#1
https://sites.google.com/site/pdfsyria/Hands_Off_Syria.pdf

Linked above is pdf I made. The idea is to persuade people against Syrian intervention and to make them aware of the extent to which we are already intervening.

If it works as intended, the reader will be almost immediately informed of several major points, concisely stated but fully sourced. I intentionally used bourgeois media sources, which most people will find trustworthy.

Hypothetically, any comrade could print out a batch of these and leave them anywhere they wish. They could flyer the Democratic convention or some other event, or they could just leave them in any public place.

Skeptical or curious readers can scan the QR code at the bottom of the page and it will jump them to an online pdf with clickable links. Some of the links take the reader directly to the article in question while others take them to choice excerpts I've clipped, while also including the link to the original source in case the reader wants to confirm things for themselves.

Here's hoping everything in the doc works properly! If everything is working, feel free to share with your social networks or start making printouts. Chears!

Edited by ilmdge ()

#2
ground floor
#3
Posting in a ilmdge project thread
#4
I never click on links, but this seems cool. Make sure you clarify that the "hands" is a metaphor, and that no giant pair of hands threatens Syria.
#5
That language was inherited from my inspiration.

#6
good work but you misspelled 'abet' as 'abed', so im gonna have to downvote this.
#7
-

Edited by Chthonic_Goat_666 ()

#8
Thanks, corrected that and a couple other things thankfully nobody noticed. Here is a forums web version posting. Same as the doc linked in the OP...

HANDS
OFF
SYRIA!



Myth: ISIS was created as a result of Assad’s failed leadership in Syria.
Truth: ISIS began as Al Qaeda in Iraq, which arose from the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
The CIA helped Saddam to power (NYT) and aided him as he gassed Iran (Foreign Policy); ISIS first began as “Al Qaeda in Iraq” (Vox), which only took shape after U.S.-led invasion (NYT), and is made up of Saddam’s displaced Baathist party (Reuters).

Myth: The violence and suffering in Syria is a result of United States inaction.
Truth: The U.S. spends vast sums to arm, train, and fund rebels as proxies against Assad.
Active since at least 2013, CIA operation to train and arm rebels has $1 billion/year budget; trained, equipped over 10,000 fighters as of 6/2015 (WaPo); Op “Timber Sycamore” is multi-billion dollar partnership with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar (NYT); spectacular failure of Pentagon program (LA Times) does not diminish CIA operations.

Myth: The rebels the United States supports are good, pro-democracy “moderate rebels.”
Truth: The U.S. floods the region with arms, often ending in hands of brutal extremists.
60-80% of U.S. arms have gone to Al Qaeda and affiliates (PBS); much of ISIS arsenal originated from U.S. (CNN); U.S. arms systemically stolen, sold on black market (NYT); even U.S.-approved rebels like FSA commit frequent atrocities (Wire) and work with Al Qaeda (HuffPo); U.S. allies Turkey and Qatar abet jihadists (AP, Daily Beast).

Myth: If Assad was ousted, a stable democratic government would prosper in Syria.
Truth: Experience shows power vacuums; military and insurgency battles for control.
-Iraq: U.S. oversaw formation of new government and constitution, but stability remains evasive 15 years later.
-Libya: U.S. endorsed hand-picked National Transitional Council, but Libya still fractured 5 years on.
-Egypt: After abdication of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood was democratically elected, then overthrown by Sisi-led military coup. Sisi still reigns, and his crackdowns have killed thousands of protesters.

Hillary Clinton says removing Assad, not ISIS, is #1 priority (Reuters). Tell her to keep her
HANDS OFF SYRIA!

Edited by ilmdge ()

#9
I really hope that, by this point, some anti-social coward has donned a baseball cap and some shades and dropped 20 of these at their local McDonalds. Thos is propaganda anyone can do!!
#10
Even better, I donned a baseball cap and some shades and dropped 20 of these into local org email inboxes.
#11
Some suggestions for revision:

HANDS
OFF
SYRIA!


