Regardless of who wins, it will take years of costly rebuilding to restore Syria to its former self. Lets hope the Syrians can find some peace when the war subsides and normalcy returns.

Nice thoughts Linda and it's my wish as well but unfortunately the entire country loses in this war. So many people gone and for what??? The ones that do survive this will never be the same. The world is losing valuable historical sites and when this is over, who knows what kind of a government will be in place. Rebuilding will not be easy or quick. Some semblance of normalcy will be a long time in coming for Syria.

Was our behavior this atrocious during the Civil War?

General Lee actually sat down and surrendered when the war was lost and went on to become president of a Virginia college. Between civilized people, even war has rules that are followed. What a HUGE difference between our cultures.

@JK-4363698

Hahahaha, dude have you ever heard of Sherman's March to the Sea lol. He burned multiple major cities to the freaking ground. Plus Lee surrendered after it became clear he had lost and continuing to fight was delaying the inevitable and costing thousands of lives, he was not in a stalemate with the opposite side. Our civil war was WORSE!

"Aleppo's Dar Al-Shifa hospital stands in ruins next to the rubble of a building that used to be next to it. Members of the Free Syrian Army told NBC News that the hospital was targeted because it was treating anti-Assad forces."

This is the price people are paying for Sunni Islamic religious intolerance.

Assad is by far a better ruler among Muslim ME rulers.

Compare him with House of Saud!

House of Saud consists of a megalomaniac, despotic and bigoted strict Wahhabi ruler and highly corrupt, despotic, bigoted seventh century mindset 5000 princes and princesses. They have assembled huge battalions of girls and women in their harems from all over the world.

Why most keep their eyes shut and ears closed when it comes House of Saud and similar Sunni Arab League rulers?

Why do some use big words forgetting the most intolerable ones US and allies with all sorts of crutches are keeping alive?

Recall the garbages of excuses, spins and lies to save from Saddam these Sunni Wahhabi intolerant one-way traffic Islamic religious Nazis with Iraq wars.

Sunni Syrian rebels are aided by Sunni Islamic hating and killing machines with labels like Salaffi, al Qaida, MB and others of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League rulers.

They can't tolerate Assad as he belongs to a different Muslim sect!!!

But in Bahrain, the very Sunni gangsters want their Sunni ruler to rule Shiites majority!!!

Can there be more one-way traffic and Islamic religious intolerance than those of House of Saud and co?

ThreeSides -

Exactly the point I was trying to make. Our behavior WAS atrocious during the Civil War, but there is a huge difference in the conduct of the American people before, during and following the war - ( in comparison to the enduring conflict among the radical Muslim peoples of the Middle East). And you are right, Lee "surrendered after it became clear he had lost."

Have you ever heard of a Muslim faction surrendering??

All this for the greed and Ego of one man. A man who loves money and power, more then humanity. Russia and China had a chance here to step up and do the right thing. Instead, they oppose America and the western world just to be difficult. I think we need to return to the old standard. Get all American interests out of China and Russia and just ignore them. Let them have their own world. I'm thinking Monroe Doctrine time. let china sell it's stuff to sombody else. Maybe Assad will buy the billions of trade goods from them.

JK the difference is simple. the rebels in the American civil war, had plenty of venue to change the gov. Plenty of legal actions to fight for what they wanted. Violence was not needed. The south could have used the court system and also the vote to change leadership. The Syrians have no such venues. their choice is to live under tyranny or fight. very very different. The union Gov. wanted to free slaves. The rebels of the south wanted to keep slaves. kinda like what Assad wants. He wants all his people to be his slaves. After all, Syria is a REPUBLIC. Republicans STILL WANT TO BE AS CLOSE TO SLAVERY AS THEY CAN. look HOW THEY TURN PEOPLE AGAINST UNIONS. unions are "we the people". republicans hate that.

george -

You make some good points and then ruin it all by making a nut job statement like "Republicans STILL WANT TO BE AS CLOSE TO SLAVERY AS THEY CAN".

Republicans are decent Americans who genuinely care about our country just as much as the Democrats do. Lincoln was a Republican too.

Where is Obama? Let's see... Cheney/Bush/Rumsfeld and the neocons killed around 100,000 Iraqis and 4,000 US troops in their invasion and occupation of Iraq. They sent US troops to Israel to be instructed in Israel's methods of enforcing occupation and control of Arabs, and had 25,000 Iraqis who dared to resist occupation in prisons and prison camps. Israel has 11,000 Palestinian Arabs in its prisons and prison camps.

