; which, by the way, you cannot claim since it is still heavily in use as a means of bashing the Gays.
Christianity and Islam are not so different, just the wordage of the passages are in such a way that we perceive them as different.
@wlee
Sure he failed on the lobbyist promise. He never promised to hold unemployment under 8.3, please stop repeating this lie based of a comment taken out of context. What Obama said was that based on prediction models that the stimulus was estimated to hold it under 8.3. This is light years away from promising that it would.
Obama has a lot of achievements:
http://www.democratichub.com/obama-administration-accomplishments.aspx
Here is a larger list:
http://obamaachievements.org/list#
Terrorists or freedom fighters?
I don't think it's terrorism if you're attacking a military target. The suicide bomber probably wasn't wearing a rebel uniform so this guy would be militia or an irregular. I think to be a terrorist you have to be out of uniform and targeting civilians.
@freecascadian - so by your logic the entire Iraq and afghanistan al qaida "fighters" are not terrorists since they are fighting US military.
See the problem in your logic? That's the reason - the definition of terrorism or anything else needs to be universal and in touch with human values. This whole "war on terror" was a Bush and Cheney inspired crimes against humanity that profited a few thousand people and made them super rich. Finally it took a "Barack Hussein Obama" to catch the perpetrators. But I am afraid the real perpetrators - the saudi's - still haven't paid their dues.
As per Syrian "revolt" - this seems purely artificial. Most of the middle east has been peaceful for centuries except when oil was found in Middle East and Western powers created an artificial monarchy called the "House of Sauds" to benefit from the oil. Since then this whole region has become artificially unstable.
Valid question Gpaugam7 - I'm sure it's presented and believed by those that support the current Syrian Government as terrorism. By the rebels it's believed to be freedom fighting.
Strict definition is usually something to the effect that (sic) "terrorism is the use of terror to achieve political, religious or ideological goals." In this case, the functional definition usually identifies "violence" as the tool of choice. In normal circumstances, tterrorism usually requires repetitive actions by an entity and may not be exclusively contained to military targets.
Examples of repetitive actions that would qualify: suicide bombers targeting civilian populations (al-Qeada); repression of free press in Mexico by killing reporters (Zetas); burning of car dealerships or buildings (Earth Liberation Front).
There is some debate if other actions would qualify as they are designed to bring terror, fear, or dismay to people. These actions include: implied threats of violence (burning of a cross by the KKK); activities target children in order to emotionally or physcologically harm (the handing out of leaflets with dead elephant names to children outside a circus by PETA)
PJ,
al-Qaeda fighters target civilian populations also and use physically suppressive tactics inorder to maintain control over an area. Example - suicide bombers target market places. Also, the use of the planes in 9-11 to target civilian buildings (Twin Towers).
I don't see a problem. The Iraqis and Afghanis attacking US soldiers are no more "terrorists" than the the American Colonials who fought the British. The terrorists in these wars have been when these local fighters attack civilians. When US soldiers attack civilians it's either "War Crimes" or, more likely, "Collateral damage."
PJ, so Bush made up 9/11? Bush didn't get any of the terrorist? You are beyond ridiculous
Saddam had Christian in his inner circle. Assad too has some.
Syrian rebels are supported by Sunni Islamic radicals and terrorists like al-Qaida, MB and others.
How anyone can support the Sunni rebels?
How many Sunni Saudi, Kuwaiti, UAE and others have Christians or even Shiites in their inner circle?
Watch out how they will transform in Egypt.
this is going to be a major blow to the regime. not because these people cannot be replaced but that the government could not secure them to begin with; that the rebels are able to infiltrate such a secure (?) site. of course we all know that "terrorists" are going to extract a heavy price from the innocent for this act. one can only hope that the next suicide bomber gets assad; that will bring this war to an end. then will come the retribution that follows any collapse of a government with more innocents killed.
Syria is almost certain to get "worse" to replace the Assad regime.
That's the way Yemen went, that's the way Tunisia went, that's the way Libya went, and that's the way Egypt is going. Worse, worse, worse, and worse. Syria will make five. Our meddling in the Middle East is really paying dividends... for Islamic extremists.
Adam44 Libya elected a secular govt. give it a chance to mature
@Adam44 - Things take time. Improvements will come eventually, going from a dictatorship to democracy, especially in the Middle East, it will be messy, especially at first.
wlee, that same "secular" party, the NTC, is the same government that has been singularly unable to exert its authority over the country in all of the time since Gadhafi was toppled.
Even more to the point, that same NTC party stated in its platform that Islamic Shariah Law was to constitute the main source of law for Libya. MAIN source. Does that sound "secular" to you?
Additionally, although the NTC did indeed win the most seats of any "party" in the new Parliament, the majority of seats were won by independents not (yet) affilated with any party. When the dust settles, there is no guarantee that the NTC will have won.
Your assumption that "improvements will come" is for now sheer blind faith.
