The photographer reports

It is amazing how when Western governments develop a particular policy in the Middle East, all reporters (and photographers even) have to follow that policy.  In the case of Egypt when the uprising was directed against a dictator favored by the US and Israel: western media insisted that the Egyptian people can't use violence against the regime.  They hectored them as they hector Palestinians about the virtues of non-violence.  Yet, in Syria: the norm is now to glamorize the violence (often sectarian and often random--i.e. terrorist) by the Free Syrian Army and other Salafites.  Look at this long piece: a mere propaganda tribute to the Free Syrian Army.  I loved how the writer, or the photographer, called the Free Syrian Army "underequipped".  Underequipped in relation to what? To other populations in the region? To other opposition movements?  I mean, can you imagine a writer--any writer--in the New York Times referring to Hamas as "underequipped"?  That person would be fired on the spot and the Security Council would have met in a special session to rebuke the writer.  The two primary victims of the Syrian conflict are: 1) the Syrian people; 2) the standards of professional journalism in the East and West.