Cross-posted from Airforce Amazons
Until now, as far as Syria goes I have always defended the principles of Westphalian law and those of national sovereignty and no intervention. I have denounced neo-colonial wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq or in Libya, led by economic motives and geostrategic considerations, whose ‘humanitarian’ aims were no more than crudely dressed-up pretences.
But in view of the horror I have witnessed, for each of those men I have seen atrociously mutilated by barbarians serving a dictatorship whose outrages and degree of ferocity I could never have imagined, I now join in their call for military intervention in Syria, which will overthrow the abominable Baath regime: even if the country has to sink into civil war, if that terrible descent is necessary, it must be pursued in order to put an end to forty-two years of an organised terror, of whose proportions I had no idea.
From Syria – A Journey to Hell : in the heart of the Syrian Intelligence Service prisons by Pierre Piccinin, Belgian historian and political scientist.
On his most recent visit to Syria he was imprisoned and tortured. The article contains his graphic descriptions of the torture he experienced and torture he witnessed. Prior to this he had been a vocal opponent of military intervention and had portrayed media coverage of the Syrian protest movement as Western propaganda. For examples see this August 2011 article at Global Research, this January 2012 article from SANA, the Assad regime’s news agency, this March 2012 article at Counterpunch, and this May 2012 article on RT Russia Today.
(Via Michael D Weiss.)
