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A comment on How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly Weapons Inventors.

Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by zwtaylor on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @12:55PM (#6058723)
This is no doubt interesting, but it's very obviously a PR piece written to subtly engender American support for arming Syrian Rebels. This chaotic conflict is making for very strange bedfellows of the United States and certain extremist groups.

There was a nearly identical article in The Atlantic a few months back, Edward Bernays would be proud!

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/02/diy-weapons-of-th...

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by footoverhand on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:11PM (#6058825)
An easy way to determine if the US supports a group is to look at the language used to describe that group. Are they "freedom fighters" or "terrorists"?

France is fighting "terrorists" in Mali, not "freedom fighters". The US supports the Syrian "rebels", not the Syrian "terrorists".

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by darkarmani on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @03:46PM (#6059821)
> An easy way to determine if the US supports a group is to look at the language used to describe that group

You mean like "ally" or "enemy?"

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by grimtrigger on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @02:30PM (#6059323)
Who exactly is the US? The government? Democrats? Republicans? Journalists?
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by jbooth on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @02:38PM (#6059378)
All of those things. When they all agree on a terminology, the terminology can be said to be used by 'the US'.
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by grimtrigger on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @02:44PM (#6059426)
They don't all agree.
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by grimtrigger on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @02:33PM (#6059343)
I think its fine to say the piece is biased (even though you haven't given any evidence despite the fact that "its very obvious"). However, saying an article by the free press was written for a specific political purpose requires some backup.

I could accuse you of trying to engender support against the rebels, but that would be a distraction that moves the conversation nowhere.

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by narrator on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:48PM (#6059063)
There was one about the Libyan rebels too!

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/06/diy-weapons-of-th...

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by mladenkovacevic on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:57PM (#6059105)
Hey if the formula works why change it.
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by eeky on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:03PM (#6058766)
Couldn't agree more. The Syrian rebels are a loosely associated group with several elements who are radical Islamist and Al Qaeda. This could have easily been titled "DIY Terrorism".
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by pyre on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:13PM (#6058839)
But is it really terrorism at this point? It's a civil war. Just because some groups that use terrorism to further their goals are participating doesn't make it any less of a war.

If the residents of New York City rebelled, and managed to take control of 2/3rds of the city, that would be a civil war (or at least I would classify it as such), even if Al Qaeda showed up to participate.

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by dragonwriter on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:42PM (#6059023)
> But is it really terrorism at this point? It's a civil war.

Civil war distinguishes context of conflict independent of methods, terrorism distinguishes methods of conflict indepedent of context; they aren't mutually exclusive categories.

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by chongli on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @02:54PM (#6059473)
But is it really terrorism at this point?

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. History is written by the victors.

Language designed to engender support for one opinion or another; propaganda. That's all this crap is.

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by darkarmani on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @03:52PM (#6059852)
> One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. History is written by the victors.

So the Kurds in Northern Iraq that got gassed by Saddam were terrorists? The VC won in Vietnam. Were we the terrorists there? Chiang Kai-shek?

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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by chongli on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @05:27PM (#6060291)
I'm not espousing this opinion, it's an (admittedly cynical) commentary on the use of the word terrorist in the media.
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by quantumpotato_ on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:36PM (#6058987)
Does the word "terrorism" have a solid definition, or is it "I'll know it when I see it"?
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by grecy on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @03:11PM (#6059587)
More like "I'll use the terrorism label when it's to my advantage"
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by msandford on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @01:32PM (#6058961)
Yeah but you don't get to classify it, those in power do. And it'd likely be classified as terrorism.
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Re:How War in Syria Turned Ordinary Engineers Into Deadly We... by pessimizer on Wednesday July 17, 2013 @02:11PM (#6059193)
Equally inaccurately, though. Both "freedom fighters" and "terrorists" are marketing terms. "Rebel" is accurate since they're fighting the government; that's definitely a rebellion.
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