Obama’s Syria Debacle; Al Qaeda

The pictures shocking. They show the savage execution of supporters of the Bachar El-Assad regime taken prisoner by the rebels. We have chosen to publish them for the essential message they convey. Both sides engage in propaganda and diffuse pictures whose authenticity cannot be guaranteed. So we do not publish them.

This time, these photos were taken, last week, by a young independent photographer who has worked regularly in Syria. We have done our best to verify this information. Only the most bearable pictures from his reportage have been retained. Others, unbearable, will remain engraved in our memory.

We have no desire to compare the ravages caused by the Damascus government’s broad and pitiless repression of its own people with the atrocities of ferocious jihadists. These images of unjustifiable assassinations nevertheless overlap with those, equally abominable, of chemical weapons massacres.

In Syria, the horror is on both sides. A reality that is impossible to ignore. These barbaric acts pose a dilemma for the West. The desire to overthrow Bachar El-Assad will likely open the door to equally bloodthirsty Islamists. With the likelihood of military intervention decreasing, these are the stakes facing François Hollande and Barack Obama as they make their final decision.

For our reporter, Alfred de Montesquiou, these revolting photos lead us to doubt the humanistic intentions of the Syrian rebellion, and are not representative of the freedom fight engaged by the 100,000 to 150,000 people committed to bringing down the dictatorship in Damascus.

Nevertheless, they undoubtedly add an element to the debate, and inform the public. The assassins featured in these images are not representative of the Syrian opposition. Yet it must be acknowledged that these barbaric warmongers raise fear in public opinion. Their acts undermine the desire to help and support the opposition and lead us to doubt its ability to bring a democratic alternative to Damascus.

Al Qaeda , Obama , Syria

Pentagon: The Turks made the call (Uludere)

ULUDERE: U.S. military officers at the Fusion Cell in Ankara couldn't tell whether the men, bundled in heavy jackets, were civilians or guerrilla fighters. But their location in an area frequented by guerrilla fighters raised suspicions. The Americans alerted their Turkish counterparts.

Turkey—After winding along a narrow mountain ridge, a caravan of 38 men and mules paused on the Turkish-Iraqi border. Then they heard the propellers overhead. Minutes later, Turkish military aircraft dropped bombs that killed all but four of the men.

The strike in late December was meant to knock out Kurdish separatist fighters. Instead it killed civilians smuggling gasoline, a tragic blunder in Turkey's nearly three-decade campaign against the guerrillas. The killings ignited protests across the country and prompted wide-ranging official inquiries.

The civilian toll also set off alarms at the Pentagon: It was a U.S. Predator drone that spotted the men and pack animals, officials said, and American officers alerted Turkey.

The U.S. drone flew away after reporting the caravan's movements, leaving the Turkish military to decide whether to attack, according to an internal assessment by the U.S. Defense Department, described to The Wall Street Journal. "The Turks made the call," a senior U.S. defense official said. "It wasn't an American decision."

The U.S. role, which hasn't previously been reported, revealed the risks in a new strategy for extending American influence around the globe. It raises an outstanding question for the White House and Congress: How far do we entrust allies with our deadly drone technology?

ankara , echr , International , national , news , Obama , Turkey , United States

Obama discusses regional upheaval with Erdogan

US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have agreed that peoples' demands for legitimate and natural democratic rights should be recognized by their leaders, as political upheaval continues to rock the Middle East, from Egypt to Tunisia and from Lebanon to Yemen.

Obama initiated a telephone conversation with Erdoğan on Saturday night, the Turkish prime minister's press office said in a written statement released on Sunday.

President Barack Obama stated that he attaches importance to assessing new developments in the region with Prime Minister Erdoğan as the leader of Turkey, which has strong democratic customs in the region, and as a leader who came to power by gaining successful election results many times, the statement said, noting that the two leaders reached consensus that the legitimate and natural rights of the people of the region should be provided for and their calls for democracy should be heeded.

ankara , capital , echr , Human rights , istanbul , Obama , Political , Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , Turkey , United States

Erdogan discusses missile plans with Obama

A G-20 summit in Seoul offered Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the opportunity to once more express Ankara’s reservations about NATO’s planned anti-missile system during a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama.

Erdoğan responded affirmatively when asked on Friday whether NATO’s US-backed plans were on the agenda of his talks with Obama. “We conveyed our sensitivities to him,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency while speaking to reporters at the Grand Intercontinental Hotel in southern Seoul after the summit closed. The two-day G-20 meeting was attended by a total of 33 global leaders.

The meeting between Erdoğan and Obama came only days ahead of the NATO Lisbon summit on Nov. 19-20, at which time a decision regarding the controversial missile defense system will be made.

Turkey is demanding that within NATO's strategic concept document there should be no references to any specific country as a threat and that the legitimization of the missile system should be made in general terms.

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