“Most days Amal sits near the window and looks out at the street.  She smokes too many cigarettes and drinks too many cups of coffee, but what else is there for her to do?  She is past middle age, retired and has time to sit and think about those happy days gone by before the Syrian revolution began in March 2011.  Now, she has to deal with a severally handicapped adult son, who is also severely mentally ill.

She and her husband lived modest lives, both working as civil servants.  Now, both are retired on a fixed income, and with the Syrian war driving up prices their income is barely covering the basics.

They thought they were so fortunate to find a safe, clean and responsible mental facility for their young adult son who suffers from severe mental illness.  They paid for the best care they could afford for their dear son.  The hospital they placed him at was Ibn Khaldun mental hospital in East Aleppo.  The staff was professional and caring.  Up until then, Aleppo had never participated in the revolution in, and so they were not worried for their son.  They felt he was safe and well cared for.

During the period of December 23 to 25, 2012 there were battles in the area the hospital was located in.  The battles were between the Free Syrian Army, backed and sponsored by USA, and the Syrian Arab Army, the national Armed forces.   Just after this period, the Free Syrian Army attacked and entered and occupied the Ibn Khaldun hospital.  Male staff were killed, or injured.  Female staff were raped, killed, or injured.  The FSA kidnapped 250 mental patients.  Some were released, some killed, and some tortured.   Amal’s son was kidnapped.  The Free Syrian Army kidnapped him for the purpose of ransom.  Maybe President Barak Obama had not sent them enough money?  Or, perhaps the middle man, in this case the officials in Turkey, had taken too much for their share?  Instead of fighting for freedom and democracy, as Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, would have you believe, the FSA were out raping, torturing and killing to make some quick cash on the side.  Rebels and criminals: 2 for the price of one.

Amal’s husband got the first phone call.  The FSA asked for millions of Syrian lira to be paid.  He explained it would take time to arraign that great of an amount, and to please call back.  They called back and arranged the ransom drop.  But, what followed was silence in the house.  The phone never rang.  The parents were losing hope, they feared the worst. They faced nights and days of sleepless anxiety.  Finally, the phone rang.  But, it was not the FSA, it was a man asking about their names, and said he had found their son, and he was alive.  They found him sitting naked in the snow, in the coldest days of Aleppo’s winter weather.  His feet had severe frost bite from walking in the snow barefoot.  He was treated at a hospital and it was determined that his feet had to be amputated because of the frost bite.  He had endured unspeakable torture at the hands of the US supported and sponsored Free Syrian Army.

He is safe at home, with his parents now.  He cannot walk.  Not only is his mind crippled, but now his beautiful young adult body is forever crippled as well.  His parents are joyous because he is alive and with them, but they are so sad that there could be Syrian men so sick, so evil that they would torture an innocent mental patient, who posed no harm to them.  They could have left him in the hospital after the battle.  What is the military strategy of kidnapping mentally ill people?  How does that create a better Syria?

What if this same thing happened in any city in United States of America?  What would American mothers and father have to say about this?  What would the mental health facilities and associations have to say about this?  Why would America participate and support the targeting, raping, torturing and killing of innocent mental patients in Syria?  How does that fit into the plan to create a new Syria, modeled after Washington, DC?

Every: uniform, bullet, weapon and vehicle that the FSA use is from the American taxpayer.  In fact, America is now in the process of sending even more money, weapons and training to this very same Free Syrian Army, who is fighting for Radical Islamic ideology, and are bound and determined to remove the current Syrian government, so they can form an Islamic State in Syria, with Sharia as the only constitution needed.”

Latakia, Syria.