Myth: Assad's failed leadership in Syria created ISIS.
Truth: ISIS began as "Al Qaeda in Iraq," following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of that country.
The C.I.A. helped Saddam Hussein take power (NYT) and aided him as he launched chemical attacks against Iran (Foreign Policy); ISIS arose as “Al Qaeda in Iraq” (Vox), which took shape only after the aforementioned U.S.-led invasion (NYT); ex-members of the constitutionally proscribed Ba'ath Party, formerly led by Hussein, now collaborate with ISIS. (Reuters).

Myth: The violence and suffering in Syria are results of the United States's inaction.
Truth: The U.S. spends vast sums of money to arm, train, and fund rebels who serve as proxy fighters against Assad.
Active since at least 2013, a C.I.A. operation to train and arm rebels has a $1 billion annual budget; has trained and equipped over ten thousand fighters as of June, 2015 (WaPo); this operation, code-named “Timber Sycamore,” is in multi-billion-dollar partnership with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar (NYT); the spectacular failure of a Pentagon-directed rebel-training program (L.A. Times) does not diminish the scope of C.I.A. operations.

Myth: United States–supported rebels are good, pro-democracy “moderate rebels.”
Truth: The U.S. floods the region with arms, which often end up in the hands of brutal extremists.
60-80% of U.S. arms have gone to Al Qaeda and its affiliates (PBS); much of ISIS's arsenal originated from the U.S. (CNN); U.S. arms are systematically stolen and sold on the black market (NYT); even U.S.-sanctioned rebels, such as those of the Free Syrian Army, frequently commit atrocities (Wire) and work with Al Qaeda (HuffPo); U.S. allies Turkey and Qatar abet jihadists (A.P., Daily Beast).

Myth: If Assad were ousted, a stable, democratic government would prosper in Syria.
Truth: History shows that power vacuums result from intervention; in such conditions, military and insurgency battles for control ensue.
-Iraq: The U.S. oversaw the formation of a new government and the ratification of a new constitution; fifteen years later, stability remains elusive.
-Libya: The U.S. endorsed a National Transitional Council, having hand-picked its members; five years later, turmoil persists.
-Egypt: After President Hosni Mubarak's abdication, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi was democratically elected, then overthrown in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Sisi still reigns, and his crackdowns have killed thousands of protesters.

Hillary Clinton says removing Assad, not ISIS, is the #1 priority (Reuters). Tell her to keep her
HANDS OFF SYRIA!

Edited by eccentricdeathmongrel ()

#12
counterpoint to the OP: barrel bombs
#13
Some stuff you can maybe add:

-Former DIA director Flynn saying the administration goal has been a Salafist principality since 2012.

-Government sectarianism is a myth. Alawites are just one part of a coalition of moderate Sunnis, other religious minorities, and communists against genocidal extremists.

-The "red line" myth. It was the rebels, not Assad who used chemical weapons. Source is respected journalist Seymour Hersh, whose sources have been vetted by mainstream publications, so not a "conspiracy theory."
#14
With the "red line" stuff marimite mentions there was reports even in Reuters i think that rebels were using chemical weapons (not sure their version of events was this in place of Assad or in addition to). i'll try to find the source im thinking of
#15
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE94409Z20130505

here's the article i remember. might have to dig elsewhere to find more concrete stuff about it, if it exists. i havent read the Hersh marimite referred to.
#16
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

Here's the article I'm referring to. Read the letter at the end too, by the guys from MIT who did a study of the attack.
#17

Allinson is correct that the improvised rockets he calls Volcanoes each contained about fifty litres of sarin, but wrong in his claim that they were fired from a regime-held area ‘to the north’. These claims are not original, but repeat those of Eliot Higgins, a blogger who, although he has been widely quoted as an expert in the American mainstream media, has changed his facts every time new technical information has challenged his conclusion that the Syrian government must have been responsible for the sarin attack. In addition, the claims that Higgins makes that are correct are all derived from our findings, which have been transmitted to him in numerous exchanges.

