Syria, Libya and Morality

In late March, I wrote a piece about the international community's intervention in Libya as Qaddafi, a dictator for almost 40 years, ordered his troops to advance to the protester's stronghold of Benghazi. Hoping to stop nothing less than a massacre with the possibility of genocide, the U.S. and many European nations pushed for action. 

The decision outraged some who denounced it as another Western advancement into an oil rich country. Others, like myself defended the resolution for many reasons however, one stood out above the rest: it was our moral obligation to intervene. 

Through a Security Council Resolution  a coalition of nations intervened, stopped, and helped push back the Libyan army from the protesters' capital in the east of the country. The no-fly zone was included in the resolution after many reports that the Libyan Airforce was being used to crush protesters. As a result, the protesters and fighters celebrated and today constantly make pleas that they need international support to establish a democratic state. 

In the case of this conflict, it is difficult to get solid death toll numbers of civilians because of the fighting as well as government/coalition propoganda, however, I wouldn't doubt that they are in the hundreds. The rising death toll is commonly cited by anti-interventionists as proof that the use of force backfired; rather than Qaddafi killing Libyans, we are. For supporters like myself, it is difficult to guestimate the number of possible deaths had we not intervened. Benghazi has tens of thousands of people living in it with the overwhelming majority of them standing against their dictator. An invasion of the city could easily have killed several thousand in the first few weeks. 

That being said, we now have a real world example of what happens if we don't intervene: Syria (and Bahrain for the record). Granted that Syria's regional dynamics are far more complex than that of Libya, protesters there are being killed as the death toll rises over 2400. Interestingly enough, the fact that Bashar Al-Assad's father killed 10 thousand people the last time they rose up against him, seems to have completely gone over the heads of most. 

With such deaths, the international community is only beginning to come together and work out a resolution on Syria. It is unlikely to have military involvement since the political capital isn't there, and Bashar is still popular in some areas of the country. For non-military international resolutions to work, a country must be greatly ingrained in the global economic environment; Syria isn't. We will have to wait and see the details of such a resolution, however, it is unlikely to be very effective. 

How exactly does morality tie into this? Easy. Sitting aside and watching thousands of people being killed, while not taking action, is inherently immoral. Hence the intervention in Libya can be judged as moral. Staying quiet on the crackdown in Bahrain is disgusting, while spewing meaningless words and press releases on Syria by governments is not right.

We can debate how to fund such interventions, however, morality should never be undermined because of our unwillingness to pay the proper price. I've already addressed many of the arguments months ago in a previous post and many still apply today. 

Syria gives us a relatively good preview of would have happened in Libya, except we should maximize it ten fold since Benghazi has more people in it than some of the rebelling Syrian cities and there is more widespread discontent with Qaddafi's rule. Juxtaposing it next to the 10 thousand killed several decades before in Syria would give us a more accurate, and dreadful understanding of what our intervention avoided. Today, the same anti-interventionists of Libya are outraged at the fatal quiet nature of the international community. Their shouting is only dwindled by the hypocrisy that is shouting along with them.   The fighting continues in Libya and protests are growing in Syria. Preventative measures are always the best choice when it comes to the lives of our fellow man. Let's not fail to prevent another thousand from dying. 

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Three people with connections to the Rock Machine biker gang face weapons charges

Three people with connections to the Rock Machine biker gang face weapons charges after a police chase in East Kildonan early Tuesday.

Winnipeg police say the arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into a feud between rival outlaw motorcycle clubs.

Police said that around 12:30 a.m. the organized crime unit, dog unit and tactical support team tried to pull over a Dodge Avenger at Antrim Road and Rockspur Street. Police say that car tried to make a getaway using quick evasive manoeuvres and that in the melee, three police cars were damaged and three officers were injured.

One of the officers was treated in hospital for head and neck injuries and a possible concussion.

Two men, aged 19 and 20, along with a woman, 23 — from Lorette, Man., — are facing weapons and other charges after a loaded handgun was found in the car. One of the suspects also was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Realities of Freedom

Almost a week ago I posted the gruesome picture you see here on my Facebook wall. I knew that I would get some interesting responses since you don't usually have this kind of content in your news feed but the discussion that ensued was far deeper than I thought. 

