August 27, 2015
(incomplete)
updated (full photo added) March 25, 2016
Assad bombs are PULLING children apart in #Douma and the world is silent! #دوما_تباد
That's not what the tweets say, but between what they show and what they say ... I still can't just slap it out there directly (and I'm even putting the
crop of his face lower down). As long as the postings are up, I'll just
link to those already sharing it. But ...
Imagine being shocked by a horrible photograph that probably shows just that implausible scenario. In Douma, Damascus suburbs, on August 16 - a day when only fighter jet bombing by the Syrian government is blamed for dismembering people, not any government militia massacre - this pre-teen boy had his arms torn off at the elbows, legs nearly torn off at the knees, shoulders damaged, face completely burned, clear through the skin, and ... no other marks, really. And he's got no concrete dust like shelling victims usually have - and which nearly all alleged victims I've seen lack, by the way. Another questionable shelling death (pending - he's
being treated in a clinic, so ostensibly still alive).
It's given as some part of an August 16 Douma Massacre, unclear. But at the outset, it's possible this image is mis-attributed, and not even from
Syria. But I haven't seen it before, no one else I've asked has, and it
shares burned face clues with several more established massacre victims
(see Burned Faces)
He's the worst example by far, if he's even an example of the same thing. The
next worst is also a boy. The five men were spared such severity.All this to me says 'chillingly consistent.'
* https://twitter.com/husseinegyptia1/status/632945888017559552
This may be the original, or earliest posting on Twitter. HusseinEgyptia1, maybe Egyptian. But he and a few others at least insist this was in Douma, Syria. Text translated: # Douma_perish. Complained to God # Massacre_Douma #Douma # Syria +18
* https://twitter.com/shmhd1/status/632999110132563968
Text: (Google translated) And those of our children. Do not blame the Syrian Mafl after today !! # Douma_perish
The tag seems to translate to the English version currently buzzing, #Douma_Exterminated - like it's maybe already too late.
(more postings, etc. forthcoming. Actually, I didn't save many ... inviting comment submissions for postings, related material, and thoughts.)
The picture and some screen grabs are saved though in case everyone or Twitter pulls it as the evidence of a
horrifying terrorist crime I think it is. There's even
little need for most to copy that url and see this sick image, but this
is the post for those who do need to see and double-check. It's a
subjective call; many rebel supporters, for example, will have no
problem shutting down entire lobes of their brain and resting assured "Assad's
bombs" did this.
What I Think it Shows:
It shows
as apparent teen or pre-teen boy whole, his whole non-intact body minus feet, with underwear on,
for decency and PR, but nothing else. This full view reveals: a massively torn apart right knee,
just exploded, kneecap, bone, tendons and muscles stretched out a good several inches, all still connected but far out of place. There's a lesser rupture-type wound on the
left knee, but both legs are technically there, down to the toes (note: we don't see the feet, or clearly the ankles, as the picture cuts off short. But his left foot wears a white sock, and the right has indistinct bruise-like injuries to the shin)
Both arms are torn off (missing) from around the elbow, some forearm bone (the thinner one, I think) splaying out on the right side, along with torn tubes and cables, and skin. He also has shoulder and upper chest injuries, kind of along the collarbone (unclear if burns, tears, or what, and mostly blocked from view).
His face is completely
burned raw. At right, small res,
cropped, blown-up a bit. The burns start right at the edge of his face, like a
mask. Was he painted with napalm cream and lit up? Why wouldn't he
shield his face with his hands? Oh, yes, they were gone, at some point. Order of operations here is unclear. One would hope it was all
done after death, and maybe so, but the medical performance suggests none of it was
done after death.
His face is completely
burned raw. At right, small res,
cropped, blown-up a bit. The burns start right at the edge of his face, like a
mask. Was he painted with napalm cream and lit up? Why wouldn't he
shield his face with his hands? Oh, yes, they were gone, at some point. Order of operations here is unclear. One would hope it was all
done after death, and maybe so, but the medical performance suggests none of it was
done after death. Update, 2016: The tweet having been deleted, I'll make sure the full image is still available and re-post it below, but small.
