Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday August 01 2016, @03:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the when-you-DO-NOT-want-them-to-"think-of-the-children!" dept.

A couple of weeks ago this story was reported by The Daily Beast :

Members of an American-backed rebel group in Syria beheaded a young child in a grisly execution video.

The footage surfaced early Tuesday of members of Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki and a captured child in Handarat, near Aleppo. The young boy, who appears to be prepubescent, is then executed on the back of a pickup truck.

The gruesome videotaped murder of a child drew outrage on social media and the promise of an inquiry from the group's leadership, which has previously received U.S.-made weapons and American funding. The group no longer gets such backing. But it's also renewed questions about which rebels the American government has supported in Syria's ongoing civil war.

[...] State Department spokesperson John Kirby told The Daily Beast. "We strongly condemn this type of barbaric action, no matter what group is responsible. We encourage al-Zenki to investigate the incident and expect all parties to comply with their obligations under the law of armed conflict."

[...] the group's leadership issued a statement condemning the beheading. It said it formed a committee to investigate how such a crime could have happened.

More video from the incident has been released:

The victim is seen among a group of fighters from the US and Turkish backed militant group, in the same red pick-up truck that features in their video of his execution. In a chilling exchange the jihadist militants can be seen taunting the child, taking selfies, and threatening him with 'slaughter'.

When asked about his final wish, the child asks to be shot rather than slaughtered. Their shocking answer? "Slaughter. We are even worse than ISIS"


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 02 2016, @04:17PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday August 02 2016, @04:17PM (#383181) Journal

    Has it occurred to you that when faced with people who can only discourse at the level of a teenager, that's the appropriate speech style to use? I've tried going over their heads and it didn't get anywhere. Sometimes you gotta sink to your audience's level if you want to be understood.

    As to the rest of your comment, quit your bitching; this is a side thread about the upcoming possibilities for the US president, and if you had actually READ my damn posts, you'd see why a GOP presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for the entire country. Trump, if elected, would line the Oval Office with mirrors and spend the next 4 years sitting around whacking off to his own reflection; meanwhile, the shadowy sociopaths behind the GOP machine, the toxic combination of Dominionists and corporate raiders, would have complete control over the political process.

    Trump, like Dubya before him, would be a useful symbolic rubber stamp for the Cheneys and the Rumsfelds and the Yoos and the Wolfowitzes etc. of the party. Can you imagine what kind of complete havoc allowing anywhere from one to three GOP SCOTUS nominees would wreak on this country's civil rights, infrastructure, and economy?!

    If you think my motivation is, as you put it, "feminist sensibilities," you're either lazy beyond belief or deluded. This is about all of us who aren't mega-wealthy...yes, even you. The GOP does not like you, it does not care about you, and if you're voting for Trump, congratulations, the term "useful idiot" was created for you.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Blightbow on Tuesday August 02 2016, @05:08PM

    by Blightbow (6203) on Tuesday August 02 2016, @05:08PM (#383205)

    Has it occurred to you that when faced with people who can only discourse at the level of a teenager, that's the appropriate speech style to use? I've tried going over their heads and it didn't get anywhere. Sometimes you gotta sink to your audience's level if you want to be understood.

    and if you're voting for Trump, congratulations, the term "useful idiot" was created for you.

    Please compare and contrast your preamble with your conclusion.

    We understand that you don't want Trump in office. Neither do I. That does not change the fact that your emotions make you a poor spokesperson for your cause, particularly to those such as myself who will not be voting for Hillary and you are trying to convince otherwise. I forgive you because it's the same exact bullshit that the rest of the country is caught up in, but you need to take a step back like everyone else.

    The fallacy that "[other people are immature idiots and it is okay to conduct myself that way]" is self-perpetuating, and it does not win many new people to your cause. It doesn't change the mind of the people you're exchanging barbs with, and it is unimpressive to those who are undecided or spectating from the outside. It is little more than blind catharsis that perpetuates a fucked up system.

    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday August 02 2016, @05:43PM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday August 02 2016, @05:43PM (#383219) Journal

      I've given up on those people. There is nothing that can be done to change an authoritarian follower's mind; it's something on the irrational, emotional level, and if an authoritarian-type does not implicitly trust you, s/he will NEVER listen to anything you say no matter HOW correct it is and no matter WHAT terms you couch it in.

      There is only one thing to do with memetic plague-bearers like this: contain and ridicule, in the perhaps-vain hope that some cosmic ray will hit their brain just right and flip the exact biological bit needed to get them to see reason...and prevent others from being infected. It's not fair, but ridicule sets off the same parts of the brain actual physical assault does, doubly-so in the case of someone whose identity is completely tied into their politics. There's also the social/psychological group-dynamic aspect of it, that being, people will be less likely to support the ridiculed one even if that's not necessarily rational.

      For my part...the gloves are off. We are looking at a potentially civilization-ending catastrophe here. I will be dipped in shit if I don't fight this. Yes, this is the same scummy tactic the hard authoritarians use, and I am not proud of myself for having sunk to this, but I don't see any alternative. Reason does not work; you may as well give medicine to the dead :(

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...