THE TRAGEDY IN ALEPPO IS DEVELOPING FAST.
THERE HAVE BEEN
MULTIPLE SHIFTS IN THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND IN THE PAST 24
HOURS, IN THIS VIDEO WE WILL TRY TO CATCH YOU UP ON ALL THAT HAS
BEEN HAPPENING SINCE THE VIDEO COVERAGE WE DID YESTERDAY OF
WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN SYRIA.
FIRST OF ALL, THE ACTUAL
MILITARY CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS HAD LARGELY WRAPPED
UP BY THIS POINT YESTERDAY.
THAT HAD TRANSITIONED OVER INTO
SPORADIC COMBAT, MORE SO MASS EXECUTIONS, ATROCITIES, THE SORT
OF THINGS WE COVERED ON THE SHOW YESTERDAY AND ALSO THERE ARE ANY
NUMBER OF REALLY UNBELIEVABLE AND IN CREDIBLY HEARTBREAKING
VIDEOS AND PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS, BITS OF INFORMATION,
COMING OUT OVER SOCIAL MEDIA OF THE SITUATION IN ALEPPO.
YOU
HEAR ABOUT WOMEN COMMITTING MASS SUICIDES TO AVOID BEING RAPED BY
ASSAD'S MILITARY FORCES, SOME PEOPLE KILLING THEMSELVES AND
FAMILIES TO AVOID BEING EXECUTED IN MORE HORRIBLE FASHION WHEN
THE TERRITORY IS TAKEN OVER BY ASSAD'S FORCES, SOME OF THAT
INFORMATION IS ANECDOTAL BUT A LOT OF IT APPEARS TO HAVE A
HEAVY DOSE OF CONFIRMATION, AND THE SITUATION IS BRUTAL.
BUT AS
I SAID, THE ACTUAL COMBAT HAD LARGELY ENDED, THIS IS BEING
CONFIRMED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES.
ACCORDING TO THE U.N. AMBASSADOR
FROM RUSSIA, THIS IS YESTERDAY --
THE U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL SAID --
AND THE U.N. CATEGORIZED THE SITUATION AS --
THE BRITISH U.N. AMBASSADOR DESCRIBED IT AS GOING --
AS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE REBEL FORCES IN THAT AREA
TRADITION INTO SEEMINGLY ATTEMPTING TO KILL AS MANY
PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.
IT WAS DESCRIBED BY THE U.S. AMBASSADOR
THIS WAY --
NOW WE HAVE ALEPPO TO ADD TO THAT LIST.
THE U.N. HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS SAID THIS --
AS OF YESTERDAY EVENING, THAT COMBAT HAD SHIFTED OVER INTO A
TENSE CEASE-FIRE THAT WAS BELIEVED TO BE SET UP SO THERE
COULD BE A MOVEMENT OF MOSTLY REMAINING CIVILIANS, WELL OVER
10,000, AT SOME COUNTS MORE THAN THAT, OUT OF THE TINY BIT OF
STILL SENSIBLY CONTROLLED BY REBEL FORCES ALEPPO IN EASTERN
ALEPPO --
WITNESSES ON THE GROUND SAID --
THAT WAS THE ONE SQUARE THAT THE REBELS STILL HOLD.
ONE
DESCRIPTION THAT WAS TRULY TRAGIC, THE HEAD OF FORENSICS IN
THAT AREA
SAID --
SO THAT CEASE-FIRE HAD BEEN BREACHED ALMOST INSTANTANEOUSLY.
THE ASSAD REGIME AND THEIR ALLIES, INCLUDING BOTH IRAN AND
RUSSIA, SAID THE REASON IT HAD BEEN BREACHED WAS THEY DEMANDED
THAT SOME OF THEIR FORCES BE ALLOWED TO EVACUATE OUT OF SOME
OF THE VILLAGES IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF ALEPPO AND AROUND ALEPPO.
THAT COULD WELL BE TRUE, BUT IT ALSO SERVES THEIR PURPOSES TO
BREACH THE CEASE-FIRE FOR WHATEVER RATIONALE THEY WANT.
AND THE QUOTES COMING OUT OF ASSAD ARE THESE PEOPLE ARE ALL
TERRORISTS, OR THOSE WHO TOIL WITH TERRORISM, AND WE AREN'T
GOING TO STOP IN OUR FIGHT TO DESTROY THE TERRORISTS.
AS WE TOLD YOU, OUR RAMPANT USE OF THE WORD TERRORISM HAS
NOW RENDERED IT MOOT.
EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD
IS USING THE WORD TERRORISM AGAINST THEIR OPPONENTS, WHETHER
THEY ARE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS OR DICTATORIAL GOVERNMENTS,
WHETHER THE OPPONENTS ARE ATTACKING CIVILIANS OR THEY ARE
NOT.
IT DOESN'T MATTER, ANYONE OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT IS NOW
A TERRORIST.
SO COURSE THE DICTATOR ASSAD WOULD BE SAYING
THAT ABOUT HIS OPPONENTS AS HE BRUTALIZES THEM IN WHAT APPEARS
TO BE HISTORIC PROPORTIONS.
AS I TOLD YOU YESTERDAY ABOUT THE
UNITED NATIONS, THEY ARE A CONSERVATIVE GROUP, MEANING THEY
DON'T WANT TO ANGER ANY NATIONS, ESPECIALLY THE POWERFUL ONES
LIKE RUSSIA OR THE UNITED STATES.
THEY HAVE TO BALANCE
THAT OUT, BUT IT IS PART OF THEIR JOB TO DUE HUMAN
RIGHTS, SO THEY CAN'T HELP BUT LOOK AT THIS AND SAY YES,
THERE IS CONFIRMATION THAT CIVILIANS ARE BEING
MASSACRED, IT IS A SLAUGHTER.
AND WE DON'T KNOW FOR SURE THAT THE PLANES THAT HAVE
RESUMED THE BOMBING OUR SYRIAN GOVERNMENT JETS OR RUSSIANS.
I GUESS THIS IS DONALD TRUMP'S IDEAS COMING TO FRUITION, FOR
HIS DREAMS COMING TRUE, BECAUSE THE MEMBER HE SAID I WANT TO
KILL THE FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE TERRORISTS.
NOW, HE NEVER
CLARIFIED HOW HE WOULD FIGURE OUT WHO THE TERRORISTS WERE, OR
THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS WERE.
NOW HIS BUDDY PUTIN IS KILLING THE
FAMILY MEMBERS.
DO WE KNOW THAT THEY ARE FAMILY MEMBERS OF
TERRORISTS?
OF COURSE NOT, BUT THEY WERE IN THAT CITY, AND MY
GUESS AS TO WHY THE RUSSIANS AND SYRIANS BROKE THE CEASE-FIRE IS
THAT THE CEASE-FIRE SAID THE REBELS WOULD BE ALLOWED TO
WITHDRAW.
THE CIVILIANS ARE LEAVING AT THE SAME TIME, BUT
THEY THINK, WHO CARES?
I'M ALREADY KILLING CIVILIANS, WHY
NOT KILL FAMILIES WHILE WE ARE AT IT?
I WILL BOMB THE GUYS ON
THEIR WAY OUT, MAYBE I WILL KILL SOME REBELS ALONG THE WAY, AND
IF I KILL CIVILIANS I DON'T REALLY CARE BECAUSE MY HANDS ARE
ALREADY SO DRENCHED IN BLOOD, WHAT DIFFERENCE WOULD IT MAKE?
I'M NOT SAYING THIS TO YOU TO TAKE ANY SPECIFIC ACTION, I'M
NOT IN THE CAMP OF OKAY, THEN WE HAVE TO INTERVENE OR DO GROUND
TROOPS OR SHOOT DOWN RUSSIAN PLANES OR WHATEVER THINGS PEOPLE
TALK ABOUT.
WE ARE JUST BRINGING YOU THE NEWS OF WHAT HAPPENED
HERE, AND IT IS DISASTROUS.
AND IT'S BEING DESCRIBED, THE MOST RECENT ATTEMPTS TO WIPE OUT
CIVILIANS, BEING DESCRIBED BY THE U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER OF
HUMAN RIGHTS THIS WAY --
NOW THERE ARE ALSO REPORTS COMING OUT IN JUST THE PAST 90
OR SO MINUTES THAT IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE CEASE-FIRE CAN
RESUME.
FOR WHATEVER THAT IS WORTH, BECAUSE WE SAW WHAT IT
WAS WORTH LAST NIGHT.
AND I THINK THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN
VIDEO THAT I'VE TALKED ABOUT THE SITUATION, IT IS SOMETHING BOTH
IN ALEPPO AND SYRIA GENERALLY THAT WE TALKED ABOUT ANY NUMBER
OF TIMES, THE MEMBER LAST YEAR I DID A FINAL JUDGMENT TALKING
ABOUT DRONE FOOTAGE TAKEN FROM A DRONE FLYING THROUGH I BELIEVE
ALEPPO AT THAT POINT, AND IT DIDN'T LOOK LIKE A CITY THAT WAS
IN THE PROCESS OF BEING DESTROYED, IT LOOKED LIKE A CITY
THAT HAD BEEN DESTROYED IN A WAR 200 YEARS AGO AND HAD SIMPLY
LAID WASTE SINCE THEN.
