Syrian National Council appoints Christian leader, as talks to create a single unified rebel group c - Polidicks

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/-q8o.jpg[/img] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20276252[/url] [quote=BBC News][B]The Syrian National Council has chosen a Christian former Communist as its leader after talks in Qatar.[/B] George Sabra said his election showed that the SNC was not sectarian, and he appealed for more weapons to help overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. The SNC was discussing a plan to merge with other groups to form a wider anti-Assad bloc, but it failed to agree terms and will meet again on Saturday. The US and the Gulf states, which fund the SNC, want the merger. The SNC had been due to make a decision on Friday, but internal wrangling forced it to ask for an extra 24 hours. The proposed unified group, tentatively called the Syrian National Initiative, is intended to merge disparate military and political groups to form a credible alternative to Mr Assad's government. [B]'Stop the bloodbath'[/B] More than 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed in a long-running uprising against his rule. On Friday, the UN said 11,000 Syrians had fled across the border in the previous 24 hours. According to Turkish media, many of those who fled to Turkey were deserters from the Syrian armed forces. Mr Sabra said he had just one demand of the international community: "To stop the bloodbath and help the Syrian people chase out this bloody regime by providing us with weapons." The veteran activist has been a staunch opponent of Mr Assad and his father, former President Hafez al-Assad. He fled into hiding late last year and eventually went into exile in Turkey. He has been jailed several times, by the current government and the government of Hafez al-Assad.[/quote]

"The Syrian National Council has chosen a Christian former [b]Communist[/b]" THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAS ALWAYS STOOD BY AL-ASSAD'S PEACEFUL DEMOCRATIC REGIME

[quote]Christian former Communist[/quote] Confused Republicans ahoy.

In all seriousness this is great and I hope they are able to unify in the coming weeks. Dammit Satan

[QUOTE=Zambies!;38387783]Dammit Satan[/QUOTE] This is a quote from the guy apparently

[QUOTE=SataniX;38387780]Confused Republicans ahoy.[/QUOTE] Do we support the dictator that is murdering his own people, or do we support the man who is Christian (in-line with our own beliefs), but is also a Communist and therefor a sub-human? :v:

Hopefully this will keep the rebels from killing Christians. There has been a bit of that, I believe. Assad, if nothing else, has kind of protected minorities pretty well.

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;38388847]Hopefully this will keep the rebels from killing Christians. There has been a bit of that, I believe. Assad, if nothing else, has kind of protected minorities pretty well.[/QUOTE] Only in a cynical way and a selective way (the Assyrians and smaller congregations, his own Alawites, and some Druze), often pitting minorities against each other in competitions to keep them dependent on the government. The largest minority in Syria by far are the Kurds, occupying somewhere around 10% of the country's population. The Assad government's track record, both senior and junior, with them isn't exactly stellar. Discriminatory policies, cultural suppression, denial of citizenship that is inherited, violence, etc. Unfortunately the Syrian opposition has shown that they don't consider the Kurdish issue as a major one, even considering the SNC's previous chair being a Kurdish Syrian expat residing in Sweden. It doesn't help either that the Turkish government is a major presence in the Syrian presence, whose own track record with Kurds isn't all that great either.