So far, "Islamic Democracy" is turning out to be about 90% Islam and 10% democracy. Once the Islamists gain and consolidate power in these countries, there is little chance that they will ever relinquish it (as seen for example in Iran).
One less camel!
jockey.
It's a good day. One less Syrian in the world.
Aren't religious superstitions great?
This attack is probably the best evidence yet that insurgents, with the experience, expertise and equipment, have arrived and at work.
Good Day for the Rebels. One Step Closer to The Head of The Snake. Now Go Get the Butcher Assad and put his Head on a Stake for All the Country to see.
A suicide bomber did a good thing? Wow, never thought that would happen. I guess this is what it takes to take your country back. Which is why we'll never get ours back.
All we have to do is vote a few more Republicans out of the Senate and we will be well on our way to getting our country back, the House will be tougher but no bombers needed.
I do not propose sending a suicide bomber into Harry Reids office. I just want him as the minority leader in the Senate and prevent him from being able to block votes and stop being the leader of the Party of NO so we can get our Congress back. Also to take back our Corrupt Oval Office and take our country back
Who took your country?
The Extreme Left Wing Conspiracy took it in 2008
Who knows....We may be next
Carl, it's only because the Neo Cons' conspiracy did so much damage from '00-08. By the way, it was our country first.
Carl do you have any idea whatsoever you are talking about? If you have proof of a conspiracy you must turn it over to the authorities. For if their is a conspiracy and you do not you will be held as a "Material Witness" after it is exposed. BTW Gtmo is a nice place to live was there for several years during the missile crisis in the early 60's.
The party of NO... LOL its the GOP that only votes no since Obama took office. Get your facts straight. Oh wait you have already been brain washed so its too late.
jt, maybe YOU should get YOUR facts strait. Harry Reid has over a DOZEN republican bills on his desk he refuses to send to the floor for a vote. Why? If they are so flawed, why not vote? The democrats have the majority, what is to lose?
Exactly how can you call one side obstructionists when both sides are doing it, and have ALWAYS done it? Thats how DC works, unless there is overwealming momentum, nothing is supposed to happen, exept when the rules are changed mid stream as with the Health Care bill.
A little history can prevent you from posting such crap.
And a little less drivel from faux noise would allow you to do the same. Pot and kettle.
Amused In The Midwest, you are so blinded by ideology you can't see the nose on your face. You think this president is doing a great job, go back and look at what he said in 2008, look at the unemployment. Have you heard him talk about anything other then attacks on Romney. Both these clowns need to spend a little time telling us how they are going to fix things and a little less time on what scum bags they are. Faux News get a new line, that one is pretty stale
I hate politics. People are so polarized. Each side thinks their right and the other side is wrong. What a waste of time.
Politics are the new religion of the masses.
R.Bondy: You are correct. Back and forth the pendulum swings, but each time it loses a bit of steam. When it settles, all the fools who worship the R or D will learn they have been had. R's buy votes, D's buy votes. Worshipping the 2-party system is a sign of the end, for America
I can't wait until Assad and his pretty, little wife are dragged before cameras in chains. I hope they don't hang them right away. I want to see Mrs Assad cry on her crystal collection. How many people have been arrested, tortured, killed? How many homes, towns, and cities destroyed? How many men, women, and children mutilated, tortured, raped, killed? For what? They started out peacefully, protesting for change? Any time people have freedom, that's what they do. Not always right. Don't always win. But Assad chose to eliminate ANY and ALL dissent, disagreement, protest, opinion, and threat to total power and total control. So, now the war is coming to him and his cohorts. Who cares if the Security Agent was a Christian? The Nazis were Christians. He is accessory to genocide. He chose to stay LONG AFTER the genocide. I hope they all go down and I have a feeling they will. Like Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Kim Il Jung, Castro, Khaddafy,,,these psychotic dictators go out one way: They die or They are killed. They never cease power or change.
Bill, the Nazi's were not Christians , they were into the occult
Well, there were ALL over the place BUT their roots were in white western Christianity, the basis of the long time catholic view that the JEWS were responsible for killing Christ. Like the Ottoman genocide against the Armenians, Hitler saw and copied the same tactics, except the Jews were his target. Their fault for everything and anything. Yeah, I was taking liberty with the comparison. My point: Who cares if this guy is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or an atheist. He is a partner and architecht to genocide, rape, torture, murder, and destruction on a scale of the Nazis and Imperialist Japan. Good riddens.
Now these are some great (funny) comments! Thanks.
This way boys.............follow me!
Don't forget, stop drop, and explode.........here we gooooooooooooooooo!
Don't forget, Article 1, section 8: Congress shall declare war. Obama can't do anything till this occurs.
exploded pinto; maybe you should tell bammy that. you might receive a glimpse of the true nature of the universe and realize for all intent and purpose there is no difference between Obama and Assad.
No, but the president can declare "police actions" or whetever the hell they've called these last few excuriosns. Techincally we haven't had a "war" since korea. And that one never officially ended.
Assad has a better looking wife.
