Why all people think that Assad and ISIS are the only choices?

[Ramy]

I've met hundreds of refugees who are muslims and they're desperate for the Syrian situation. Most of them escape from Assad and say that he massacred the civilian population long before that the war started, and when there was no track of Al Qaeda in Syria. 
According to some sources, Assad freed extremists from the prisons to feed a sectarian war: http://www.thenational.ae/world/syria/as...l-uprising

Now I don't know if you are aware of this, but Syria is ruled by an alawite minority which represents 10-12% of the total population. Assad's popular support was close to 0% at the early days of the revolution. By freeding the Al Qaeda prisoners he:

1) Made sure that all the religious minorities (that make about 20-25% of the country's population) supported him
2) Gained popular support both in Syria and other countries, as he's now seen as the only alternative to Al Qaeda and ISIS
3) Prevented foreign countries such as the U.S. from effectively supporting the moderate rebels. The only reason that refrains the U.S. from fully supporting these rebels is that they fear that there are Al Qaeda infiltrates

While I'm an Atheist and I believe that Assad's secularism was surely positive and beneficial to Syria, I can't see how can people support him out of this. If he was a honest person there wouldn't be Al Qaeda in Syria, so why are people supporting a person who created the problem and then proposed the solution? all this just to continue leading the country because he knew that the people would have toppled him otherwise. 
Am I the only person who doesn't Assad as a valid alternative?

[ForsakenHeretic]

There are multiple reasons Assad is better

1.He's able to keep stability, while I don't like the regime if it fell tomorrow even more factions would pop up creating more chaos and would make this bloody civil war even longer.

2.ISIS is imperalistic, they are even opposed to Saudi Arabia who pretty much agrees with all their values they just wouldn't end with conquering Syria and Iraq.

3.All the other factions except for the kurds are just less extreme versions of ISIS, most moderate groups are dead.

[Minimalist]

We have a horrible example right next door in Iraq of what happens when you take the cork out of the bottle in a place like that. 

We have another example in Libya of what happens when you simply overthrow the big bad dictator and think that things will magically improve.

You know what?  That shit doesn't work.  We're Americans so we never learn....

http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/11/30/...newday.cnn

Graham, McCain call for 20,000 troops in Syria and Iraq

But the poor bastards who are living there need to be smarter because they are the ones being shot at by all sides.  Yes, Assad has been shooting at the rebels who are shooting at him.  Yes, he is not careful about who else gets shot in the process.  Name me one country which simply rolls over to a group of rebels.  Replace Assad with some Sunni shithead and we'll have the Alawites fleeing the country in waves.

And the beat goes on.  And it will continue to go on until muslims learn that just because someone disagrees with you there is no need to kill them.

[Ramy]

Name me one country which simply rolls over to a group of rebels.  Replace Assad with some Sunni shithead and we'll have the Alawites fleeing the country in waves.

And the beat goes on.  And it will continue to go on until muslims learn that just because someone disagrees with you there is no need to kill them.

Tunisia. It's now a democratic and free country. 
AFAIK sunnis are already fleeing the country (95% of the refugees are sunnis).

I guess that you're talking about Assad when you say that. Are you aware that the people who were shot were just protesting in a civilized way? I think that every muslim should be given a chance to live in a democratic country. Extremism is just the consequence, not the cause of all this.

[Anomalocaris]

I've met hundreds of refugees who are muslims and they're desperate for the Syrian situation. Most of them escape from Assad and say that he massacred the civilian population long before that the war started, and when there was no track of Al Qaeda in Syria. 
According to some sources, Assad freed extremists from the prisons to feed a sectarian war: http://www.thenational.ae/world/syria/as...l-uprising

Now I don't know if you are aware of this, but Syria is ruled by an alawite minority which represents 10-12% of the total population. Assad's popular support was close to 0% at the early days of the revolution. By freeding the Al Qaeda prisoners he:

