[credit: John Sherffius, Boulder Daily Camera]
The Syrian struggle for democracy against an entrenched autocrat goes on, and the civilian casualties are mounting. Amnesty International released a report Wednesday stating 88 protesters have been killed while in the custody of Assad's security ghouls. Amnesty also alleges that many of these prisoners suffered torture before dying. The organization is calling upon the United Nations to impose sanctions against the Assad regime including freezing of his assets and an arms embargo. More than 2,000 Syrians have been killed since the non-violent protests began in March. The United Nations Commission for Human Rights voted for an investigation into crimes against humanity by Syria. The normally staid pronouncements about Syrian oppression from the US State Department got a little more lively when a "senior administration official" called the Syrian foreign minister a "shameless tool and mouthpiece of Bashar al-Assad". But it takes more than an investigation and a war of words to stop Assad's tanks.