Syrian Refugees

Syrian Refugee Camp

Read something in the news the other day about how there are more refugees from Syria than there are grains of sand in the universe or something, which got me to thinking, as usual: "what the hell is going on over there?". Once I applied my brain to the problem (or once I had asked the right question) it became obvious.
    It does not take a large number of people to make an area unpalatable, and by unpalatable I mean dangerous enough that a reasonable person would think they would be safer somewhere else.On one hand we've got Assad, his supporters and the army, which, while numerous, probably don't make up more than a few percent of the population. On the other we've got the "rebels" (all the people who are angry enough with Assad to go against him), Al-Qaeda and all the loonies who like to wave guns around. Probably not any more than Assad has. But it only takes one RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) blowing up your neighbor's house to make you think that maybe life would be better in Jordan or Turkey or, shoot, just about anywhere else.
    In the US Civil War about 10% of the population was in one army or another (3 million out of 30 million). In Syria I'm guessing it's more like 3%. The armed forces have 300 thousand men. Figure the rebels have about the same, and the population is something over 22 million. In the USA right now only about one half of one percent (0.5%) of the population is in the military.
    On one hand I sometimes think Assad is a tyrant on the same order as Saddam Hussein or the Shah of Iran. On the other hand, maybe he's become soft listening to Westerners talking about peace-love-and-understanding. I hate to say it but maybe what Syria needs is a good strong does of Stalin-esque discipline.

Update November 2020 replace photo and deleted Picasa album link.