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  1. #1
    I am that guy RandomGuy's Avatar
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    LIKE many refugees, Caesar had terrible tales to tell when he slipped out of Syria in August 2013. Less typically he also had pictures to do ent his story: 53,275 of them, to be exact. From shortly after the eruption of civil war in the spring of 2011 until his flight, Caesar (a pseudonym) worked for government security forces as a forensic photographer. The photos he took, and surrep iously copied, were of thousands of corpses. Some were of fallen soldiers or war victims, but most were of young men who had spent their last days in the dungeons and torture chambers of the Syrian regime.

    The pictures show that thousands of prisoners died of fatal neglect, vicious abuse or straightforward murder by beatings or gunshots. Some images reveal groups of naked, emaciated bodies, each tagged with numbers, splayed on the dirt floor of a hospital garage. But because Caesar entrusted his grisly trove to Syrian opposition groups that publicised the atrocities via a London law firm hired by the government of Qatar, which is hostile to the Syrian regime, some have questioned its authenticity. “You can bring photographs from anyone and say this is torture,” said Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, in an interview earlier this year. “So it’s all allegations without evidence.”

    Such doubts should now be laid to rest. Following a six-month investigation that included dozens of interviews with former prisoners, defectors who had worked in Syrian military hospitals or intelligence agencies, forensic experts and families of the disappeared, Human Rights Watch (HRW), an independent watchdog group, says it is satisfied that the photos are indeed genuine. In a report published on December 16th it says that Caesar’s work suggests that Syrian officials should be tried for crimes against humanity.

    Among other confirmatory evidence, HRW researchers traced the cases of 27 individual victims back to their families, matching Caesar’s pictures with family photos and tallying the dates and places of their arrest against details recorded by Caesar. Forensic analysis of pictures revealed not only telltale signs of starvation, severe skin infections and bruising, but of “chronic venous insufficiency in the lower extremities”, the medical term for legs swollen by being forced to stand for long periods, a detail that confirms former prisoners’ stories of crowding so severe that being taken out for torture was seen as a welcome chance for fresh air. Numerous families also testified to paying government officials extortionate bribes for news of imprisoned relatives, only to discover from the pictures that they had long been dead.

    Judging from the picture sets, which often include several of the same corpse, it appears that Caesar photographed more than 6,000 dead prisoners. These represent most, but not all, of those he witnessed during his shifts at two military hospitals in the Syrian capital, Damascus, over a 27-month period. But Syria’s war has lasted more than twice that long. Damascus, where there are other military hospitals that similarly ‘processed’ prisoners’ corpses, holds just a quarter of the country’s people. The full scale of the carnage in Mr Assad’s prisons may never be known.

    http://www.economist.com/news/middle...shar-al-assads

  2. #2
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    So?

    Do you think who will replace Assad is any better? Do you think the people would accept a Western Puppet that you would approve of?

  3. #3
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    "regime change" worked wonderfully in Iraq, so why not do it again in Syria AND Iran (these are the neocon targets to establish US hegemony in the Middle East)

  4. #4
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    lol WC really lovers murderous dictators when a Democrat is President.

  5. #5
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    lol WC really lovers murderous dictators when a Democrat is President.
    No, I just understand that it is often best to keep the evil you known, rather than changing for an unknown evil. History, time and again, has shown nearly all attempts at regime change to make things worse. not better.

    I'm sorry you are too dumb to see that.

  6. #6
    Veteran hater's Avatar
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    WC with them truth nukes.

    These posters here think the world is black and white like in a Disney space epic

    Just look at Idlib the Rebel "liberated" city. It's Sharia law and women have to be covered Taliban style.

    Look at the Al Sham rebel group. Called by US their biggest ally in Syria. Al Sham is also allied with Alqaeda and said Syria better becoma an Islamic State or else

  7. #7
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    No, I just understand that it is often best to keep the evil you known, rather than changing for an unknown evil. History, time and again, has shown nearly all attempts at regime change to make things worse. not better.

    I'm sorry you are too dumb to see that.
    You were for getting rid of Saddam Hussein tho.

    Who was President then?

  8. #8
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    WC with them truth nukes.

    These posters here think the world is black and white like in a Disney space epic

    Just look at Idlib the Rebel "liberated" city. It's Sharia law and women have to be covered Taliban style.

