Syria has reached a critical tipping point as tanks head for Aleppo
Statement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACTS: Gregg Edgar
Gordon C. James Public Relations
602-690-7977
Syria has reached a critical tipping point as tanks head for Aleppo
Syria heads towards genocide as U.S. stands on the sidelines
PHOENIX (July 26, 2012) – Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the co-founder of the Save Syria Now! issued the following statement regarding the chaos ensuing in Syria:
“As fighting continues in Damascus, a military column with hundreds of tanks is rolling toward Syria’s second city Aleppo. While some are characterizing the situation as a civil war, that term would imply that there are two relatively equal sides. This is not a civil war. It is genocide. With hundreds of thousands of armed personnel and one of the Middle East’s heaviest armamentariums, the brutal Syrian government is able to willfully destroy and obliterate its courageous free Syrian opponents and inflict retribution on everyday citizens who have had the courage to stand up to Assad’s thugs. Over 20,000 innocent men, women and children have already lost their lives and hundreds of thousands are suffering from the now 17 month uprising against the fascist Assad regime.
The Syrian conflict has reached a tipping point and the United States can no longer afford to be seen sitting on the sideline of this battle. With over 500,000 Syrian expatriates living on her shores whose families are being slaughtered in the streets of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and now Aleppo, the U.S. has a moral obligation to engage the Syrians and come down on the side of freedom and liberty by openly and rigorously supporting the opposition to Assad’s brutal regime. Assad and his generals are in the process of exacting a “final solution” upon the Syrian people whose only crime is the desire for freedom. As pollsters Mark Penn and Mike Abramowitz describe in their latest poll on “Ending Genocide,” “Americans want their government to do something about preventing genocide. A strong proportion — 69 percent — believes the United States should prevent or stop mass atrocities from occurring in another part of the world. Substantial majorities also said they think the United States should have taken military action in cases such as Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.” So many American Syrians came to the US to escape persecution and celebrate freedom. That freedom has a price and a moral obligation that comes with it. Today, we are begging our fellow Americans to help those seeking freedom in our motherland against one of the most evil regimes on the planet today.
Apprehension over the impact that engagement will have on November’s presidential race will firmly ensconce President Obama on the wrong side of history watching a genocide unleashed from a tyrant like few we have seen in the world to date.
Leaders must lead. The U.S. has the opportunity to reboot our old failed policies in the Middle East and show that we don’t always have to take the side of the “strong horse” or the “safer bet” but rather the side of righteousness and moral good. As the Middle East is reshaped these inflection points will not come again, and the role of the United States will not be forgotten for generations to come. If we can only find the courage to act. No result can be guaranteed, but our inaction is resulting in a certain guarantee of genocide, antipathy for American courage, and endearment of Syrians to those who help them from Iran to Russia to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. None of which are in American or NATO interests.
The writing is on the wall for Assad’s regime, it is simply a question of how many people he will slaughter on his way to history’s trash heap. Fears of an Islamist regime following will be a self-fulfilling prophecy if we do not get our hands dirty and engage and empower Syrians who share our visions of liberty and a free Syria.
As freedom loving Americans of Syrian decent we implore this administration to openly enter the fray in the following ways.
1. Immediately impress upon NATO the need to establish a no fly zone to stop Syrian helicopter gunships from indiscriminately attacking the Syrian people.
2. Employ a Kosovo style air assault to stop Syrian troops, tanks and artillery from converging on city of Aleppo or any other target where they will employ their brutal assault on the Syrian people.
3. Use all imaginable diplomatic pressure to halt Russia’s efforts to rearm Assad’s regime and neuter Russia and China’s impact by entirely stepping away from the impotent UN processes and focusing on the work that needs to be done with willing moral nations.
4. Force the regime to admit International Media and NGO’s like the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch so they can care for the injured and accurately document human rights violations for eventual prosecution.
5. Begin the process of building the political infrastructure of Syrians who share our values and our faith in liberty so that when this regime goes, the vacuum can be filled by more than just the strong horse of the Islamist parties like the Syrian National Council.
6. By all means also stop empowering the Islamists – there is a thriving diverse community in Syria that longs for freedom empower them!
The stakes in Syria could never be higher and the opportunity for a lasting impact in the region could never be greater. President Obama please do not let the United States become irrelevant to a new Syria.”
About Save Syria Now!
Save Syria Now! is a group of Americans of Syrian descent organizing to put pressure on the United States to call for immediate action to be taken against the regime of Bashar Assad of Syria and to bring true liberty to the people of Syria. We stand with the Syrians protesting in the streets to end the tyranny of the Assad family. For more information please visit our website at http://www.savesyrianow.org/.
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