According to B'Tselem, the courageous Israeli human rights organization, since the beginning of the first Palestinian uprising on Dec. 9, 1987, Israel and its radical, heavily-armed Zionist settlers have shot, beaten, bombed or gassed to death more than 9,000 people, many of them children. Israeli troops have targeted children and journalists for death.

During the US Civil War, both Union generals William Tecumseh Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant waged war on civilians and committed what today would be considered war crimes. After the war, Sherman was asked about his targeting of civilians in Georgia and South Carolina. Defensively, he coined the term "total war." It is a doctrine the US military has followed ever since.

During WW2, US Army Air Force General Curtis LeMay, who commanded the US bombing of German cities, and later the bombing of Japan that systemically destroyed or heavily-damaged 66 Japanese cities and killed 1.1 million Japanese citizens, said openly that if Japan had won the war he fully expected to be charged with war crimes.

Now exactly what standing do Obama and the US have to use US military force in the Syrian civil war?

Hey, Light Mirror, so I guess what you're saying is that George W. Bush was bad because during his time 100,000 Iraqis got killed (mostly by the Iraqi insurgency). But you're forgetting that despite the high price at least he managed to topple Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to Iraq, while Obama has managed to look on as 40,000 people died in Syria without removing the Syrian dictator or achieving democracy or ANYTHING else...

And what will be your argument when the death toll in Syria reaches 100,000?

I mean, at this pace they will get to 100,000 deaths in less than two years. Will that make Obama equal to Bush in your eyes?

Isn't great to see so much peace and love around the world under Obama?

But I have no idea why you brought up Palestine, I mean that conflict doesn't even come close to the carnage we're seeing in Syria (or what we saw in Iraq). How many Palestinians got killed by Israel during the same period? About one thousand (mostly terrorists of course!). Isn't that about twenty or forty times fewer casualties than in Syria! And FIFTY times fewer casualties than in Iraq. Although I suppose that if we go back a whole decade then maybe three thousand Palestinians got killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (and about 1000 Israelis). Did you just bring up this topic because you wanted to point out how careful Israel was in the way that it wages its war on terror compared to any other country. Is that what you were trying to say? That Israel has caused forty or fifty times fewer deaths than its neighbors during the same period?

I guess that would be a good point. Thanks for bringing that up...

@light mirror, The Israelies don't target children but the Palistinians will put their rockets beside schools. They are cowards that hide behind children. You failed to point out that N. Viet Cong made Suicide Bombers out of children by giving them a Granade and sending to American Troops.

You talk about S.C. and Georgia during the Civil War here. You failed to point out there the Southern Forces hid in the towns and created the City Warfare situations. Atlanta, as I understand still has tunnels where the civilian populance dug into the Earth to live until the fighting ended. I don't beleive Grant coined the term "Total War."

I don't think for one minute the General LeMay was concerned about being charged with War Crimes. Directing Bombing Missions does not fall into the catagory of War Crimes.

Where do yyou see any US Forces being used in Syria? The entire UN recognizes the Rebel Forces. Nobody is going to do anything unless Assad uses Chemical Weapons. The whole world is edgy on that part. A few years ago Japan had a Clown that did a Chemical Attack in their Subway System.

Do you know what happens when you encounter Sarin or one of the other Nasty Chems? Your nose runs uncontrollable, you drool, you loose all Bladder and Bowel Control, Convolse, Gasp, and Quiver until death comes. In short you loose all control of your Nervous System. A Protective (Gas) mask alone won't save your life. You need to cover every inch of yourself with a Protective Suit, your clothes alone are no good here. Maybe this will give you an understanding of what we, you, and the world are up against. One more thing Sarin is Colorless, Odorless and Tastless.

Who is paying for Syrian fighters? Where all the weapons are coming from?

I hope these fighters are not piad CIA thugs.

If you had to ask those questions, then you already know the answers.

your poor soul have a delirius treammer, dong drink....

Dugu, instead of blaming Obama, why not grab your gun and pick up truck and go help the rebels. They can use a great general like you.

6dogs: America is wise to isreal. and yes they target children. the world voted for the Palestinians to be a member. So I'm guessing it's a case of . you being right and the whole world being wrong.

First it is a Shiites vs Sunni battles on whose Allah is greater?

Hope Obama and his adminstration learnt their lessons from Libyan intervention!

McCains, Bush, Romney, Netanyahus' never learn as others die for them.

One video on Mohammed was enough for Benghazi killings! Here Saudi variety extrenist Sunni Islamists were invovled.

Now why the same bunch are crying on Syria and Iran?

