The Video Turns out to be Fake but Not the Determination of the Syrian People

On Tuesday of this week I published a post entitled “A Hero Outside Damascus.” It set up a 1:06 minute video of what appeared to be a young Syrian boy risking his life in a tremendous show of heroism in order to rescue a young girl from what was assumed to be Syrian regime snipers. The video offered a glimpse of what I told one person was the true Syrian spirit of determination.

We learned tonight that the video was a farce. It was filmed in Malta by a Norwegian film crew and posted to their YouTube page with the intention of deceiving viewers. This viewer clearly was deceived. (Read BBC Trending article here)

A Hero Outside Damascus

Every war has its victims and every conflict its horrors. The civil war raging in Syria is not an exception. The statistics stagger – 200,000 + civilians killed by the Assad regime with more than 10,000 of these being children. Nine million Syrians have been displaced inside and outside Syria leaving entire towns destroyed. 

Images of death and carnage - of hospitals lying in rubble and of refugee camps torn and tattered by Assad's bombs sweep through social media with such unrelenting force that many viewers in the west have become numb and even repulsed. Words cannot fully define the helplessness and hopelessness felt by those men and women who so desperately long not simply for an end to the fighting, but also for the freedom from tyranny for which they fight. 

Every war also has its heroes, and the war in Syria is again not an exception.

As we celebrate Veterans Day here in the United States, we pay tribute to those who have taken the oath to defend and protect. We give our utmost respect to the men and women who have gone into harm’s way, so that those of us who do not serve may remain safe at home. This is an exceptional thing and every American should celebrate and be grateful.

It is also fitting I believe to take this day to share one story of a hero who is not American, who did not take an oath or wear a uniform, who simply acted without regard to his own life to save another. The following one minute video is not graphic but it is violent. Watch to the end and you will be inspired. His is a story that the world needs to know. 

(The snipers are serving at the orders of Syrian President Bashar al Assad outside Damascus, It should also be noted that the voices heard are not those of the snipers but of people secretly filming using a telephoto lens to document Assad’s crimes against humanity.)

A hero outside Damascus

Finally, I am not Muslim, but this young man's actions reminded me of the verse from the Koran, “And whoever saves one life - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.” Surat 5:32 It should be everyone’s hope and prayer that the world saves his life and the lives of all those left standing in that war-torn nation by demanding an end to Assad’s inhuman assault on the innocent.

We are losing our fight against ISIS

We are losing our fight against ISIS. Regardless of a successful strike here, or a temporarily retreating foe there, we are losing ground each day in the hearts and minds of the Syrian people.

We are losing, not because we cannot win and not because the fight is not worth fighting. The truth is, we can win and for the sake of our long term national security and economic stability, as well as, our ability to project the same around the globe victory is worth the fight. We are losing because the promises and statements of President Obama are disconnected from his administration’s actual policies and actions.

Clearly the challenges and dangers of seeking to destroy our stated enemy, the Islamic State, are great and real. Add to this that the battlefield has been shaped by a three-year civil war - a civil war in which multiple opposition factions from a kaleidoscope of ideological leanings battle a desperate and malevolent dictator who continues to survive by way of funds and weapons from Russia and fighters from Iran, the complexity of prudent and effective action becomes almost confounding – almost.

Question of the Day

Q:        What do the following counties have in common?  (See answer at the bottom.)

	Hungary	9,933,173
	Sweden	9,631,261
	Azerbaijan	9,514,887
	Serbia	9,468,378
	United Arab Emirates	9,445,624
	Belarus	9,307,609
	Austria	8,526,429
	Tajikistan	8,408,947
	Honduras	8,260,749
	Switzerland	8,157,896
	Israel	7,822,107
	Jordan	7,504,812

Time is Not on Our Side in Syria

On October 16th, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece written by United States Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham entitled, “To Defeat Islamic State, Remove Assad.” The by-line reads, “Syrians are already asking why we’re bombing ISIS but not stopping Assad’s attacks on them.” (See full article here.) 

This is the most critical question relating to the situation in Syria today - Will the United States, at a minimum, allow ally countries to enforce a No Fly Zone over the regions of Syria enduring the Assad regime’s daily bombings of civilians? After watching the slow death of a nation through the killing of 220,000 civilians with 12,000 of these being children, the displacement externally and internally of an estimated 12 million refugees and the destruction of entire cities by regime forces, the Syrian people have a right to know our answer to this question before they pledge to be our “boots on the ground” fighting ISIS.

How to Lose Friends and Influence No One – Obama’s Failing Syrian Doctrine

When President Obama spoke to the American people on September 10, 2014, the people of Syria listened.   They heard a message they had prayed would be spoken for three years.  They heard the leader of the free world tell his nation that the time to act against terror in Iraq and also in Syria had come and that America, alongside Arab allies, was ready.

The message was not precisely what the people of Syria had hoped it would be, but it was enough to restore hope. To moderate Syrians, the regime of Bashar al Assad is the primary enemy and ISIS the secondary.  They understood, however, that the United States was focused on ISIS and they accepted this political reality. They also understood that we needed them fighting on the ground, and they agreed.

The War of Words That We Must Win

The U.S. and coalition’s assault on ISIS in Iraq and Syria will not be successful without the proverbial “boots on the ground” – but the fighters wearing those boots do not have to be, and cannot be, American troops.

In Iraq, we wage an aerial war against ISIS with the assistance of both the legitimate government of Iraq and the Kurdish army.  They are our boots and will be effective.

In Syria, however, we do not have a legitimate government to aid us. Syrian president Assad is a ruthless dictator who has killed over 190,000 of his own citizens in a war he is waging against his people. We are therefore relying on the Free Syrian Army – a force made up of civilians who organized not to fight ISIS but to fight for the end of the Assad regime.