Horrific Child Massacre in Houla - Anyone else having nightmares after reading it???

[catfart]

Words escape me, I've read the article on the BBC website about this and now I cannot get it out of my mind. The part which hits home even more is Leana Hoseas' Analysis on it I've cut and pasted, I've been in tears the last hour. How brutal, those poor babies.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18221461

^Leana Hosea
BBC News
The "massacre" video which has emerged from Houla bears the sound of a man screaming:

"These are all children! Watch, you dogs, you Arabs, you animals - look at these children, watch, just watch!"

On a bedroom floor dozens of little children lie dead, their arms and legs strewn over one another. Many of their eyes are still open, bearing a look of shock and fright. They are all covered with blood and obviously suffered terrible deaths.

A girl, who is perhaps seven years old, wearing a headscarf and pink diamante belt, lies face to face in death with a much younger boy.

Another little boy in a yellow jumper lies with his arms stretched out, almost cradling the head of the girl next to him. Blood covers both their faces and soaks their hair.

People off camera are shouting: "Oh God, oh God, oh God."
Surely its time something needs to be done.....this can't happen again.^

If this doesn't move the international community to act nothing will

I agree, its a sick sick world we live in where this can happen and the world just stands by and watches (Russia and China have even more blood on their hands here). :(

Maybe the world is about to sit up and say no... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18224559

I can't believe this massacre of at least 30 children younger than 10, many of whom had their throats cut after being seized from their families at random, and of many women too, is not on every front page of newspapers today.

Newspaper sales drop, especially on a sunny Sunday, when they lead with horrendous and bloody news, but still.. Only the independent which sends such a strong message without any image on the front page at all.

pic.twitter.com/HV9PI5ig

Sorry link to Indy front page: pic.twitter.com/HV9PI5ig

However the only action still open to the international community is NATO military intervention as in Libya - enforcing a no-fly zone and so on. Will the uk public back that? Our gov will - William Hague is and has been leading the calls for it - but will the tax-paying voters support? The Assad regime is gambling that the western public will not and so governments have their hands tied. I hope Assad is wrong.

Imperfectionist, last night I saw 5 seconds of footage showing those poor dead children, what I saw shook me to the core. I've been following freesyria twitter feed and they are wanting the world to look and do something!!!! Last night its all I could think about, and today. It was a million times worse that anyone could imagine, they experienced the most terrifying deaths and it was written on their faces eyes open wide arms outstretched, face of agony. I wish I hadn't but (my husband and I can't stop talking about it), like the Indy article says, the world looks away - will you. This is so abhorrent it should be on every newspaper, it should be in our faces because we must not stand by and let this suffering continue.

The action like you say is military intervention, I back it, will others - many won't......well those who have doubts need to see the footage for themselves, they need to look into those childrens faces and say it. Don't shy away, if people have strong opinions on military intervention look at these images, don't look away.

This is very emotive for me right now, I remember watching the bloodshed from Rhiwanda when I was a girl and wondering how we could stand by in such circumstances when we could do something.

I've forever been an advocate against the death penalty, today I want to see Assad hang.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/exclusive-dispatch-assad-blamed-for-massacre-of-the-innocents-7791507.html

I'm another who is sickened. I only knew today about the massacre when I picked up a copy of the Independent. I turned to page 3 and had to put it down, leave the shop and sob all the way home to hug my children. Oh God. Oh God.

What can we do? Who will listen to us?Why can't the International Community target Assad and his murderous, soul-less regime?

Crying as I type this.

That is probably the horrible thing I've seen. Rarely does a news story move me to tears - it's always a matter of mental separation from what's going on in the news.

But this has really upset me. Those poor children and their families. I just can't comprehend the horror.

I'm generally not keen on death penalty, except in particular circumstances, but in this instance, I'd be quite at peace seeing him taken off this planet permanently (along with those that did the actual act).

Just awful. What can we do?

oh god i have just watched this on bbc website. like triggles i am struggling to comprehend the fear and suffering that those people went through. those children!! those poor poor children must have been terrified. i cant imagine how those parents must have felt kowing their children wer about to be killed.

I'm just relieved the Independent published those pictures, its horrific but we cannot look away now. Its all I can think about and I keep crying. China and Russia have been blocking any action on this and now it looks like there's going to be a meeting and they aren't invited....fingers crossed this means business at last.

Excuse me for not being very well informed, but if USA go into Iraq for similar reasons to this, why not to Syria?

I would support military action. Just because children are from another country doesn't mean it isn't our job as decent human beings to do our best to protect them

Hi oshuk, the UN try to broker peace, get all the countries virtually on the planet involved, try to avoid more bloodshed use sanctions.....its not working here because Russia and China have been blocking sanctions, they support the Assad regime. Russia and China governments have these childrens blood also on their hands. I hope now meetings are going ahead without them firm action is taken.

Let the mob have Assad.

What Bronze said. Give me a gun and I'll go after the fuckers that did it .

It's hard to comprehend - looking at all those rows of bodies. Shocking.

However, I don't know that people in the west would support military action.

When it comes to the Middle East there's a view that it's the same old, same old....people blowing each other up.

Coming up to election time I don't think Obama will be making any rash moves.

lets not forget this - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/12/syria-children-burned-alive_n_1339554.html

I won't post anymore articles like that last one as there are too many. How much suffering these people are going through.

just feel numb reading this, and so helpless

Well done on the independent for publishing it.

Sorry if I'm being incredibly stupid but isn't there a global child protection law?

The victims innocent men, women and children need someone to step in.

I'd support military action to stop this, it should have happened in Rawanda.

On a side note, if we had kept or manufactoring industry we wouldn't have to buy from China and could withdraw our monetary support of them. Doesn't help their human rights abuses though.

It is great that people feel moved, and that you agree that something should be done. But it's hardly unusual in this world - it's just that the media is focused on Syria, and this story is particularly horrific.

But I live in Africa (as a humanitarian aid worker) and see things like this all the time. Children do live in war zones, and they are not adequately protected. Last week there were several stories locally where I am of children being shot, raped, forcibly conscripted into the army, and all manner of horrendous events. And outside of this, a child dies in Africa every thirty seconds of malaria, a largely preventable and treatable disease.

I am of course not excusing Syria, and it is truly awful, but we might to more good in the world if we individually work out a cause of action - regular donations to charities, a lobbying relationship with our government on the arms trade or international funding, and a genuine attempt not to get bored of the countries for whom conflict ad poverty are endemic.

I've just seen the footage on YouTube. I have never seen anything so horrific in my entire life. Please please God there has to be something we can do.

I would support military action.