Speaking today to the UN Security Council, UN Rights Chief Navi Pillay announced that 5,000 people have been killed inside Syria since the beginning of a regime crackdown on protesters in February.
The number, according to Pillay, takes into account “more than 200” killed since December 2. This is noteworthy chiefly because the UN only put the toll at 4,000 on December 1, after 23 people were killed that day.
This inevitably raises the question of how reliable the UN’s data is, and where the other 800 deaths came from since there were no media reports to suggest any large extra tolls above the 200 cited in Pillay’s comments.
Of course, the reliability of any figures coming out of Syria is automatically suspect with the nation not allowing independent media. This has been a problem in several countries but unlike the early crackdown in Libya, for example, there have been fairly regular daily accounts of where and how deaths happened.
From Justin Raimondo's April 16, 2005 piece, "Cashing in on the Bush Doctrine":
“Say You Want a Revolution,” is the title of a piece by neoconservative Michael “Faster Please” Ledeen, a tireless advocate of the U.S. waging endless wars of “liberation,” and Peter Ackerman, chairman of the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). Its theme: more U.S. tax dollars to fund “revolutionaries” in a new model of “regime change” – as in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. According to these two, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria are next. Now, before you say anything, it’s just a coincidence that all these countries are in the Middle East and just happen to be Israel’s worst enemies – stop being such a killjoy! Besides, the “revolutionaries” are ready to roll, but they can’t do it without U.S. tax dollars and other assistance.
Sounds like Ledeen and Ackerman got the cash…
Lebanon: Cedar Revolution, 2005
Iran: Green Revolution, 2009
Syria: Arab Spring, 2011
The number of dead seems to exclude certain categories. Does it report the deaths of soldiers? Does it report the deaths of pro-Asad civilians? The UN has relied solely on opponents of the regime. Given the West's attitude towards Syria and US and followers desire to overthrow Damascus government, it should be surprising that Bashar is reluctant to open his country to "fair and balanced" reporting. However, based on such brave reporters like CBS, there seems to be a great deal of "reporting" from rebel lines. Also, based upon the ABC interview, Walters mistranslated Bashar's statements as well as calling him a liar when he correctly reported on the deaths of Americans in past riots. Ditz apparently cannot do any research when spouting off about the evils of Bashar.
Boiling Frog reports US/NATO troops have been spotted arriving at Al Mafraq airbase on the Syria-Jordan border: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/12/11/bfp-ex…
Nothing to shed tears on. Almost all of them werel mercenaries armed and paid by Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.