A small group of journalists went to Syria to ask the people about what they saw happening. The title, credit, and links to this video which has aired on NTN in Europe are at the end of the article. This is a narrative of the interviews from the original Russian.
Most importantly, they asked the Syrians the one question no one else is asking, or cares about;
What do the Syrian people want?
Syria has always been marked as a place of tolerance among its people even when its political life has been in upheaval. The Orthodox Bishop in Damascus has remarked that his church would not leave and abandon their neighbors regardless of what happens.
Syria is home to an ancient Christian population which has grown into many representations of the religion for two millennia. Syria also converted to Islam right after the death of Islam's prophet Mohammed.
The two populations have lived side by side as neighbors and friends. They have lived intertwining lives since that time. Their national culture goes back to almost the beginning of recorded history.
The Syrians, both Christian and Muslim live like adopted family to each other. The Bishop made the point that the national history and culture binds all Syrians. The familial ties go back generations.
Common themes from the people interviewed consist of a few continual and overlapping points; they all have satellite dishes and see the news from around the world. They are horrified at the news the world is getting because what is happening in Syria is entirely different.
Another condition is they would only agree to be interviewed if the footage went unedited and their faces were shown. The obvious reason was to prevent dub-over.
The Syrians interviewed stated that all the media coming into the country were broadcasting something different than what was occurring. This included Al Jazeera, Al Arabia, BBC, and France 24. "Why weren't they showing the peace demonstrations?" "Would Qatar's President even let two people protest him?"
College students when interviewed stated that they had not asked for "an opposition army.' It was not the way things are done culturally in Syria. No one has asked the opinions of the elder population whose opinion would have legitimized the war. In Syrian Islamic culture that type of justification is the norm.
The largest worry is the daily terrorist attacks and they want to express what they see going on outside their own windows.
They watch the cameras being set up ahead of the bomb being planted. The bomb goes off and the footage is shown everywhere from YouTube to the different media outlets. "Assad has struck again."
"It's difficult to understand how foreign journalists seem to know exactly when and where the next explosion will be."
They hear the bombers yelling Allahu Akbar. This exclamation is among the growing proofs showing the bombers are more than likely Wahhabi Islamists. While I realize the current reporting says they are Salafi it is starting to gain traction as being shown unfounded. The Salafi Muslims are also complaining the Wahhabis are borrowing their religious identity again. Muslim articles around the web are showing a historical trend of this.
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