Underneath the picture, I wrote this note:

"NOT for the squeamish. I literally yelled after seeing this. Unfortunately I feel like today's wars and fighting in the world is sugarcoated. All we get is statistics, numbers that keep on running. Force yourself to look at the picture to get a better sense of what war really is like."

If you couldn't handle looking at the picture for long, you aren't alone. Unfortunately, we don't see these kinds of images about conflicts around the world because they display a reality that we don't want to see. This is the picture of a protester in Syria who was, reportedly, shot by Syrian military forces in the lower jaw. As you can see, there isn't much jaw left as his tongue hangs next to his blood stained and flapping inner cheek. 

This sugarcoating of struggles and wars isn't more evident than in the United States. Although other issues now transfix the media's attention, 5 -6 years into the war in Iraq almost all major news networks had running stats on the number of dead soldiers.

The numbers are historically low when juxtaposed near other wars that the U.S. is involved in. In the past 30 years, Americans have never been so protected from the effects of war than in any other time in history. All wars up to the Vietnam war, were all ones that directly affected people beyond just the military families; think  all wars including and before the World Wars and Vietnam. Today, it is easier than ever to ignore what is going on.

With hundreds of channels on TV overwhelmingly comprised of movie, gossip, and show content, multiple media platforms from your laptops, slates, smart/feature phones, and advanced music players, and social networking that builds small filter bubbles of our own worlds that actively keep everything else out, it is easier than ever to chose not to watch what's going on in any of our wars. The future of the internet seems to be location based social networking and apps will also help to make things worse.

The time of 6 o'clock news is truly over.

Don't get me wrong, these changes are welcome indeed. I think I would die if I could only get my news at one nightly news channel at a time. The problem is, that most other people aren't trying to get more amounts of news because they are trying to avoid it.

This is where the numbers come in. Ten thousand dead here, One hundred thousand troop surge, three thousand plus injured, etc. Combine this number count with the public's ability to be distracted by Snookie's latest fist fight and you have an audience horribly intentionally segregated from reality.

This is why I felt the need to show such a picture. Although not of a U.S. war, the fight for freedom throughout the the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) has been documented by news organizations world wide with terminology such as "Intense fighting"  and "military crackdown."

This picture is what they mean by "military crackdown" and a blown off leg from a rebel in Libya is what they mean by "intense fighting." I will never deny the importance of statistics especially in making policy decisions, but we must not let them distract us from the reality and stories behind those numbers. What are the numbers but another list of the dead in a fight? Here we learn the numbers are broken jaws, pierced skulls, and raped bodies. The next time you speak of some conflict in the world, consider this picture. 

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Alleged $3.7m fraud ring brains bailed

THE man police accused of orchestrating a $3.7 million fraud ring that allegedly involved a Hells Angel bikie boss has been granted bail.

Adam Eli Meyer, a husband and father, defrauded or attempted to defraud legitimate businesses of property, luxury cars, a yacht and excavation equipment, police allege.

Meyer, 37, appeared today in Sydney's Central Local Court charged with 12 fraud offences and with one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime.

A number of the offences allegedly involved Felix Lyle, the president of the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels who has been in custody for two weeks.

Court documents show a string of alleged fraud offences spanning from September 2010 to early this year.

Police say he provided false business and tax documents from a dummy company, BRZ Investments Pty Ltd, in attempts to obtain financing to purchase high-value items.


Four Caterpillar excavators worth $940,000, a Regal Commodore yacht worth $325,000 and $1.2 million Alexandria property was on the wish list.

Other items included four Harley Davidson motorcycles, three Lexus, two Mercedes, two Toyotas and number of computers.

Meyer represented himself as John Formosa during the transactions and attempted transactions, police stated in the court documents.

He colluded with Lyle and Terence Reddy on a number of the alleged fraudulent activities.

"Police have established through covert means that Meyer, Reddy and Lyle have organised the submission of numerous loan applications which they knew to be false," the police statement of facts said.