lol

#18

Makeshift_Swahili posted:

lol


#19
if you want constructive criticism, "turmoil" and "fractured" describing Libya could be replaced with something like "bloody four-way civil war" even without mentioning Our Man over there. people are still shocked by that stuff and turn away from it, like there's a reason liberal bloggers just shut up about everything to do with that place. their readers are party boosters but they're not blocks of ice.
#20
by the way, i looked and Tim Kaine strongly supported the No Fly Zone idea in Syria, voted for air strikes, etc.
#21
I want to make a long post daring ISIS to come try to kill me.. is that illegal?
#22
[account deactivated]
#23
holy shit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lCkFygaaQ
#24
[account deactivated]
#25
this is pretty good
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/11/u_s_backed_syrian_rebels_committing_war_crimes_torture_abductions_imposing_harsh_sharia_law_report/

might make some updates to the pdf tomorrow,
#26

Panopticon posted:

holy shit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lCkFygaaQ


that's fake

#27
[account deactivated]
#28

tpaine posted:

if y'all haven't seen grizzly man get on that shit



http://youtubedoubler.com/gJKH

#29
#30
.

Edited by swampman ()

#31
I'm still hoping for the Affleck directed/written/produced thriller/action/documentary of one of these conflicts. And the way they address arming and supporting people who do horrific things is over breakfast. A young upandcoming journalist (Damon) sits down with god-fearing hardened CIA agent (Affleck) to discuss the nuances behind Syria conflict. Damon grills Affleck on all the torture, murders, rapes and horrors committed by US backed forces. Affleck doesn't say anything. He just points at the omelette Damon has been eating, and says "sometimes you gotta break a few eggs".

I don't know what happens in the rest of the movie but I do know there will be a pivotal scene where Affleck is sitting in a cafe and Damon runs up and slams an omelette against the window and yells "how bout them omelettes".

Easy 7.8 on IMDB for sure
#32

getfiscal posted:



we really need to answer 'what is trotskyism' because this is getting ridic.
like whats with their love for wahhabis?

https://louisproyect.org/2016/07/22/the-beheading-of-a-palestinian-child-by-syrian-rebels-none-of-it-is-true-except-the-beheading/

#33

xipe posted:

we really need to answer 'what is trotskyism' because this is getting ridic.
like whats with their love for wahhabis?

https://louisproyect.org/2016/07/22/the-beheading-of-a-palestinian-child-by-syrian-rebels-none-of-it-is-true-except-the-beheading/


louis "the fucker boy" proyect posted:

The only thing worth mentioning is that killing captive soldiers is wrong, whether by a firing squad as the Red Army did in the Russian Civil War or by a sword.


Apparently trotskyism is when you see the beheading of a child by a US-funded death squad as an opportunity to smear the Bolsheviks

#34
[account deactivated]
#35
Hahaha the comments section. This gets better and better..


Did you know, that not only are the child beheaders not extremist, but also not really CIA backed? The CIA is barely even involved! "Supplying arms" just means "trying to make sure bad guys dont get arms", and, there doing the best they can, so lay off already


Louis again with a twofer - the beheading is assad's fault and did i mention the red army???


How can you trust PYD when they are the tool of monster assad?? Now watch this drive *quotes AKP mouthpiece*

#36
If you see this post while scrolling t H E r H i z z o n E

You have been visited by the Ghost of First-World Trotskyism

Transitional Demands & Permanent Revolution will visit you

But only if you post Stay Safe Trotsky Ghost
#37
That dude is parroting jihadist recruiting propaganda from 2012 lol
#38

Panopticon posted:

If you see this post while scrolling t H E r H i z z o n E

You have been visited by the Ghost of First-World Trotskyism

Transitional Demands & Permanent Revolution will visit you

But only if you post Stay Safe Trotsky Ghost


#39

ilmdge posted:

Panopticon posted:

If you see this post while scrolling t H E r H i z z o n E

You have been visited by the Ghost of First-World Trotskyism

Transitional Demands & Permanent Revolution will visit you

But only if you post Stay Safe Trotsky Ghost

That's true, Trotsky only gets vacuumed up by first world labor aristocrats

#40

jiroemon1897 posted:

That dude is parroting jihadist recruiting propaganda from 2012 lol


Its kind of amazing. I know he was always bad but even his regular commenters are like