Saturday 14 April 2018

Grieving for Syria today

So, on today's news I hear with heart as heavy as a stone that the UK cabinet, without responsible democratic process, has joined with the Trump administration in America to bomb Syria again.

My soul feel sore and bruised and my whole being is full of grief. 

I am ashamed of my government that lies right and left, abandons the poor and disabled. I am ashamed of its violence and cruelty. I am ashamed of the rapaciousness of the Western powers.

I think of the refugees from the theatres of war, trying desperately to reach safety here, sheltering through this harsh winter in the woods of Europe, harassed by police, walled out by the UK, even the children turned away.

I am so ashamed and my soul rocks in grief. This cannot come to any good.

Not in my name.





12 comments:

greta said...

i feel exactly the same way over here in the states. so sad. so ashamed. so discouraged. we join hearts in prayer today.

Anonymous said...

So true, and excruciatingly sad: I wept for those bombed Syrians ( as I would for anyone caught in impossible situations ) and for the message this sends. I don’t have the big, realistic answers to chemical warfare, but the above poster sums it up perfectly. Where are we if we can’t take care of humankind...
How are the giants of this world able to rage war and not strive for a peaceful understanding/ truce/ agreement to honour but differ. Makes no sense to me either.
Take care x Deb

The Mother Abyſs said...

Leaden.

Elin said...

I have so many students out of Syria. I think of their relatives and friends that are still back there and those that live in refugee camps in Turkey and so on. Life is not easy for them there either but of course they are not bombed or murdered. One of the strongest stories one of my students ever told me (and they tell me all kinds of things, some I things I strongly don't want to be told) was about his experience being kidnapped by Islamists in Syria and how they tortured him for fun. They finally released him when he was no longer useful for them and when he got back to his parents they started their journey to Sweden. Not all of my students have had such horrible stories but you don't just go and move half way across the world for nothing.

One of the best things with my job is meeting people from all over the world and really seeing that they are just that, people. Some are the nicest people you can think of, most are decent and a minority are *ssholes but there is really no group that is worse or better for that matter.

Pen Wilcock said...

Peace to you, my friends.

Bean said...

I just don't see the point of the missile attacks launched by the West, what are they supposed to solve? No one seems to have a real interest in achieving peace in Syria, and Russia and the West are simply taking advantage of the Syrian civil war to battle each other under the pretense of looking out for the best interests of the existing Syrian leadership, or the Syrian people, it is SHAMELESS!

I too grieve for the Syrian people, they are simply pawns in power struggle. And the pictures of those poor, innocent children just break my heart.

Unfortunately it is as it as always has been, the rich and powerful call the shots and the rest of us have to deal the fallout, good or bad, and it is NOT RIGHT.

Peace be with you,

Bean

Pen Wilcock said...

Yes; "pawns in the power struggle" is exactly right. May God heal and forgive us.

Sandra Ann said...

Those poor people have been begging for help for so long and the goverment acts when it suits them so that we can once more cozy up to bigger nations. My understanding was that the chemical factories had been targeted and that there had been no casualties, although how on earth they managed that, beggars belief! In my jusitfied anger moments, I just wish a SWAT team was sent in to anhilate Assad, but then I remember the whole Sadam Hassain troubles and then think , uh, oh! Wish there was an answer, in the meantime I just keep praying xxx

Pen Wilcock said...

To bear in mind.

1) The Prime Minister's husband has substantial shares in Lockheed Martin, who manufacture the very expensive smart bomb we dropped this last week. So the Prime Minister receives a significant financial reward from this bombing.
https://evolvepolitics.com/theresa-mays-husbands-investment-firm-made-a-financial-killing-from-the-bombing-of-syria/

2) The ingredients for chemical weapons have been sold to Syria by Great Britain. It is possible that the UK government's enthusiasm for bombing before inspection is because the traceability of any chemical weapons would not reflect well on us.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/revealed-britain-sold-nerve-gas-2242520

3) There are good grounds for thinking the chemical attack did not happen. The videos were real, not staged, but the reasons for the physical symptoms may not have been a chemical attack by Assad (it it suggested).
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-gas-douma-robert-fisk-ghouta-damascus-a8307726.html

4) A chemical attack by Assad at this stage does not make sense.
https://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/us-intelligence-officials-who-warned-about-false-wmd-claims-before-iraq-war-are-now-warning-about-baseless-syrian-chemical-weapons-claims/

Pen Wilcock said...

And then, showing just how tangled is the woven web, there's this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/syria-white-helmets-conspiracy-theories

Nearly Martha said...

I read something just before we bombed Syria - after the gas attack. It said - instead of an air strike - what if we spent the amount of money an attack would take - and it is a considerable amount of money - just flooding the area with humanitarian aid - really overwhelming it. Using all that cash to keep the aid workers safe but also sending in wave after wave of medical and food supplies. I know how fanciful it seems but I just spent a few minutes dreaming of how revolutionary that would be and wondering what effect it would have.

Pen Wilcock said...

I think when we dream of such things it works like a prayer; it is all part of what can change the direction and consciousness of humanity.