"The accused persons organised systemic methods to screen third parties making inquiries on the information within the loan applications."

Police have also charged Roger Hassin, also known as Roger Morris, over a number of the alleged offences.

The late Natalie Laffy was listed as director of BRZ Investments and was ailing from terminal cancer at the time the offences took place.

The court documents did not specify what connection she had with the men.

When contacted today, a police spokesman declined to elaborate on Mrs Laffy, stating "more arrests are expected".

In court, Meyer's solicitor Paul Kenny said his client was prepared to comply with strict bail conditions and his parents would provide their houses as collateral.

Magistrate Julie Huber ordered Meyer to have one or two people provide $250,000 in surety in the form of cash or property.

He must surrender his passport, not leave NSW, not approach an international port of departure and not approach Reddy, Hassin or Lyle.

The matters for Meyer, Reddy and Hassin will come before Central Local Court on August 30.

Yesterday, Lyle was again unable to find an acceptable person to post a $100,000 surety in the form of cash to meet his bail conditions.

 

My Trip to Lebanon: Gunshots and Celebrations

Note: These were written during my trip to Lebanon and so are not currently occurring. I wrote them each day during my trip on my computer because my internet accessibility was greatly restricted. They are each being posted on a different day. The time and date is usually mentioned at some point in the piece and you may notice changes in word tense because I alternate between what I’m doing as I type the blogpost with events that happened throughout the day. Although I went for family, I took the opportunity to blog my experiences mostly surrounding my discoveries of political, social and religious issues in the country.

Sunrise from my window (My picture)

I went to bed shortly after 5 am Saturday morning (just a few mins after I finished my last blog post). Jetlag still controlled my sleeping habits and I stayed up as the sun rose. I’d watch my second sunrise in Lebanon until all my three sisters’ alarms rang. They had a busy day to prepare for the wedding. As they dressed and left for their Salon appointments I began to dose into sleep. Finally I would get some rest before the long day ahead of me.

                Suddenly, a loud bang rang through the neighborhood. My head jerked out of sleep and my brother and I made eye contact; he asked me “Did you hear that?” before he slowly went back to sleep. We both knew it was a gunshot (my sister later told me she heard another one several weeks ago). Instantly I remembered the story my dad told me of violence in my diverse neighborhood when sectarian tensions were running high some years ago. I couldn’t go back to sleep because my bed was directly underneath a set of mammoth windows with curtains covering.

The shot seemed so close to the building that I wanted to see what was going on (without dying of course). I sat up in my bed and slowly peaked through the large curtains, pushing them open enough to allow an eye to look through. Peering to the tops of buildings first (sniper), I found nothing. Looking down to the street below, again nothing. It was clear I had waited too long to see anyone firing, but maybe that was a good thing. I stayed awake for two hours before I was able to fall back to sleep and get some rest for the long day ahead of me.

Late in the afternoon my brother and I decided to walk around the neighborhood searching for a male barber. I was guiding him around since the previous day, my sister and I had walked all over the place while buying some delicious Lebanese ice cream. Making our way up and down the hills and buildings, we were walking back through our own memories. Every other young man had pounds of gel in his hair while the old men sat outside on plastic chairs discussing the day ahead. We recognized so much from the stores we always used to buy from to the largest waste management company in the country, Sukleen. Walking on the street with taxis from the 60s and 70s and mopeds driven by teenagers brought back many a good time.

Much had also changed, as stores we once knew were closed now and at least 7 more buildings were being built around us. Our much treasured ocean view was now blocked by a new building which rose just 6 floors (ours was on the second floor). Neighborhood friends had grown up and moved on, or became so different I couldn’t relate to them anymore.

By nighttime we were back and prepared to leave. Everyone was dressed in formal wear: men in fresh and clean suits, ladies in beautiful night gowns (in typical Lebanese extravagant style). The wedding was in old fashioned castle and everything was profligate, from the dancers to the singing to the other festivities. I’d take this time to congratulate my sister and brother-in-law on their wedding and hope they have a great honeymoon (this happened at least a week ago but only got internet when I returned to the U.S.).