What role do we have there in battles between seventh century and tenth century religious Nazis?

Let me add on the nonsenses of Iraqi war. Why have Bushes and others interested in war, war, and war run away from Iraq?

Just like before each Iraqi wars, autocratic, highly corrupt and despotic bigoted Sunnis of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwaiti and Sunni oil rich nations are stage managing their dances and actions through oil companies, extremist Jewish lobbys and their puppets in the US, Britain, EU and other nations on Syria and Iran.

In Syria, Syrian rebels are backed by a-Qaida and MB.

In Egypt, Islamic fundamentalist Morsi is a front cover for the Sunni Islamic extremist Salaffi, MB and others.

With sanctions on Iranian oil, oil prices which was around $40 in 2009 has crossed $110 now.

If Iraqi wars gave us PIIGS, there will more nations added to PIIGS.

IRAQ WARS

Net results of Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, oil companies and their lobbyists directed 1991 and 2003 Iraqi wars are

WINNERS

1. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and other rich ME sharks became richer by manipulating oil prices too high.

2. Oil companies and their lobbyists also benefitted. Oil prices, which were hardly $30 a barrel before 1991, shot up to $140 a barrel.

3. Since 2003, future traders, rating agencies, Wall Street and oil companies and their lobbyists transferred five trillion dollars from oil importing countries to oil exporting nations.

4. Rich Sunni ME sharks (Saudi Arabia in particular) funded Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques and Islamic radicals and terrorists all over the world. These Sunni Islamic radicals and terrorists are rampaging all over the world. World’s 80 percent of problems are due to them.

LOSERS

1. General US and European nations’ public. There have been high unemployment, cut in welfare measures, housing market collapse and more miseries. Since 2001, US spent three trillion dollars on Iraq and Afghan wars. Did the Saudis and co foot the bill?

2. Poor soldiers killed and injured and their families. In Iraq and Afghan wars 6300 soldiers were killed and 40000 injured.

3. High budget deficits and heavier borrowing. Many nations (PIIGS) and people are on line to bankruptcy!

4. Iraq will plunge into bloody sectarian civil wars leading to the creation of Shiastan, Sunnistan and Kurdistan. Here the losses are of Iraqis.

What a dreamer you, You've seen 1 SiFi movie to many. If it were such a "Secret" how do you know about it. The government has all sorts of these plans and sceniros about all different countries. As to what direction we take when about any ONE country is already preplanned by the Government and they just dig out one of these plans that fit the situation and impliment it. They even have a plan about, what if the Bahamas were to become an aggressive nation. So what point aare you trying to make.

First of all Obama didn't create our problems in the Middle East, That was started long before you ever wore Triangle Pants. I got to admit that Bush didn't to anything to improove upon our History there. So take your Trolling Butt out to sea and get me a Tuna.

6dogs....lay off that coffee and follow me closely. It was a secret until it wasn't a secret. Remember Watergate? That was a secret until it wasn't a secret too.

If you are really interested, google "Directive 11,David Ignatius".

Bill from; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030404614.html

How well does this idealistic agenda match up with ground truth? In interviews last week, intelligence analysts said that Islamic extremists don't seem to be hijacking the process of change. There are near-term tactical dangers, said one counterterrorism analyst, such as the escape of prisoners in Egypt and the potential weakening of the intelligence service there. But this official says there's no evidence that al-Qaeda has been able to take advantage of the turmoil. It took a week for Ayman al-Zawahiri, the group's No. 2 official, to publish his windy and out-of-touch analysis of events in Egypt.

Change will have its downside, but a second U.S. intelligence analyst offers this estimate: "This is a world we can live with. Our relationship with Egypt may be different and rockier, but I don't think it will be inherently hostile." As for the much-feared Muslim Brotherhood, it is currently planning to run parliamentary candidates in only 150 of Egypt's 454 districts, and no candidate for president.

An article written by David Ignatius, Read it reallllllllllllllllllly sloooooooooooooooow so you can comprehend it :)

You have the brain twisted, Hassad defend his country from outsiders mercenaries, and the western "christian" countries plot agains him, thats is a shame !

When we are talking about Muslims, we don't throw stones...

We throw shoes...

Your post may be the most thought provoking on here.

Humans turned into hating and killing machines due to high dosage of Sunni Islamic heroin and lesser dosage of Shiite Islamic drugs.

Jonathan-1982062 - Not according to the history I read. In that version, Humans have been hate-filled 'killing machines' as far back as when there were only rocks, branches, and bare hands to carry out their need for violently expressing their desire to have things their own way - even among their own clans of 10 or 20.