"I believe at this point, and I would stress we are at very preliminary stages, that under 20 of the 108 can be attributed to artillery and tank fire," he told a news briefing in Geneva.
Some 49 children and 34 women were among the known victims, but the toll was not definitive, he said, adding: "There are reports of more deaths."
"Almost half of the ones we know of so far are children - that is totally unpardonable - and a very large number of women as well," Colville said.
"At this point it looks like entire families were shot in their houses."
The problem is, what do you do about it? Do you put boots on the ground? Bomb people? Sanctions won't work because there's no way to cut off the country's borders. What courses of action are there for dealing with Syria?
By: Brant
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2 comments:
Not much the outside world can do besdies what it's already done:
- send in UN people to at least make sure no massacres are occurring, during daylight hours and directly in their line of vision;
- expel diplomats (done and done);
- try economic sanctions.
This last won't work well because Syria is a client state of Russia, and has an ally in Iran. The United States does not want (or should not want) an overt conflict with either country right now, at least not over a domestic revolt in Syria which will probably in the end be contained by the existing Syrian security forces.
Also, no oil or corporate interests to protect, as was the case in Libya.
Or you could plan a wargame about what to do, and allow that to be known...
http://paxsims.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/us-wargame-development-and-conflict-in-the-levant/
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