We returned home at 2:00 am. There wasn’t much today in relation to politics and sectarian disputes because today was a day of celebration; a day that began with a gunshot but ends with smiles and a thousand pictures worth one million words.

Sunday 6/26/2011 4:00 pm

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former Hell's Angel was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Friday for a 2009 fight

former Hell's Angel was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Friday for a 2009 fight Judge Steven Conn said he still has little idea as to what actually occurred.

George Walters was one of seven members of the Hell's Angels and Desert Road Riders motorcycle club arrested and charged with riot and participating in a gang for a fight with a rival motorcycle club at Lazy Harry's bar in Bullhead City June 19, 2009.

Walters is the only one to have pleaded guilty so far. The others continue to contest the charges and appear headed for trial.

"I've always wondered what this trial will actually consist of," Conn said, adding that there has never been any statements or evidence offered as to what the fight consisted of or the level of involvement by each of the men.

The seven motorcycle club members, who included Kingman residents Dale Leroy Hormuth and James Snider, were arrested five months after the reported fight. In that time, motorcycle riders complained about harassment by law enforcement and the community was embroiled over whether businesses had the right to deny entrance to those wearing "colors," referring to motorcycle club insignia.

Officials with the GIITEM task force (Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission), said after the arrests were announced that the investigation into the fight was the reason for their increased surveillance. They later added that they were trying to prevent the Hell's Angels from getting a foothold in Mohave County.

Walters' attorney, Ron Gilleo, said it appeared the County Attorney's Office was prosecuting the club members more for their reputation and for the threat of what could have happened during the fight versus what actually occurred.

Gilleo said that by the time police responded to the fight complaint at Lazy Harry's, the band had already resumed playing, people were dancing and patrons were enjoying their drinks on the patio.

Prosecutor Bob Moon conceded that the fight did not meet most people's definition of a riot but said that the men couldn't use the "no harm, no foul" defense for what occurred that night.

In handing down his sentence, which could have been as much as eight years, Conn said he was not going to use this case as a means to send a message to the Hell's Angels or any other motorcycle clubs.

He added that for a "notorious" member of the Hell's Angels, Walters had an especially brief criminal history, which only included a failure to appear felony charge out of federal court and a misdemeanor citation from the Game and Fish department. Otherwise Walters had no prior convictions involving drugs, weapons or violence.

Gilleo said Walters, a friend of Hell's Angels founder Sonny Barger, grew tired of the biker lifestyle and began distancing himself from the club in the weeks after the fight. Walters had been scouting ranch locations in Mexico to become a cowboy of sorts, Gilleo said.

Walters himself spoke only briefly at the hearing, saying that he had grown tired of the "10 years of drama."

"I'll never put anyone at risk or put them at risk to have harm done to them again," he said.

Wanted: an angel with bail for bikie

BIKIE boss Felix Lyle continues to languish in jail because he does not appear to know anyone ''acceptable'' or with a spare $100,000 in cash from legitimate sources to meet his bail requirements.

When the 54-year-old Hells Angels chieftain was charged last week over his alleged role in a massive fraud ring, police set bail at $100,000 in cash.

But the problem for Mr Lyle, also known as Big F, is the set he moves in. ''Thus far we haven't been able to find an acceptable person,'' said Mr Lyle's solicitor, Martin Ricci, yesterday. By ''acceptable person'' the police mean no one with a criminal record.

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Also not able to provide bail money is a bankrupt, which is the position Mr Lyle is in after an unfortunate hotel deal in Kings Cross. When he was bankrupted in 2009 he listed his occupation as unemployed and claimed to have only $100 to his name.

Outside Central Local Court yesterday Mr Ricci said that police had raised the bar so high, they might as well have refused his client bail. ''No one has $100,000 lying around,'' he said.

Mr Lyle's good friend the underworld boss Tony Vincent cannot put up the money himself having done a stint behind bars in recent years for drug and fraud offences.

Mr Lyle has been charged over three serious fraud offences worth $2.3 million and one count of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.