Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect Read Online Free

regime has suffered a number of high-level defections, including the Syrian ambassador to Iraq, a Republican Guard brigadier general, and the prime minister. Every week saw desertions by lower-level military. Syria faced serious economic problems as well. But as ultra-right-wing rebels gained strength within the opposition, Assad rallied some Syrians to his side, arguing that a secular strongman is better than Islamic rule.
    A big question remained: Will the Syrian people blame the country's crisis on the Assad government or the rebels?
    I received a partial answer during a very unusual trip. Syrian authorities organized a media visit to an elementary school in the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising began. Government officials wanted to show that life had returned to normal. All was going according to plan when the children came out for morning recess.
    Then, spotting the TV cameras, the children suddenly began chanting, “Freedom, freedom,” one of the main antigovernment slogans. Then others chanted “Syria” and similar progovernment slogans. Government officials leading the delegation went pale. Here, in front of the whole world, stood the divided Syria.
    â€œThe political chasm has reached the schools,” said my translator, who was assigned by the government to accompany me on this visit. “First graders are now politically motivated.” 7
    The fact that students dared to chant antigovernment slogans during an official visit did not bode well for Assad and the future of the Syrian government.
    Uprisings aren't new in Syria. To fully understand the revolt that began in 2011, we need to look at the country's tumultuous history.

Reporter Lowell Thomas interviewed T. E. Lawrence for only about a week, but in the years that followed, he managed to create the myth of Lawrence of Arabia, promote his own career as a daring foreign correspondent, and spread myths about Arabs. Lawrence wasn't riding a camel in the desert when they met. They were in Jerusalem and Aqaba after the British had occupied those cities and the fighting had stopped. But Thomas was intrigued by the short British officer wearing a keffiyeh head scarf and an embroidered traditional robe, and sporting a curved dagger in his belt. Thomas was searching for an American war hero, but British citizen Lawrence would do. Thomas was to transform this little-known liaison officer into a world-famous figure.
    Thomas created the romanticized version of Lawrence that was later maintained in the 1962 film. A fictional version of Thomas, played by Arthur Kennedy, even showed up in the movie. Thomas almost single-handedly created the myth of Lawrence of Arabia while perpetuating many of the modern-day prejudices about Muslims and Arabs. Those prejudices would impact Syria and the entire region for years to come. Thomas was a twenty-two-year-old reporter and adventurer when World War I broke out. He had already produced one of the first filmed travelogues and was a fervent supporter of the Great War at a time when many Americans opposed it. His love of film and war were to come together in an unusual way.
    In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson's administration put togethera fact-finding team supposedly to report on developments in the war. In reality, the trip was intended to promote the war effort to the American public. Thomas was happy to join the group.
    Already a talented orator and an endless self-promoter, Thomas understood the impact of movies as propaganda. But he faced the problem of freelancers everywhere: he had no funding. So Thomas contacted old businessman friends in the meatpacking industry in Chicago, where he had been a reporter. Executives at Armour, Swift, and other beef processors were anxious to support the war effort, in no small part because of the profit they could make selling meat to the military. 1
    So eighteen meatpacking executives raised $100,000 to finance Thomas's trip, a huge budget in those days. Thomas, his