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.^

Signed. Yes, it feels futile but I think our instinctive reaction is helplessness in the face of such horror, and so we turn away to protect our own minds.

Then again, all together maybe we can make a difference by not letting this just be forgotten. Mumsnet members have campaigned in the past over so many issues - can't we keep this in the spotlight?

Awful, despicable act. You carry them for nine months, care for their every last need, and then to watch your child die; it's just beyond belief. As human beings we must not look away.

Signed and shared with facebook and twitter.....

BBC NEWS UN envoy Kofi Annan meets Syria's Bashar al-Assad

The slight problem being that it's Assad who is ordering these attacks.

Britain, France, Germany and Spain have expelled Syrian Diplomats.

Bonnie....I suppose its something....a start...

Poor poor little souls. This is just horrific. I haven't been able to watch or listen to any more than the bare bones of the news footage on this because it is so distressing. But I do not want to forget these little children.
The diplomat expulsion is at least a gesture...but without Russia & China on board, the UN seems unable to make much more progress here....

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18260992

Russia is clearly not moved by this and is not shifting its stance.....disgusting, see link

I just can't see how the situation can improve without Russia onside. I think
Russia will be happy when all the people who oppose Assad are dead and there is no dissent.

Neither can I Bonnie, its so upsetting how they are still screwing up any potential sanctions being implemented....time is going to drift on and those deaths will fade into the past and peoples memories, it'll drop further down the news, people won't read the info and it'll be forgotten.

More executions in the news, more lives being lost while Russia and China play games www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18271184

I don't know what the answer is, perhaps unanimous agreement in the security council is a bad thing....needs changing! Could be a whole can a worms but I long for the day when we make a stance morally on issues

A good start would be to kick Assad's bitch British wife's family out of this country. (I feel utterly ashamed to be British, when we continue to harbour these kind of people. God knows how a woman brought up in West London can support these barbaric actions, as she continues to do so). She was busy shopping online at Harrods a month ago - to the tune of £200,000 - no doubt to buy nice things for her own three children who are safely protected in their luxury palace, while her husband was merrily carrying out his massacres of other people's babies and children.

Another useful action would be to freeze the whole Assad family's assets - again including the UK contingent. Hitting people in the wallet always hurts.

The third thing would be to dispand the UN who are utterly useless. They have managed to 'observe' countless massacres in many countries over the years and done nothing to stop any of them. It still beggars belief that anyone continues to have faith in the UN. When is the international community going to realise that it is a toothless waste of space and put in place a system that might actually work for a change - might actually save a few innocent lives?

I have three young children myself and I can't tell you how upset I was to read about the Houla massacre. I don't think I have read about anything that horrible in years.

Agreed Isan What the hell can that woman be thinking? Has she not seen the pictures? Pictures that will haunt me for a long, long time. What a complete and utter fucking sham that she's lording it up at Harrods whilst Syrian Mother's watch their children get dragged away and murdered.

I agree that the 'observer' status on the UN is utterly pointless, but as I understood it, the UN are usually able to intervene and protect, in situations of violence against innocents, but in Syria's case, they only allowed them access to Syria with observer status only. I may be wrong.

I can't put it into words the way I feel about this. Just can't.

Isan - When I was watching that Dispatches Doc yesterday it did cross my mind about kicking Assads wifes parents out of the country especially as (due to leaked emails in The Guardian' it was clear they were telling her and her Dictator husband what crap to feed the UK press in respect of cover up.

Assads wife - lets face it, she's complicit and is also culpable in my eyes. She knows, those Guardian emails Demonstrate that. I put her on par with Myra Hindley and Rosemary West.

So, so sad. I can't think about it without crying.

DH said he saw a family on the news saying that they were going to take part in a peaceful protest outside the Syrian Embassy in London. Does anyone have any details? I would go with my kids to show how deplorable we think it is.

cat, any chance of a link to the Guardian article about those emails? I've missed that somehow. And yes, I agree. Complicit and culpable.

Yes TheQueensKnickers, I would also go. Definitely.

I support our government in taking actions even if it leads to a war between Britian and USA vs. Russia and China. If we stand by and do nothing we are just as bad.

I read about this atrocity in today?s Times. Words fail me on how evil and abhorrent these actions are.

Waiting and hoping that the UN will pull their fingers out of their arses and actually do anything is a waste of time. The UN 'observed' the genocide in Rwanda and pledged "never again would the UN stand by and do nothing". Less than a year later and they 'observed' the massacre in Srebrenica and vowed "never again would the UN stand by and do nothing. Well guess what, they've stood by and watched it happen again at Houla. The UN is totally toothless.