@platoschild - I bet you like it when other people mock your favorite politician too. I see you're really contributing to society with such intelligent posts.
"Bammy"??? Seriously? lol... what a tool.
Assad go boom boom next?
Well, now lelt's see how the regime likes it when it's incoming! Lots of these dictators have no problem murdering their people, but squeal like a stuck pig when it's coming at them. Trouble is, when this regime falls (and it will), you will just have a muslim dictatorship to replace it. Improvement? Not likely.
Assad is an animal; absolutely without morals, but the sad thing about Syria is that after his downfall, which is sure to come, they could get someone even worse. Syria snuggled with Soviet Russia for decades during the Cold War as did North Korea which led to regimes of terror propped up secretely by the KGB and other Soviet agencies bent on keeping the West out of the Middle East. The current Russian leadership is scared @!$%#less that some of the evidence about how they operated during that time will fall into Western hands as Syria falls-that is the reason Putin (former KGB) stands behind Assad-he has no choice. It is a similar situation that the U.S. faced with the overthrow of Iraq-you've got to make sure the evidence of your own evil-doings is erased. That very evidence is the current dictators get out of jail card as it was for Saddam against us! Makes you wonder what other criminals have on us as well-wonder what Bin Laden would have said in an international court of law....hmmmm....guess we'll never know. It is interesting how these guys never face an international court for the world to see....remember Libyia! Wonder what Castro knows....it looks to me like the Sopranoes are running the falling policy of the U.S. and Russia-not a pretty sight, but heh, no messy trials regarding justice, truth or the American way!
Go suck a penis, Bin Laden would've just used it as an opportunity to spread propaganda and deserved a much slower, more painful death than getting shot in the face.
You say "go suck a penis" like that is a bad thing, I like it when my girlfriend sucks my penis! It's people like you that give penis sucking a bad name, looser, go suck your own penis. You'll probably like it!
I doubt very much that Putin cares one way or the other....he has become a politician and has adopted the ways of politicians....he's a liar, thief and moral whore...nothing more, nothing less. He's no different than Obama....they simply deny, deny, deny and then make up stuff....people are idiots and they know it. Blacks will vote for Obama because he ...helps them? Ya think? More because he lies to them, enriches himself along the way, and sells himself to the highest bidders. Move along folks, nothing unusual to see here.....
What did they think would happen? These people had enough and they will do what ever it takes to bring down that regime. Power always spawns greed and eventually when you step on people enough they will react back and in this case of what's going on over there it will only escalate.Elitist blue blood of the world your day will come sooner that you think. History shows that.
That is Assad Sr.
Sure is, either that, or his defense minister is a "dead" ringer for daddy Assad.
In a photo of the Syrian military leadership, I would expect Papa Doc Assad to be in the center, not a member of his cabinet. Assad senior, just like Baby Doc Assad, is the head of the Syrian military. That's who the Syrian military takes orders from.
Either that or the Christian defense minister and Papa Doc Assad have the same father......maybe we should have an episode of "who's your daddy?".
"Live by the sword, die by the sword" comes to mind.
I wonder if the rebels will pass Assad's wife around like the village camel before they rape her with her own shoe collection?
You must be a sick pervert to wish that on anyone ! Amazing these so called peaceful protesters have all of these weapons and have murdered scores of civilians ! Any regime has a right to fight back against terrorists such as these Al Qaida rats that you praise ! Why don't we see the looted churches, dead Alawi children, and many soldiers that were hacked up ? Another act of war crimes by nato baby killers !
Someone clarify something for me. There are suicide bombings all over.....afghanistan, Iraq, etc and we classify them as terrorist attacks. Does these mean the opposition forces against Asaad are now terrorist? Were any civilians injured in the bombing?
It doesnt matter who wins....they still aren't going to be our BFF and friend us on facebook
When you attack innocent civilians to strike fear in them, THAT is terorism, the Syrian GOVERNMENT is the terrorist here. This bomber simply attacked terrorist using the only offensive weopon he or she had. That is simply a military operation in a civil war not started by the side of the bomber.
Definition of terrorism;
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorism
the use of elunium pu36 explosive space modulator to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes
C.I.A.
When a set of people viciously go after another set of people - for whatever purpose - they should fully accept the probability that the other set of people strike back. That's what happened, and is happening. What concerns me is not that it happened, but how it was accomplished: Suicide bomber! That is a tactic closely associated with muslim religious fanatics! For the good of the People, this is not a good development, and to me, a very, very scary thing. This also should be something we, in the western world, should be very concerned about. Muslim extremism is something not very well understood relative to these developments in Tunesia, Morocco, Lybia, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. Soon, if not already, many other areas and countries will follow, and we'll have one hell of a major problem with extremists to deal with. Wait, we already have...!
Already sharia law was introduced in the State of Oklahoma. Fortunately it was voted down. Sharia law should never be allowed. Keep your eyes and ears open to prevent what happened in OK from happening elsewhere in our Country.
Punish them all! Proud Leader Assad will have his vengeance!