Assad’s alleged killing of 11,000 detainees, complete with photos, gets little U.S. ink

As a former newspaper reporter, I’m trying to figure out why stark evidence that Bashar Al Assad’s Syrian regime systematically starved, tortured and killed roughly 11,000 men who were, effectively, prisoners of war hasn’t gotten more play.

The German Spiegel hit it hard as did the London Guardian and CNN, the two outlets originally fed the story and, I assume, the 26,000 digital photos backing it up. The New York Times, though, is more interested in their snowstorm, apparently. They buried it their The Lede blog. Seems like I managed to dig something up from the Washington Post earlier today but can’t seem to find it now, so buried it is.

No question that the Qataris, opponents of the regime, paid for the London-based law firm investigating the atrocity (a military-police defector they’re calling “Caesar” provided the images). Caesar was charged with photographing the dead streaming out of Assad’s prisons, presumably to ensure that Assad’s security services didn’t let the prisoners go.

They were identified using a number system, hinting at industrial-scale killing. Caesar saved off, by his account, 55,000 images, of which he was able to get about half out of the country, it seems. Most of dead were men between the ages of 20 and 40 years of age, investigators believe. Many show signs of torture and a majority look to have been starved, the investigators say. The report has an appendix of photos of emaciated dead with wicked bruises and lacerations. The Guardian reported today that these murdered detainees could be just the tip of the iceberg – that the same thing may be happening in other regions.

This is  a bigger story as Iran being snubbed in the second round of Syrian peace talks, even if America’s leading newspapers don’t seem to think so. Because if the images tell a true story, the world, sans Iran, will be negotiating with a true butcher in Geneva.

Addendum, Jan. 23, 2014: The New York Times ran a very good piece on Jan. 23, titled State Dept. Learned in November of Photos Said to Show Torture in Syria, advancing the initial story rather than just repeating it. It quotes Secretary of State John Kerry as saying, “The questions raised by this require an answer [….] I can’t tell you exactly what all of it is except that I know that they are people who have suffered egregious torture and death.” White House Spokesman Jay Carney followed with: “These photos cannot be ignored or dismissed. They suggest widespread and apparently systematic violations of international human law and demonstrate just how far the regime is willing to go in harming its own people. They’re very disturbing images.” So kudos to the Gray Lady.