This kind of killing would have limbs
sever violently at the joints. Is that what we see here? Knee, knee,
elbow, elbow, and maybe shoulders/collarbone, with the stronger joints (knees, hips, shoulders) just challenged, stretched to near a tearing point. (note: we can't see the state of his hips here, but they might look disjointed/elongated - in fact his whole body seems longer than it should be). After the weakest link is torn through, the pulling stops. So only one set of joints totally gives; here, and maybe normally (who's up on dismemberment studies?) it was the elbows.
Now really ... however mad this "dictator Bashar Assad" might be (and I suspect it's exaggerated), which of his bombs is going to do all this to a boy, deep inside rebel territory, timed to line up with a new headline-level Assad-massacre marketing campaign? I think this is a big, ugly, smoking gun. It's got potential at demolishing yet another anti-Syria lie.
But ... that alone begs for second opinions. I'll try to critique it myself, but like I said, I can't shake that impression. Maybe I'm too pissed and convinced to think straight right now. Is this how Islamist feel before they set out to join Daesh, al-Nusra, Jaish al-Islam, etc.?
But ... that alone begs for second opinions. I'll try to critique it myself, but like I said, I can't shake that impression. Maybe I'm too pissed and convinced to think straight right now. Is this how Islamist feel before they set out to join Daesh, al-Nusra, Jaish al-Islam, etc.?
In the War Context
(based on my reading panning out...)
As noted, this image is not widely presented, that I can see yet. That might be for some reason. The few postings I saw were on the 16th and 17th, limited even in Arabic-language channels, and maybe not at all outside of those.
Some Arabic readers are more anti-rational and ready-to-kill than average. There may be a few more on their way to Syria now to help kill Alawites because of this particular photo from the latest "Assad bomb massacre." If so, it's either because they don't get it and they're pissed off idiots, or because they do get it and it seems like a fun time. It's hard to tell which motive it is in each of tens of thousands of cases, and it hardly matters in the end.
Some Arabic readers are more anti-rational and ready-to-kill than average. There may be a few more on their way to Syria now to help kill Alawites because of this particular photo from the latest "Assad bomb massacre." If so, it's either because they don't get it and they're pissed off idiots, or because they do get it and it seems like a fun time. It's hard to tell which motive it is in each of tens of thousands of cases, and it hardly matters in the end.
And this, I think, is about how the Syria recruitment cycle has worked for four years now, driving membership in and upping the brutality of the almost entirely Islamist-oriented multinational forces. Enabled in so many ways, these are still torturing Syria today, four years after "ambassador" (ambassassin?) Robert Ford first denied any armed gangs in Syria.
And glossing the surface of the process as usual, even without seeing this horrifying photo, folks in suits at the UN instantly expressed "horror" at this and all types of terrorist execution of almost exclusively male victims - over 100 civilians - again and "unacceptably" killed by Assad's fighter jets. A triple-digit number seems to be the magical code, as with the Houla Massacre, now also debunked. 100 dead always equals Assad blame at headline level, and so obviously his bombs did this and anything else, like the four girl victims I've found images for, 3 with hacked open skulls and none looking like shelling victims.
It's hoped this vague and familiar "horror" will finally transform into a Libya style no-fly zone to challenge those unchallenged Assad magic jets, like they did Gaddafi's air force for bombing protesters.
It's hoped this vague and familiar "horror" will finally transform into a Libya style no-fly zone to challenge those unchallenged Assad magic jets, like they did Gaddafi's air force for bombing protesters.
FSA Terrorists are PULLING children apart in #Douma
and the world is silent! #دوما_مجزرة
---
Of course "the world" is worse than silent, actually. They're calling for another "No Fly Zone" and thus the fulfillment of the Islamist dream - another U.S.-led forced collapse of a national government in the MENA region.