Reply #22: 'No humanity left' in Syria

[joshcryer]

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/04/24/no-humanity-left-syria-0">'No humanity left' in Syria
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An old military technique that I learned from the US Marine Corps about after years in Iraq: Soldiers will simply take two posts, put them at approximately "two o'clock and ten o'clock" as your eyes would scan the horizon: a certain distance out - fire off a few rounds until you hit the post. Then mark that spot on the machine guns sightings - and just like that ... you've got yourself a "pre-sighted kill zone".

A kill zone. The name says it all. US marines have a particular knack for naming things that describe exactly what they really are.

I knew that day, seeing those posts and that "kill zone" that the government was taking these small demonstrations (at the time) very seriously. Syria up until these past five weeks had been a quiet country, while the rest of the region seemed to continue to burn.

Of course it became clear the day before, on April the 22nd, that the government would no longer stand for the type of dissent that had spread: clear opposition to the regime. Over a hundred people were killed across the country on a bloody Friday, the bloodiest since the protests began.

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Need a smoke after reading that. Jesus. Whole article is a must read.