AND THE STORIES THAT HAVE BEEN COMING
OUT OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS AS THE SIEGE HAS CONTINUED, AS
FORCES HAVE MOVED IN NEIGHBORHOOD BY NEIGHBORHOOD,
IT'S LIKE WHAT I REMEMBER READING FROM SOME OF THE WORST
SIEGES IN WORLD WAR II, OR WARS OF THAT TIME.
READING ABOUT THE
STARVATION IN LENINGRAD, PEOPLE BEING FORCED TO KILL THEMSELVES
TO NOT DIE IN MORE HORRIBLE WAYS.
IT'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW.
AND THERE IS BLAME TO GO AROUND ALMOST EVERY GROUP, AND EVEN
DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN THE VARIOUS GROUPS COMPOSING LARGER
REBEL GROUPS, THEY COME IN ALL DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES FROM
RELATIVE MODERATES TO HARD-CORE JIHADIST, THOSE WHO ARE
AFFILIATED WITH AL QAEDA OR ISIS OR OTHER GROUPS OR NONE, IT'S A
COMPLICATED MESS, BUT FOR THE CIVILIANS WHO ARE TRAPPED
THROUGH NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN INSIDE THE CITIES AND ARE
BEARING THE TRUE BRUNT OF THE SYRIAN AND RUSSIAN AND IRANIAN
ATTEMPTS TO WIFE THEM OUT, THIS IS HISTORIC EVIL BEING
PERPETRATED AGAINST THEM.
IN THE MIDST OF THIS WE HAVE A PRESIDENT ELECT WHO SAID THAT HE
WOULD FIGURE OUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SUNNI AND THE SHIA
ONCE HE GOT INTO OFFICE.
HE SAID THAT DURING THE ELECTION.
YOU
BETTER FIGURE IT OUT QUICK, BECAUSE IT IS THE SUNNIS BEING
MASSACRED IN THIS CASE, IT IS LARGELY BEING DONE BY SHIA.
THERE ARE A GREAT NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FACTIONS WITHIN THE
SUNNI, SOME FACTIONS WITHIN THE SHIA.
THINK DONALD TRUMP IS UP
TO THE JOB OF FIGURING OUT WHO IS WHO?
I GUARANTEE YOU IF A
REPORTER ASKED HIM ABOUT THIS TODAY, OR COULD SOMEHOW ASK HIM
BECAUSE HE DOESN'T DO PRESS CONFERENCES, NOT SINCE JUNE, WHO
ARE THE RUSSIANS ATTACKING IN ALEPPO -- HE WOULD PROBABLY SAY
ISIS.
WHEN THAT IS NOT THE CASE.
THE REBEL FORCES IN ALEPPO ARE
NOT ISIS, ISIS'S HEADQUARTERS ARE ELSEWHERE.
THESE REBELS ARE
SUPPORTED BY SOME OF OUR ALLIES, AND AGAIN, SOME ARE CLOSER TO AL
QAEDA, AND I'M NOT SAYING ANY OF THEM, ANY OF THE REBEL FORCES IN
SYRIA THAT I WILL VOUCH FOR THEM, HELL NO, IT IS VERY HARD
TO DETERMINE WHO HAS DONE WHAT AND WHO THEY ARE ALIGNED WITH,
AND THEN THERE ARE ONES THAT ARE THEORETICALLY MORE MODERATE, AS
JOHN POINTED OUT.
BUT SOME OF OUR ALLIES LIKE TURKEY AND
ISRAEL SEEM TO BE BACKING THE SUNNIS IN THIS FIGHT, WHO
JUST GOT DESTROYED IN ALEPPO.
TURKEY WAS ONE OF THE PARTIES THAT HELPED GET THE
CEASE-FIRE BACK EARLIER TODAY.
OR IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE, ANYWAY.
DO YOU THINK DONALD TRUMP IS GOING TO FAVOR OUR ALLIES, LIKE
TURKEY AND ISRAEL?
OR IS HE MORE LIKELY TO SAY, WHAT DOES MY
FRIEND PUTIN SAY?
EXXON MOBIL HAS A $500 BILLION DEAL TO MAKE
WITH THEM, THAT'S WHY I PUT MY SECRETARY OF STATE AS THE CEO OF
EXXON MOBIL, AND HERE IS A GUY WHO ACTIVELY, ACCORDING TO OUR
CIA, HELPED ME TO WIN THE ELECTION -- WHO CARES WHAT OUR
ALLIES SAY?
