Mate, I know where you're coming from; I don't doubt the veracity of your claims that you've known Syrians who've suffered at the hands of Asad and his ilks but you have to understand our 'reference point' as well ! We don't oppose the intervention out of a misplaced sense of support for Asad; I couldn't care less if it was Asad or Santa Claus himself who was presiding over Syria. What we do care about, however, is that :
1) Why Asad and Syria all of a sudden ? Why didn't an uprising break-out a few years ago if there was such oppression over there ? Why did the Syrian People need the 'Arab Spring' as a proverbial 'Green-Light' to come out in the masses and be ready to be shot down to bits for 'their' rights ? Why didn't this 'Political Awakening' happen a few years ago ? Why hasn't there been, to the best of my knowledge, anything remotely comparable to this in Syria's past ?
2) Whenever the United States comes in and gives 'humanitarian patronage' to something, you can be sure that there is nothing 'humanitarian' about their intentions ! So naturally after Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya I'm a 'skeptic' ! What if some of the 'conspiracy theories' surrounding the 'Syrian Conflict' might actually have some truth in them ? What if the United States is trying to back-door a regime change into Syria in lieu of the 'People's Struggle' as a continuation of the 'Arab Spring' when its actually them trading one puppet regime for another and especially one that tows 'their' line with respect to Iran and perhaps China and Russia as well.
3) Why Israel of all countries is calling for a 'return of democracy' to Syria ? Democracy in the Middle East is anything but in the best interest of Israel because so far the dictators have kept a tight cap on the popular sentiments with respect to Israel, imagine how, potentially, hostile a 'People's Government' can be to Israel ! So again I say...it doesn't add-up for me !
4) Perhaps the reason why Russia and China are so worked-up over Syria is that Syria's fall might be a signalling effect i.e when the regime in Syria falls it means that the US influence in the Middle East has been again solidified for the foreseeable future; do you think the GCC, the Egyptian military junta etc. are going to stand up to the US and say 'to hell with you !' ? I know Pakistan wouldn't ! I was listening to a US analyst on a program about the 'Syrian Conflict' and he made this very good observation that this is more about 'resources' then it ever can be about the 'Syrian People' ! The Allies won the Second World War not because they had better men and machines then the Germans did but because the German tanks, their vessels and their planes ran out of 'oil' ! So essentially...you control the world's most precious resource and you're still the most important player.
5) Do you honestly think that the 'opposition to Asad' is any better than the 'opposition to Gaddafi' ? Libya, by many, is on the verge of partition ! The system of Governance in Libya is in shambles and the current regime (God knows whose in-charge) doesn't appear to be remotely better than Gaddafi himself; perhaps even worse ! I fear a repeat of that in Syria as well !
Need I say more ?
