Men who drink blood: inside the brutal world of Assad's death squads

[Swede]

It was from the army that Hafez al-Assad emerged to seize power in 1970 and make the Alawites the most politically powerful sect in Syria.

Initially, the Shabiha were a mafia clan, making money through racketeering. The Assads turned a blind eye and the Shabiha became the family's loyal defenders and enforcers.

''They are fuelled by this belief that they are fighting for their survival,'' said Dr Azzawi. ''Assad tells them that they must defend the government or else they will be destroyed; it's kill, or be killed.''

Dr Azzawi, who now runs the Syrian Network for Human Rights from London, showed a video of the Shabiha in action.

An enormous man, identified on the video as Areen al-Assad posed with his gun, grinned from behind the steering wheel of his car, and flexed his muscles. One huge bicep bulged with a tattoo of the President's face. At the end of the video, the militants proclaim: ''Bashar, do not be sad: you have men who drink blood.''

''It is their motto,'' explained Dr Azzawi. ''They are unstoppable.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/men-who-drink-blood-inside-the-brutal-world-of-assads-death-squads-20120603-1zq1v.html#ixzz1wkZYVhJr

[tabasco]

1. Murderers of children

How brave.

[leveymg]

2. Murdoch propaganda - suggests the "blood libel" of the Elders of Zion that accused Jews of blood

sacrifice of Christian children. The posting of Neocon regime change propaganda on this board has become embarrassing.

[lunatica]

3. Is the Sydney Morning Herald a rag then?

I want to know if it's credible.

[leveymg]

4. It's been a Murdoch rag since 1972.

This is actually a reprint of an article that's bylined The Telegraph, another Murdoch News Ltd. Australia holding.

It's blatant hate propaganda, no matter who printed it. It's part of a concerted program of regime change propaganda reposted here, as well, and that is becoming tedious.

[HiPointDem]

5. +1. every day. by the same set of posters.

[leveymg]

6. I don't want to silence anyone, but posting Neocon content is a TOS violation.

Look up the rules. What should we do about this sort of blatant neocon hate propaganda?

[HiPointDem]

7. Murdoch papers are also a source for many postings on education issues as well.

Including a recent one calling 16 teachers found innocent of sexual misconduct by independent arbitrators "pervs" & claiming that regardless of the findings, they are guilty & that Bloomberg thus needs to be given authority to fire teachers at will.

[leveymg]

9. Background info: Saudi Kingdom Holdings is a major investor in Murdoch's NewsCorp

That's a fact, and it's relevant, particularly in the present context about Syria.

(BTW: note their joint investments in Twitter)

Kingdom Holding Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Holding_Company
Kingdom Holding Company (Arabic: شركة المملكة القابضة? is a public ... "Saudi Billionaire Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Co. ... 2005-07-05. http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/newsroom/news/news-archive-2005/hsbc-announces-joint-venture-in-africa.

News Corporation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, through his Kingdom Holding Company, owns 7% of News Corp.'s shares, making Kingdom Holdings the ...

List of assets owned by News ... - News Corporation scandal - The Daily - Events
Kingdom Holding Company - Press Release
http://www.kingdom.com.sa › Home › Media Centre
Dec 19, 2011 – HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, and Kingdom Holding ... In February 2010, Rotana Group announced that Newscorp has ...

Prince Alwaleed & Kingdom Holding Company Make a $300 Million ...
http://www.prnewswire.com/.../prince-alwaleed--kingdom-holding-compan...
Dec 19, 2011 – HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Chairman Kingdom Holding Company, ... In February 2010, Rotana Group announced that Newscorp had ...

[HiPointDem]

10. i didn't know that. yeah, very relevant.

[leveymg]

8. I'm going to rec this for visibility to see what other people have to say about it.

We need to have a wider discussion about this sort of thing.

[tabatha]

11. There was the same information from a military general.

The Syrians, without the help of a Murdoch rag, say the same thing - they live and die with these monsters, daily.


Here is a credible reporter talking to a credible military general.
http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/29/green-room-discussion-with-syrian-military-general/


If all news outlets are posting the same stuff (even Rachel Maddow did a story on the Shaibiha) then just because it is on a Murdoch rag does not mean it is not true.

This article was published months before the massacre:

http://all4syria.info/web/Archive/38128

[Swede]

12. Assad seems to have allies here at DU.

Some right in this thread.

[leveymg]

13. You're confusing "allies" with enemies of enemies.

Assad is an idiot who has been ineffective at dealing with the opposition and the insurgency, and is likely to be overthrown. I'm beginning to think a coup is possible. That wouldn't bother me, particularly if his successor engaged in some sort of UN-brokered negotiated settlement with the other parties in the country.

But, escalation of the foreign intervention is leading the bloodiest possible outcome of a collapse of the country into ethnic cleansing and genocide carried out by bands of Sunni foreign terrorists fighting Shi'ia militias. No thank you. We've seen that in Bosnia and Kosovo, which seems to be the model for this sort of Saudi paramilitary intervention.