Houla Massacre new report contradicts official version in the west

The official version as I understand it is that the massacre was the work of Assad forces and/or a militia loyal to Assad from nearby villages. However recent reports blame the massacre on rebels who have used it as a means of isolating Assad even more internationally and to seek more aid for their cause. As well it shows the UN peace plan is not working at all.

   The report is found in numerous places but is listed in this article as coming from the German Newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) a leading German Daily. This report claims that the massacre was carried out by anti-Assad militants. Although Houla is 90 per cent Sunni most of the victims were Shia or Alawi. Assad is from the Alawi minority.
     The army set up road blocks to keep Sunni rebels from attacking local Alawi majority villages. The rebels attacked the checkpoints and there was a battle in which both sides sustained losses. It was during this period that the massacre is said to have happened. I quote from this article::""Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities....Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the Internet. """  The German report is confirmed by statements from the Monastery of St. James in Qara. armed rebels murdered entire Alawi families in the Houla region.

  Mother Agnes-Mariam de la Croix of the St. James monastery had warned back in April that rebel atrocities were actually being repackaged in western and Arab media as regime atrocities. Mother de la Croix provides a specific example. For further details see the full article.  While none of this can change the fact that Assad has actually committed heinous acts it does suggest that most western media ignore counter evidence in cases such as Houla or just write it off as Assad propaganda.

Allwai fears Baghdad vote recount could be manipulated.

Allawi has reason to fear. Maliki has been doing everything possible to overturn the results of the election even though he if anyone had most control over the process. Many Sunni candidates were disqualified. As the article mentions international observers certified the process as fair. Yet Maliki is contesting the results even in Baghdad where he won. If there are no observers then everyone will suspect that the recount was meant to help Maliki even if it is fair. If there are no observers this will only heighten an already tense situation as the Sunnis and Allawi will believe that Allawi's right to form a coalition government is being stolen away from them.

Allawi fears Baghdad vote recount could be manipulated
By Agence France Presse (AFP)




BAGHDAD: Former Iraqi Premier Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc narrowly won last month’s general election, said on Tuesday he was concerned about possible irregularities during a recount ordered for Baghdad.

Iraqiya “supports the manual recount of ballots, but we are worried about practices that could accompany this exercise and which could lead to a change in the results that would benefit certain groups,” he told a news conference.

Allawi beat Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki nationwide by securing 91 seats against the incumbent’s 89, according to unofficial results.

In Baghdad, with 70 seats the largest prize in the 325-seat parliament, Allawi gained 24 seats to 26 for Maliki’s State of Law bloc.

“Are there going to be any international observers to supervise this process,” Allawi asked, adding the outcome of the March 7 election was “favorably welcomed” by the international community.

Although Maliki came out ahead in the capital, he alleged there had been manipulation in voting stations as he lost a total of 750,000 votes in five provinces, including Baghdad.