1) Made sure that all the religious minorities (that make about 20-25% of the country's population) supported him
2) Gained popular support both in Syria and other countries, as he's now seen as the only alternative to Al Qaeda and ISIS
3) Prevented foreign countries such as the U.S. from effectively supporting the moderate rebels. The only reason that refrains the U.S. from fully supporting these rebels is that they fear that there are Al Qaeda infiltrates

While I'm an Atheist and I believe that Assad's secularism was surely positive and beneficial to Syria, I can't see how can people support him out of this. If he was a honest person there wouldn't be Al Qaeda in Syria, so why are people supporting a person who created the problem and then proposed the solution? all this just to continue leading the country because he knew that the people would have toppled him otherwise. 
Am I the only person who doesn't Assad as a valid alternative?

He may be undesired, but why is he "invalid"? "Validity" seems in this context to be an attempt to deny reality and substitute for reality in one's own mind with comforting word games.

[Minimalist]

Name me one country which simply rolls over to a group of rebels.  Replace Assad with some Sunni shithead and we'll have the Alawites fleeing the country in waves.

And the beat goes on.  And it will continue to go on until muslims learn that just because someone disagrees with you there is no need to kill them.

Tunisia. It's now a democratic and free country. 
AFAIK sunnis are already fleeing the country (95% of the refugees are sunnis).

I guess that you're talking about Assad when you say that. Are you aware that the people who were shot were just protesting in a civilized way? I think that every muslim should be given a chance to live in a democratic country. Extremism is just the consequence, not the cause of all this.

Tunisia?  That's not how they tell it.

First, on December 17, 2011, a young Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in hopelessness and to protest his treatment at the hands of the authorities. Demonstrations broke out in his rural hometown followed by protests in other areas of the country. A brutal security crackdown followed, reported in chocking details by online social media. Second, when protests reached the capital, Tunis, the government responded with even more brutality, arresting demonstrators, activists, and shutting down the Internet. Lastly, the President, Zine el-Abedin Ben Ali, shuffled his cabinet and promised to create 300,000 jobs, but it was too late; protesters now just wanted the regime to fall and its President stripped of any power.

Don't confuse 'failing to respond with violence' with not being any good at it.  There is another dynamic at play in Tunisia, though.  Well over 90% of the population are Arab-Berbers.  There was no ethnic element.  You did not have the situation in Iraq, Libya, or Syria where there was a minority group ruling over a majority.  Egypt, too, had a 'successful' revolution against Mubarak but again, there was plenty of violence employed against the protesters but ultimately they won....until the army said "fuck this" and then they lost.  So much for successful revolutions.

How did the Arab Spring work out in the Gulf States?  In Saudi Arabia?  In Iran?


"I guess that you're talking about Assad when you say that. Are you aware that the people who were shot were just protesting in a civilized way?"

What is - and what is not - a peaceful demonstrator is often in the eye of the man holding the gun.



The person being aimed at here is the unarmed son of a United States Congressman from MInnesota who was "peacefully protesting" the murder of a young man by the police.

So you can continue to be naive about the reality of power or you can accept the fact that all Assad did was hasten the outbreak of civil war.  I assume that he well understood the tenuous nature of his Alawite rule in a country that is only roughly 20% Alawite.  The other side gets to make decisions based on their own needs too, you know.

[pgrimes15]

Don't forget that Assad came on a state visit to the Uk in 2002 - met the Queen - met Tony Blair. He wasn't a monster then was he ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...Queen.html.

Grimesy

[GrandizerII]

Not all people, OP. I personally think Assad regime is just as bad as ISIS. Hell, the civil war started in Syria because of Assad murdering his own people.

Had the FSA received adequate support way before ISIS and the others emerged, we'd have a different Syria now.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I don't see that as an American, I should have any say in who governs Syria, so long as that government doesn't attack us or allow us to be attacked from its soil.

[Minimalist]

These people need to settle their own problems.