Syria denies vice president has defected

World Aug. 19, 2012 - 05:58AM JST ( 2 )

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NeverSubmitAug. 19, 2012 - 06:54AM JST

NATO and its Islamic allies in the Middle East are desperate for more defections. They're offering the following to all high level Syrian officials;

Qatar's ambassador to Mauritania proposed his Syrian counterpart in Nouakchott a million dollars in cash, a monthly salary of 20,000 dollars for 20 years and permanent residence in Qatari capital of Doha, the Lebanese-based Al-Manar TV reported.

As for the above article has anybody noticed that all the reports coming in are from one single source, the UK-based and deceptively-named Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Isn't it the least bit strange that the AP is relying solely on one organization, which is essentially staffed by one shady character to get all of its reports.

Then we have the constant obfuscated and ambiguous wording;

The military launched new air strikes on Aazaz in the northern province of Aleppo, three days after about 40 people were killed in the rebel-held town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Killed by whom? Read the sentence clearly and precisely, you'll note that the paragraph is written to imply that the deaths were caused by the Syrian government but not factually stated as so. Technically in a court of law a libel charge would not stand because the writer can claim that he didn't actually blame anybody for the deaths.

Accounts of people being shot dead by snipers or being executed are increasing, while government forces also appear to be resorting to more attacks from the air against the poorly armed and disparate rebel groups.

Beautifully written, very deceptive. To an undiscerning reader it would be assumed that the government forces are the snipers, but that's not what the paragraph says. Who the snipers are and who is committing the executions is ambiguous, but the use of 'while' leads the reader to believe that the government forces are responsible. Don't be fooled, 'while' means happening at the same time, but not necessarily causative. The writer is a propagandist, and he/she does their job well. But not all of the readership is so easily fooled.
1

bass4funkAug. 19, 2012 - 09:09AM JST

@NeverSubmit

Well, thank you for the clarification. We can always count on you to take the spin out of what the report is actually saying.