Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Syrian Observatory and Idlib explosions

It is no more than a farce.  Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (one of the two competing shops by that name, and both are well-funded and one by Qatar), has been the main source for unverified casualty estimate day after day: some of those casualty estimates differ from other estimates by other Syrian opposition sources but who the hell cares.  Anything about Syria from opposition sources is treated like Western media treat statements by Israeli officials.  So after the Idlib explosions yesterday, Syrian Observatory quickly wanted to offer a counter-narrative to the images on Syrian regime TV: which clearly shows footage of bombing on civilian buildings, and the outraged population came out of their homes and (visibly sincerely and not scripted) expressed fierce denunciations of the deeds of the Free Syrian Army and like minded gangs.  So Syrian Observatory quickly told Western and Arab (read Saudi and Qatari-funded) came out and said that the bombing was directed at a moving military vehicle of the regime.  But that narrative was not that plausible, so they later came out with another narrative that was obediently cited by the New York Times:  "The human rights observatory said 20 people had died, most in the security services. It said the two buildings targeted had housed the local branches of the army and the air force intelligence, both pillars of the police state that are widely despised by opponents of the government."  We saw the building on camera from many angles, and as viewers we can certainly identify the claim by the Syrian Observatory as a flat out lie, to be added to the anthology of lies that has been vomited daily by that Observatory over many months.  The Syrian regime has been fortunate--from the propaganda perspective--that its enemies in the Syrian exile opposition are as crude and vulgar as it is, in fabrication and deception and invention.  And then as if Mr. Neil MacFarquhah was not satisfied with the propaganda services of the Syrian Observatory so he adds this:  "But activists wondered how anyone wanting to attack government buildings at the center of Idlib could have approached them, since the military had turned the administrative center at the heart of the city into an armed camp after the uprising gathered momentum last year."  Mr. MacFarquhar, you have to try harder in supplying propaganda services to the "cause".  Activists wondered?  Did activists in Iraq wonder how suicide bombers were able to reach US-protected buildings and barracks in Iraq?  Tell us about that.