Until we give the UN the mandate to start enforcing the peace, rather than just monitoring it, bastards like these will keep on massacring women, kids and non-combatants. This won't happen whilst you have the security council in its present form - the only other alternative is to go in without a UN mandate and I'm sorry to say that I just can't see America (the only country with both the clout and moral backbone to sort Syria out) getting involved at the moment.

Amazingly, the UN is so useless that the only successful strategy it does have is to apply arms sanctions on Syria - this same set of sanctions are what is preventing the west from arming the rebels and allowing an equal fight.

It feels horrible to say it but I think Assad is as secure today as he was before the massacre and that the killers of those poor mutilated babies will go unpunished.

TheQueensKnickers-

There's an article with a Facebook link about the family taking part in a peaceful protest outside the Syrian embassy on June 10th.

www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/05/29/syrian-crisis-mum-plans-protest-to-stop-killing-children/?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

Perhaps someone who is not a technophobe could turn it into a proper link?

Anyone thinking about joining in? I've shared it on my FB page. If others did the same, word could spread.

Sorry i cant link as im on my phone and cant cope!

Mrpants i agree the UN are useless and needs to change and have more power to act but its not going to happen is it. The USA went over them to sort oit Iran i dont think they can afford to do it again both political and financaly.

Loonytoonie The emails had excerpts read from in the Dispatches documentary (4od) - how they got them is amazing, either they were hacked or handed over by a sympathiser, I haven't seen them published.

A peaceful protest is a good idea outside the Embassy, needs to happen across the world, same day...

MrPants I agree, saw this on the BBC website and just hope that the US does get more active www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18274842 US Congressman wanting more 'robust' action, a safe zone in Turkey at the least for civilans being protected.

Here is a link to Amnesty's campaign for Syria: action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=13500&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=mass_email&utm_campaign=MENA&utm_content=Houla_link1

You just need to add your name and email address to a letter to Russia and press send. Please take the time to do it, it's not futile, it's been proven many times over that Amnesty's campaigns can achieve results.

lou4791 :)

www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/05/29/syrian-crisis-mum-plans-protest-to-stop-killing-children/?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

I've not posted on this thread for a few days but been following. Thought I might contribute a little update to the thread as I was scanning media coverage on Syria today, given so much has happened over the last 24 hours, and the UN Human Rights Council are holding a special session on Syria in Geneva tomorrow.

Associated Press: "Thirteen bound corpses, many apparently shot execution-style, have been discovered in eastern Syria, U.N. observers said Wednesday, days after the massacre of more than 100 people provoked international outrage and the coordinated expulsion of Syrian diplomats from world capitals. The latest atrocity took place in northeastern Deir el-Zour province, where the bodies were found late Tuesday blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. A statement by the U.N. mission said some of the dead appeared to have been shot in the head from close range. Syrian activists said the victims were army defectors killed by President Bashar al-Assad?s forces, but it was not possible to verify their accounts."

Associated Press: "Syrian troops on Thursday shelled the country's central region of Houla where more than 100 people were massacred last week, activists said. At least one person was killed in the latest violence and scores fled in fear of more government attacks."

Associated Press: "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday criticised Russia's resistance to UN action on Syria, warning that its policy could contribute to a civil war. Clinton noted that U.N. and international backing made possible last year's international coalition against Moammar Gadhafi in Libya but said Russia and China are standing in the way of similar action in Syria. She also suggested that a military effort against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime would be far more difficult."

New York Times editorial: "Just as strife in the former Yugoslav republic confounded first President George Bush and then his successor, Bill Clinton, the bloody crackdown in Syria ? underscored by last week?s massacre of children and other villagers ? has put Mr. Obama in a deeply uncomfortable position. With American troops only recently withdrawn from Iraq and still in Afghanistan, the president is loath to engage in new military actions, especially one with few advocates, even among human rights groups. And yet with each passing incident, the scale of the crisis grows."

The Times editorial: "So shall we continue reluctantly and in sadness to shrug our shoulders at those young men and some older ones we have been seeing (when cameras get into Syrian towns) crying and demanding of us: ?Where are you? Where is the West? Where is the UN? Are we not human beings?? And if the answer is: we?re still too worried that helping might complicate an imagined ?political transition? ? then what exactly do we imagine these young men will do? What would you do if you were them?"

I found that editorial from The Times quite moving. What should we answer? I still think military intervention - air strikes on the Syrian military - without the UN, as the UN is being held hostage by China and Russia and cannot move. I cannot see anything else working.

I've just seen the pictures. I want to cry - those poor, poor children