Ending Conflict (and Slaughter)

"We want to have a successful conference, and we are not interested in a conference that is going to waste time; we are not interested in a conference that is going to justify killing more Syrians."
Khaled Saleh, Syrian National Coalition spokesman

Shiite fighters from a group called the Hussein Brigade search for rebels from the Free Syrian Army in Hejeira, Syria, on Thursday, November 21. CNN

"No doubt that the formation of what we could call the transitional governing authority will be one of the most important elements that will have to be agreed upon during the conference.
"We are still discussing the complete list of participants [for the Geneva meeting].
"We haven't established a list yet. These two countries [Iran and Saudi Arabia] will certainly be among the possible participants."
Lakhdar Brahimi, UN-Arab League envoy to Syria

The United Nations announced that Syria's government and opposition have agreed to meet finally for an effort to bring a halt to the almost three-year-old civil war. Disputes over who should represent the opposition and the regime, along with the future governing role in the country of President Bashar al-Assad have always stalled the process geared toward arranging a meeting, with the agreement of both sides.

But although the Syrian National Coalition has agreed to participate, it is instructive to note that there is no coordination nor trust nor love lost between the SNC and the Syrian Free Army and the various hundreds of militias battling government forces in Syria. The Syrian National Coalition may have agreed to be present as a principal at the scheduled meeting, but the Syrian Free Army does not recognize their legitimacy any more than they do that of the regime, and they will not attend.

Free Syrian Army rebels battle government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, November 18. CNN
"I think they are living in a different era. These people are coming from the Middle Ages. They are against democracy. They are against elections, and they are against even the territorial integrity and unity of the Syrian people. At a time when the ship is in wild seas, the leader -- the captain -- should not step down."

Faisal al-Mekdad spoke in Damascus.

Syrian FM: Opposition 'from Middle Ages'

"We are ready to talk on anything but no way we can create a vacuum in Syria -- a vacuum which will lead to the disintegration of the country, to lawlessness in the country. And our decision is to put all that we agree upon to a referendum by the Syrian people because the Syrian people (are) the owner of the final decision in the entire process."

Faisal al-Mekdad, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister

It is not, heaven forbid, the regime which is responsible for the virtual destruction of Syria, its infrastructure, its heritage buildings, its national institutions, its safety and security for its people. It was not the president who imperiously rejected the option of listening to the initial protests wanting nothing other than parity between Sunni and Shia, equal respect, equal entitlements. Surely it couldn't have been the government that ordered the arrest and torture of children and women, ending with their deaths?

The government would never have taken such drastic steps as to send aerial gunships to bomb and strafe their own populations, in Aleppo, Damascus suburbs and other cities, towns and farming communities, creating well over a hundred thousand deaths and tens of millions of refugees? Nor might the government troops have been involved in using women and children as cover during their attacks. Let alone committing thousands of group rapes against defenceless women and girls.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry emphasized the necessity to "end support for the armed terrorist groups" in Syria, in a missive sent to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, involved in the minutiae revolving around the proposed January 22 Geneva conference. Meant to stop the violence, provide access for humanitarian aid, the release of detainees and giving aid to the millions of internally and externally displaced Syrians.

It was not the brutalized Neanderthals in the rebel militias who unleashed deadly gas attacks against civilians, killing well over a thousand children, women and men in the dark hours of one dreadful night. Syria stands on its dignity as a 'democratic' government, beloved by its people, and assailed horribly by the denizens of darkness and terrorism. The Syrian regime knows terrorism when it encounters that plague assailing civilized countries.

Under the auspices of the United Nations and at the urging of the West and the Arab Sunni states, the hopeful plan envisions the establishment of a transitional governing body armed with full executive powers of decision making. Which makeup and participation both the regime and the opposition would agree upon, presumably. That is, in the best of all possible worlds envisaged by the United Nations.

Setting aside, of course, the masterly hypocrisy of a sadistic, bloody regime which has learned the art of deception from a master; its sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

A Syrian woman leans against a tent in the northern Jordanian Zaatari refugee camp on May 18, 2013.   KHALIL MAZRAAWI AFP/Getty Images