REPORT

Unrest in Arab nations continues to grow. During the confusing stream of information from Syria, relief was never found on US news networks.


The following is my personal interpretation of the most credible accounts of the past week’s events…


…during which, the host of MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” presented to his viewers some interesting information about the title of Operation: Odyssey Dawn. The US Armed Force assistance offered to the Libyan freedom fighters was named based on rules set forth by the Pentagon. O’Donnell reported “the first word…must begin with ‘O’. The second word must start the with [a] letter ‘A’ through ‘F’.” O’Donnell asked for viewers’ ideas for alternative titles—Obama Cares, Opportunity Freedom, and Overwhelming Courage were some viewer responses.


This fierce Libyan debate (one among many) has raged within American circles while madness from southern Syria filled the internet. The main source has been from apparent victims at the al-Omari mosque in Daraa, a town just outside the Syrian capital of Damascus. For weeks, the number of people on the streets grew from hundreds to thousands and protested the imprisonment of fifteen children jailed for writing anti-government slogans on school walls. The intentions of the jailed teenagers is obviously perceived by some as an alleged terrorist threat, but more people have seemed to find the graffiti was something more.


They had gathered on the “Friday of dignity” to display their disgust of school-age political prisoners and as a result their groups grew to form a protest officially described as a “sit-in” by the government. Police, national security forces, and even Syrian military forces were dispatched the following Tuesday to control the exploding sea of peaceful protesters. Violence was soon injected into Daraa as the government presence grew, and by 8:00 PM the city was surrounded by armed gunmen. Protesters had settled around a mosque that was established as a hospital for victims recovering from teargas and gunshot wounds. Some injuries were severe enough to warrant additional doctors to travel into the city.


As the following day rolled into it’s second hour, electricity and cell phone service had already been lost around the al-Omari mosque. Dr. Ali Ghassab al-Mahamid rode in an ambulance as it traveled through Daraa when an attack launched upon the vehicle killed everyone aboard. Bullets soon cracked through the streets around al-Omari and struck unarmed men in search of adequate cover. These attacks continued throughout the day as tales began to escape the confines of a newly-isolated city.


Bus loads of armed men rolled into the city during the day and searched for anyone documenting the events. Hundreds of students and journalists were arrested by the government in hopes of silencing the crowds. Despite bullets that sliced through the air, some protesters were seen as they tried to recover the dead bodies that littered the streets. What started as a peaceful sit-in which called for the release of teenagers from prison soon turned into something widely considered a massacre; one delivered by snipers hidden on rooftops and controlled by military checkpoints in and out of the chaos.


The story of Daraa has been difficult to grasp for anybody even remotely linked to it. As a result, the struggling freedom fighters in Syria have become nothing more than a 20-second blurb on the evening news for many Americans—everything caught between a convoluted political truth and a quick message from the sponsors.


This submission to “The Last Word” adheres to the Pentagon’s rules of naming the military actions in Libya yet is inspired by words from the the forgotten stories from Syria. Not to necessarily condone violence through military action or otherwise, I instead want to compliment a growing general attitude—one shared not only in northern African and the Middle East but around the world—in terms that can easily be understood by most Americans that has transcended political, racial, religious, and generational gaps…


OPERATION: Overcome Fear


-MDS