Who do you support, Assad or the Syrian rebels?

[That Icelandic]

This is just to get a broad picture of opinion on the forum.

I don't have mich knowledge on the subject but i hope some people can enlighten me.

[kineo]

I don't know that it's as simple as just supporting one side or the other. Each side is made up of different groups of people. Assad's regime has committed terrible atrocities against the citizens of Syria- sent his troops, tanks, and missiles against civilians (and more) . I think that he needs to be tried for those actions.

The rebels are trying to overthrow his regime as best as they can. At a high level and as an outsider without first-hand knowledge, I hope that they are successful. But I'm not there, and I only know what I've heard and read from the news. However, most of the doubts I have come from the reports that Islamist extremists are aiding the rebels and mixing among the rebel fighters to be able to gain control once Assad is overthrown. That would probably be terrible, and would probably not be an improvement for Syrians.

The others doubts I have are that Syrian civilians caught in the middle are suffering. Many have been forced to flee, others stay and struggle to stay safe and to feed themselves and their families. The war is terrible for everyone, and I hope that it is resolved soon so that people can receive the relief aid that they need and get back to a decent life. And I hope that it is free of the Assad regime.

Here's a good overview:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/inter...index.html

It's also important to keep in mind that that other nations have weighed in in various ways. For example, Russia was in support of the Assad regime, and has been strictly against any support from the UN for the rebels.

[panterasr9]

Well it's just like every other conflict over there. We help overthrow a dictatorship and it gets replaced with a bunch of crazy muslims who hate us even more than the dictator did. So for The USA it is a bad idea I think. But Obama just thinks so highly of these peacefull people the muslims. This will bite the international community. So I would rather have the millitary leaders rule the country. But then again I would rather have ICBM's rule that whole area.

[Mr Woof]

(29-01-2013 02:08 PM)panterasr9 Wrote:  Well it's just like every other conflict over there. We help overthrow a dictatorship and it gets replaced with a bunch of crazy muslims who hate us even more than the dictator did. So for The USA it is a bad idea I think. But Obama just thinks so highly of these peacefull people the muslims. This will bite the international community. So I would rather have the millitary leaders rule the country. But then again I would rather have ICBM's rule that whole area.

Yep, in the Middle East we see one group spring up to become even more intolerant than their predecessors.

[Free Thought]

Frankly, I don't care about most of the rebellions in the ME, as far as I am concerned, it is essentially multiple instances of the Cuban Revolution:

One dictator out, in goes the new one.

Good on 'em for attempting to get the people a better lot in life, but shame on them for not being so for-thought as to immediately emplace a new leader. If they are smart, they'd let another, trust-able power to deal with governance until they are effectively organised enough to form a non-dictator government style.

[BryanS]

Menachem Begin when asked to comment on the Iran/Iraq war:
"We wish both sides great success!"

I kind of feel that way about Assad and the Syrian rebels.