WHO CARES WHAT IS
HAPPENING TO CIVILIANS?
AND THE
LAST QUESTION I WOULD LIKE A REPORTER TO ASK HIM IS, YOU SAID
THAT FAMILY MEMBERS SHOULD BE KILLED.
NOW FAMILY MEMBERS ARE
BEING KILLED IN ALEPPO, ARE YOU HAPPY?
IS THIS THE KIND OF FIGHT
AGAINST SO-CALLED TERRORISM THAT YOU APPROVED OF?
THE SYRIAN
GOVERNMENT, AND YOUR ALLIES IN RUSSIA, CALL THESE PEOPLE IN
ALEPPO TERRORISTS, AND KILL THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS.
SO ARE YOU
THRILLED ABOUT THE RESULTS?
BECAUSE IT WAS YOUR POLICY IDEA.
AND THIS IS DEFINITELY A SITUATION WHERE I THINK WE WILL
HAVE A CLEAR REMINDER OF THE VALUE OF EXPERTISE AND
EXPERIENCE IN IMPORTANT GOVERNMENT POSITIONS.
I HAVE
BEEN DOING AS MUCH RESEARCH AS I CAN TO FIGURE OUT SOME OF THE
CURRENT DYNAMICS GOING ON IN THESE DIFFERENT GROUPS, AND I
HAVE PREVIOUS GRADUATE-LEVEL EXPERIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL
POLITICS, AND COMPARATIVE POLITICS, AND EVEN FOR ME IT IS
A MESS.
THAT IS WHY THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE EXPERTS IN
EXACTLY THIS SITUATION THAT IS GOING ON, AND VERY SOON WE WILL
HAVE A NEW SECRETARY OF STATE WHO WILL COME IN AND BE EXPECTED
TO MANAGE THE SITUATION, AND HE DOESN'T KNOW THE FIRST THING
ABOUT INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY, OR SYRIA SPECIFICALLY.
HE HAS
EXPERIENCE IN OIL, THAT'S ALL HE HAS, HE'S NEVER EXPRESSED
INTEREST IN POLITICS OR GOVERNANCE, YET WE HAVE A
PRESIDENT WHO HAS BROUGHT INTO POWER PEOPLE WHO DON'T
THINK THAT EXPERTISE OR STUDY IS WORTH ANYTHING.
REX TILLERSON, APPARENTLY OUR NEW SECRETARY OF STATE, RECEIVED
A METAL FROM PUTIN A COUPLE YEARS AGO.
YOU THINK HE WILL
DEFY PUTIN?
HE'S THE ONE WHO SIGNED A HALF $1 TRILLION DEAL
WITH PUTIN.
YOU THINK HE WILL DEFY HIM?
NO, HE'S ABOUT TO WALK
AWAY WITH $150 MILLION FROM EXXON MOBIL, YOU THINK HE WILL
SAY NO TO PUTIN BECAUSE HE'S CONCERNED ABOUT CIVILIAN DEATHS
IN ALEPPO?
NO, THEY SOLD OUR GOVERNMENT AWAY IN WHOLESALE
CORRUPTION.
SO THE ANSWER TO ALEPPO IS DIFFICULT TO
DETERMINE, WHETHER YOU ARE CONFUSED AS TO WHETHER WE SHOULD
SUPPORT THE FREE SYRIAN ARMY OR THE ARMY OF CONQUEST, TWO
DIFFERENT REBEL FORCES IN ALEPPO, I UNDERSTAND THAT.
YOU
WOULD REALLY HOPE THAT YOUR PRESIDENT WOULD DO A LITTLE BIT
BETTER THAN YOU AND KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE IS, THAT HIS
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY, WHICH HE NOW ACTIVELY REFUSES TO LISTEN
TO, WOULD DO A LITTLE BIT BETTER THAN ALL OF US IN KNOWING WHO
THOSE FACTIONS ARE, AND WHO WE SHOULD SUPPORT AND WHO WE SHOULD
SUPPORT.
AND THE ONE THING I HOPE WE CAN ALL AGREE ON IS THAT
WE SHOULD DO OUR BEST TO SPARE THE CIVILIANS.
BUT THAT IS WHAT
WE THOUGHT BEFORE THIS ELECTION, THAT IS WHAT WE THOUGHT AMERICA
STOOD FOR.
AFTER THIS ELECTION, I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE STAND FOR
AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT OUR GOVERNMENT WILL DO AND WHAT IT
WILL SANCTION, BUT WE ARE ABOUT TO FIND OUT.