Syrian leader likens bloody crackdown to surgery

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Syrian leader likens bloody crackdown to surgery

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press – 47 minutes ago

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad defended his government's crackdown on opponents Sunday, saying a doctor performing messy emergency surgery does not have blood on his hands if he is trying to save a patient.

In his first speech since January, Assad appeared unmoved by scathing international criticism of his ferocious response to the 15-month-old revolt against his rule, which has killed up to 13,000 people, according to activist groups. He also denied responsibility for last week's Houla massacre of more than 100 people, saying not even "monsters" would carry out such an ugly crime.

He said terrorists have pushed his country into war.

"When a surgeon in an operating room ... cuts and cleans and amputates, and the wound bleeds, do we say to him your hands are stained with blood?" Assad said in a televised speech to parliament. "Or do we thank him for saving the patient?"

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Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5guZ8CdbKnr1647QBHcZ9Oe-so2qA?docId=c2efd58d873346378cb6f996fb612233

[PDJane]

1. There's no surgery to cure what ails him.

I think the cure is stepping down and getting his head out of.....well.

[leveymg]

2. Unlike his father, Bashar Assad is an idiot.

They both have blood on their hands. But, so do their Saudi-backed opponents who are waging Jihad against the Alawite.

[tabatha]

4. Why don't you post links for your BS.

There is no jihad against the Alawite - otherwise there would have been news reports of it.

Just flying an Al Qaeda-like flag over Benghazi Courthouse for two hours, resulted in thousands of articles about AQ in Libya.

For the most part, the Alawite have not been attacked - they are protected by both the military and the Shabiha. If the 300,000 strong Assad military and the Shabiha cannot protect 11% of the population, Assad would have been out of power by now. Only Sunni homes have been bombed.

I think you get your "news" from SANA.

`

[leveymg]

6. Tabatha. I'm not the source for that - National Intelligence Director Clapper is, as I've

had to repeatedly remind you. Here's that link to Clapper's statement printed in the WaPo before the Senate Armed Services Committee, again, and again . . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/al-qaeda-infiltrating-syrian-opposition-us-officials-say/2012/02/16/gIQA9LDJIR_story.html

By Greg Miller, Published: February 16

Members of al-Qaeda have infiltrated Syrian opposition groups, and likely executed recent bombings in the nation’s capital and largest city, the United States’ top intelligence official said Thursday.

The remarks by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper are the most definitive to date from a senior Obama administration official on al-Qaeda’s efforts to insert itself into the Syrian uprising.

Two bombings in Damascus in December, as well as deadly attacks on security and intelligence buildings in Aleppo last week, “had all the earmarks of an al-Qaeda-like attack,” Clapper said, adding that the network’s affiliate in Iraq “is extending its reach into Syria.”

But Clapper suggested that al-Qaeda has so far not sought to call attention to its presence, and that its operatives may have slipped into groups of fighters opposed to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Qaeda extremists “have infiltrated” opposition groups that “in many cases may not be aware they are there,” Clapper said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee.

The source doesn't come more official than that. So, please, stop saying I haven't posted my links.

[HiPointDem]

3. another color revolution.

[tabatha]

5. #AssadSpeech

edward dark ‏@edwardedark
#AssadSpeech summary: the country and its people are my property, I will rule them till I die, if you don't like it I will kill you #Syria