re: #6 alinuxguru

Can you please point out the whitewashing? I read the article and did not find anything of the nature in the article.

Did you even read the statement by the “NPR Listener” who’s was listed in the title of the article?

I’m a Syrian-American. I grew up in the United States. My parents decided to leave Syria when Hafez al-Assad was in power. Of course the heir apparent was always his son Basil. It was not Bashar. Basil was killed. And then when Bashar came into power, my parents decided to move back to Syria. We are Christians. I have to say that we had a nice life. I had been going back and forth every holiday to celebrate. In Syria we have friends who are of all ethnic backgrounds – Alawites, Shia, Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Armenians in the north. I have to say that we’ve had freedom of religion. And things actually have been quite good under Bashar al-Assad.

I’m afraid of what’s going to happen afterwards. The people in the streets are Islamists and we don’t want an Islamic country. It’s now a secular government. Yes, it’s not perfect but the curse of the Middle East is its rulers, unfortunately. I’ll tell you whatever is going to come after him is going to be far much worse. Look at what’s happening in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood said they’d never float a candidate for president. Now, they’re doing it. They will always go back on their words. It’s a shame but it’s true. But the majority that I know – and I know a lot of people in Damascus – are just hunkered down in their houses right now, and they’re afraid to go in the streets, but they’re supporting Bashar al-Assad.

Or how about CAMERA’s ending commentary, did you read that?

Khouri’s projection that Islamists like those in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood are committed to secular government and minority rights is untested and quite possibly, like his chronic sniping at Israel, unfounded. His claim that Iraqi Jews – forced out decades ago – and Iraqi Christians, who in large numbers have fled post-Saddam Hussein intimidation and murder by Muslim Iraqis “could do everything they want” is nonsensical. Nevertheless, he remains a popular resource for NPR and others.

CAMERA is probably right about Khouri, but in order to attack him they presented the commenter’s whitewashing of Assad’s regime without any real critical thought or commentary. It’s also hypocritical to dismiss Khouri’s arguments about the freedom of religious minorities in Iraq under Hussein while essentially allowing the NPR commenter to make an identical about Syria under Assad without challenge.

Anyway, that article was written in plain, unambiguous English and I’m not sure how you missed the clearly presented content. In the future you might want to refrain from downdinging people for your own deficient reading comprehension, it tends to make you look reactionary and uninterested in actual dialog.