"BIRDS OF A FEATHER," SYRIA PRAISES MUGABE

Robert Mugabe's murderous iron-fisted rule has subjected Zimbabwe to a reign of terror for almost three decades. While the MSM reported the way he used violence to overturn an election that he lost, his horrors did not start with this most recent election:

• Lela Kogbara, Chair of ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) has said: "As with every oppressive regime women and workers are left bearing the brunt. Please join us as we stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle for peace, justice and freedom."

• Mugabe has waged a violent campaign against homosexuals, arguing that prior to colonization Zimbabweans did not engage in homosexual acts.In September 1995, Zimbabwe's Parliament officially approved persecution of homosexuals. In 1997 a court found Canaan Banana, Mugabe's predecessor and the first President of Zimbabwe, guilty of 11 counts of sodomy and indecent assault. Banana's trial proved embarrassing for Mugabe, when Banana's accusers alleged that Mugabe knew about Banana's conduct and had done nothing to stop it.

• In 2005, Mugabe ordered a raid conducted on what the government termed "illegal shelters" in Harare, resulting in 10,000 urban poor being left homeless from "Operation Drive Out the Rubbish." The authorities themselves had moved the poor inhabitants to the area in 1992, telling them not to build permanent homes and that their new homes were temporary, leading the inhabitants to build their own temporary shelters out of cardboard and wood. The UK's Telegraph noted that Mugabe's "latest palace", in the style of a pagoda, was located a mile from the destroyed shelters. The UN released a report stating that the actions of Mugabe resulted in the loss of home or livelihood for more than 700,000 Zimbabweans and negatively affected 2.4 million more.

• Veteran human rights activist and author Judith Todd, daughter of former South Rhodesia prime minister Garfield Todd, said in an interview published last year that she was raped by a Zimbabwean army officer after criticizing President Robert Mugabe's regime.

• In the rape camps of Zimbabwe, young girls are horrifically abused—often to punish Mugabe's political opponents. . . . Mugabe has stationed two officers from his feared Central Intelligence Organization in every village; merely talking to a murungu, or white man, can lead to interrogation or beatings. Christina Lamb, Sunday Telegraph, London, August 25, 2002

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), life expectancy at birth for Zimbabwe men is 37 years for men and 34 for women, the lowest such figures for any nation in the world
  

Who could ever praise a disgusting animal like that? Only another "sub-human" Like those who run the Syrian Government. Last month the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra published an article by columnist Dr. Ibrahim Za’ir expressing satisfaction with the election outcome. The article calls Mugabe a "patriot with a sacred mission," and how pleased they were that the Western countries had failed in their attempt to incite the Zimbabwean people against him and to remove him from power. An excerpt of the article follows:

Article in Syrian Government Daily Praises Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe - A Patriot with a Sacred Mission

Dr. Ibrahim Za'ir wrote in Al-Thawra: "Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was inaugurated on Sunday, June 29, 2008, after winning over 85% of the votes in the second round of elections. Opposition head Morgan Tsvangirai, his main rival in the elections, announced his withdrawal [from the race] only a few days before the second round. According to some sources, he withdrew not because he feared for the lives of his supporters, as he claimed, but because he knew, in his heart of hearts, that he had no chance of winning…

"Tsvangirai... counted from the very start on the support of the U.S., the West and the international community, whereas Mugabe counted on the people of Zimbabwe. The landslide victory [of the latter] was a deadly blow to the so-called 'forces of reform, democracy, and renewal' which are supported by the [Western] superpowers…

"The U.S. and Britain did not succeed in ruining Robert Mugabe's good name, despite all their efforts with their propaganda machine. There wasn't a single insult that they did not hurl at him, [from] 'dictator,' 'tyrant' and 'enemy of democracy' [to] 'murderous [leader]' and 'oppressing despot.' But none of this swayed the will of the Zimbabwean people, who reelected their patriotic leader Mugabe [for another term in office]…

"[Mugabe] has always seen himself as a man with a sacred mission that transcends the borders of his country - namely, liberating Africa from imperialism and from the racist regimes… Subordination to the West has brought the Black Continent nothing but hunger, disease, wretchedness, and poverty. With its vast resources, Africa could have seen an economic revival and solved its main problems - had it not been for the plundering Western imperialists.

"Mugabe became a problem for the U.S. and Britain in Africa. Therefore, they had no choice but to use every means at their disposal [in attempt to] remove him from the African political arena. The U.S. exerted pressure on his country, placed it under economic siege, and waged an undeclared war against it.

"[In fact,] the economic crisis in Zimbabwe was deliberately created [by the West] in order to generate dissatisfaction and anger towards Mugabe's regime. But the Zimbabwean people have a good memory. They have not forgotten [Mugabe's] economic reforms, and especially his agrarian reforms which are considered a historic achievement of his regime. [Mugabe] wrested the fertile lands away from the British whites and returned them to their rightful owners - [the Black Africans] from whom they were taken during the era of British imperialism.

"Tsvangirai received considerable [support] in the [first round of] the presidential elections, but not enough to win. The undeniable discovery that he received support from the U.S. and Britain caused the Zimbabweans to renounce him. [This time around,] he was afraid to run [for president], because he was certain of his defeat. [However], from the moment [Tsvangirai withdrew his candidacy], and even after the results were announced, Washington and other Western [capitals] never stopped threatening Mugabe. Even Bush himself threatened sanctions against Zimbabwe, claiming that the elections had not been fair, neutral, and democratic.

"This incredible hypocrisy on the part of the U.S. is nothing new. Anyone who fails to succumb to its [dictates and promote its] interests is accused of being against democracy and human rights - even if he is the greatest of democrats - while the worst of dictators are hailed as great [supporters of] democracy if they [promote America's] interests.

"Mugabe was elected by the sweeping majority of his people. This is also true of [Venezuelan President] Hugo Chavez and of [many] other patriotic presidents throughout the world who devote all their strength to [ensuring] the freedom and independence of their people."

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Al-Thawra (Syria), July 2, 2008.