Cluster bombs, Syria, and Barack ObamaBy: Diane Sori
Well folks it was just a matter of time before something like this was exposed...and to be exposed by a civilian is amazing.
Elliot Higgins, a British citizen with absolutely NO military experience or any background in weapons analysis whatsoever has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Syrian army, Bashar al-Assad's army, has used cluster bombs on their own people. Assad continues denying he's ever used or ordered them used saying he knows cluster bombs are an internationally banned weapon.
Yeah right...
Some background...Cluster bombs were banned (because their 'bomblets' spread over a wide area and makes NO distinction between civilian and military targets) by The Convention on Cluster Munitions on August 1, 2010 as a binding international law with 107 countries signing the treaty and 7 countries having ratified it. But Syria, like all Middle East countries except Lebanon, did NOT sign and did NOT take part in the 2007-2008 Oslo Process, which led to creation of said treaty, and as such does NOT legally have to abide by it...and they're NOT.
When interviewed by CNN Higgins said, "With the cluster bombs the Syrian government still seems to have the official policy of refusing to state that they are using them. And I've collected a vast amount of evidence of cluster bombs in Syria. There is video of cluster bombs dispersing from helicopters. That's something that can't really be faked."
NO it can't, and now the New York based international human rights group, Human Rights Watch, has proven through field investigations and preliminary analysis of over 450 videos posted to the internet, that at 119 or more locations across Syria at least 156 cluster bombs have been used in the past six months...used on populated areas in Assad's effort to push back rebel advances along Syria's main north-south highway, causing massive civilian casualties...and that he's expanding their use.
And when pressed for a response to these charges, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was NOT 'authorized' to make official statements to the media, a senior Syrian government official denied that Assad's forces use cluster bombs and said, "Many amateur videos are doubtful."
Oh sure they are...over 450 videos are all 'doubtful'...and pigs fly (good analogy for muslims, huh, but I digress...)
Assad can bloviate all he wants that his forces are NOT using them but 450 videos don't lie. And if he's lying about using banned cluster bombs you can also bet he's lying about using chemical weapons against his own people as well.
Cluster bombs are banned because besides the initial death and maim toll, that's only the beginning of the carnage they cause. Cluster bombs are impossible to use with precision because they're ejected in dense bunches from free-falling dispensers dropped from aircraft in flight causing them to scatter and descend nose-down to land and explode almost at once over a wide area, often hundreds of yards across. And the 'bomblets' that don't explode immediately kill and maim long after the initial explosion, because while appearing like landmine 'duds' that are anything but.
And here's a bit more of NOT happy news...these bombs that Assad is using against rebel-supporting civilian populations were made in the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. These PTAB-2.5Ms were designed by Communist engineers to destroy battlefield formations of Western armored vehicles and tanks. But the question is when were these weapons delivered to Syria as Russia continues to be their main arms supplier even with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Did Syria acquire them long ago from the old Soviet Union...did they recently get them from Russia...or were they gotten through a third party deal...or, and this is scary...in a weapons smuggling operation (can you say Benghazi).
To date there is no reliable information on how or when Syria acquired these weapons, and that's very disturbing for a number of reasons, the first and foremost being that Obama isn't pressing the issue. And why isn't he...it's because he considers Syria to be at the center of most every alliance and agreement with Russia that keeps the Middle East from falling into complete and total chaos, and as such he doesn't want to step on Russia's toes. Second, Obama has been the most adamant of all NATO leaders in denying the Syrian people a 'NO FLY ZONE' or giving the Syrian opposition any outright military support. And third, in defended his reluctance to use US military force to halt the Syrian civil war with its slaughter of innocents, Obama claims experience has shown him that slow coalition-building and outside pressure will yield better results.
Oh yeah, we all know how well Obama's experience at coalition-building has worked out...his coalition-building with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and all things anti-Israel. And like he said in an interview with The New Republic Magazine, "In a situation like Syria, I have to ask, can we make a difference in that situation?"
To answer that I say to Barack HUSSEIN Obama, “let our military experts decide what's best in regards to Syria, because you, your inexperience, and your phony Arab Spring have turned the entire Middle East into one hell of a fire keg that's ready to explode.”
http://thepatriotfactor.blogspot.com/2013/03/op-ed-cluster-bombs-syria-and-barack.html
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