Syrians resigned, uneasy ~ "We are witnessing a new Afghanistan and a new Iraq"

[Emit]

Western intervention debate finds Syrians resigned, uneasy

After more than two years of civil war, many feel little control over their fate

As the Syrian conflict escalates, with what appear to be chemical weapons killing unsuspecting families in their sleep and talk in Western capitals of armed intervention, M. no longer knows what to stockpile.

Like other Damascenes, M. (who requested anonymity for security reasons) has greeted each new phase of the conflagration with requisite preparation: First, she bought flashlights with rechargeable batteries once the daily electricity cuts began, keeping her home in darkness for hours; then, extra heating fuel and cooking gas (...)

~snip~

Where truth is elusive and where ordinary Syrians have no influence over what will happen next on the global chess-board that their country has become, many prefer to focus their energies on things they can control, and to plan for what can be anticipated.

"It's war," says a travel agent, who used to organize European tourists' excursions to Syria’s archaeological wonders. "We don’t know what will happen or when. It is not in our hands to decide."

~snip~

There’s more certainty in the voices of the Syrian opposition leadership set up abroad by backers of the rebellion. "We call for international intervention by all means to curb the Assad regime after Western confirmation of the use of chemical weapons," Syrian National Council President Ahmad Jarba told an Istanbul press conference on Saturday.

But on the question of Western intervention, Damascenes reached by Al Jazeera over the weekend remained wary -- even those who blame the conflict squarely on the Assad regime.

The travel agent says all he wants is peace, and soon. But he says he doesn’t know how that can happen. "Civilians are confused," he says, leaders "talk too much."

M. – a long time disparager of the regime – says not to ask her these questions, they are irrelevant.

The pharmacist is unequivocal. She believes it's a well-worn script being prepared for Syria.

"We are witnessing a new Afghanistan and a new Iraq," she says.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/8/26/western-interventiondebatefindssyriansresigneduneasy.html

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. Syria was a waypoint into Iraq for the very AQ elements they're battling today.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. The enemy of our enemy is our--

uh--frenemy?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. I refuse to call him either, but the poetic irony should not be lost.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. My essential point is that it's insane to get into a mess like that

with all its multilayered, entangled relationships among factions, some of whom we would be fighting (or at least glowering at) elsewhere while providing them aid here. Don't I seem to recall that there has been some surreptitious arming of AQ in Syria already?