    Look at the Al Sham rebel group. Called by US their biggest ally in Syria. Al Sham is also allied with Alqaeda and said Syria better becoma an Islamic State or else
    GO RUSSIA GO!!

    I take your posts now find the subject matter and add keyword "russia." Nothing that says we are allied with al-Sham but instead something saying that is who Russia is currently bombing.

    Thanks, Boris. Patronizing WC was a nice touch. I liked that.

  9. #9
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    You were for getting rid of Saddam Hussein tho.

    Who was President then?
    My God.

    How many times must a person give for their reason before it sticks? That was a different situation. I'm not going to bother explaining, because it won't matter to a troll like you.

  10. #10
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    My God.

    How many times must a person give for their reason before it sticks? That was a different situation. I'm not going to bother explaining, because it won't matter to a troll like you.
    Right -- a Republican was President so it was alright with you.

    No need to explain.

  11. #11
    Veteran hater's Avatar
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    GO RUSSIA GO!!

    I take your posts now find the subject matter and add keyword "russia." Nothing that says we are allied with al-Sham but instead something saying that is who Russia is currently bombing.

    Thanks, Boris. Patronizing WC was a nice touch. I liked that.
    This thread has nothing to do with Russia tbh. Stop obsessing.

    Of course Al Sham are our allies. We been arming them and they are the most powerful of the so called "moderate" groups. Read uo on it. You can find info on it even in CIA mouthpieces WSJ and NYT

  12. #12
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    This thread has nothing to do with Russia tbh. Stop obsessing.

    Of course Al Sham are our allies. We been arming them and they are the most powerful of the so called "moderate" groups. Read uo on it. You can find info on it even in CIA mouthpieces WSJ and NYT
    I read on NYT how al-Sham in August said that they would be willing to work with western powers. No media outles is doing as you claim other than Russian TV.

    I get it. Why get new material when you can just use someone else's but this is exceptionally weak.

  13. #13
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    Right -- a Republican was President so it was alright with you.

    No need to explain.
    Yes, no need to explain your confirmation bias that leads you to incorrect assumptions.

  14. #14
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    Yes, no need to explain your confirmation bias that leads you to incorrect assumptions.
    How many countries did Assad invade?

    How many UN resolutions did he ignore?

    What potential threat is he seen at to the Western world?

  15. #15
    俺はまんこが大好きなんだよ baseline bum's Avatar
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    CROFL now Republican Cobra cares about the UN

  16. #16
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    CROFL now Republican Cobra cares about the UN
    No I really don't. However, those I am debating do.

    I was in the military during the first gulf war, at USEUCOM. I've seen some rather interesting things during that time. The only reason we didn't take out Saddam then, was because of the fear of destabilizing Iraq like what has now happened. we got him so sign agreements, that he reneged on. then after 911, we couldn't let him to continue the flagrant disregard, for the terms that kept us from going into Baghdad then.

    You guys really need to get a better grip on history on the topic, instead of the news bites by pundits that were against Bush.


  17. #17
    俺はまんこが大好きなんだよ baseline bum's Avatar
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    The only reason we didn't take out Saddam then, was because of the fear of destabilizing Iraq like what has now happened
    You mean what happened in 2003

  18. #18
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    But that was OK because Bush.

    Got the logo to prove it.

  19. #19
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    You mean what happened in 2003
    It didn't fall apart till recently. Iraq was doing well until we left.

  20. #20
    Veteran Wild Cobra's Avatar
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    But that was OK because Bush.

    Got the logo to prove it.
    Dammit.

    Where did my troll spray go?

  21. #21
    俺はまんこが大好きなんだよ baseline bum's Avatar
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    It didn't fall apart till recently. Iraq was doing well until we left.
    It fell apart in 2003 son

  22. #22
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    Nah, we just needed to kill more people and build more nation.

  23. #23
    Believe.
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    How many countries did Assad invade?

    How many UN resolutions did he ignore?

    What potential threat is he seen at to the Western world?
    What grants him legitimacy to rule? His own army couped against him not us.

  24. #24
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    What grants him legitimacy to rule? His own army couped against him not us.
    How about the self-evident fact that he's still ruling? That's all the legitimacy any ruler ever has.

  25. #25
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    How about the self-evident fact that he's still ruling? That's all the legitimacy any ruler ever has.
    You familiar with Social Contract or the Rights of Man?

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