Report: Some monitors thought Syria trip was for ‘pleasure’

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Some of the Arab League observers tasked with monitoring whether Syria had stopped its bloody crackdown on protesters “thought that their visit to Syria was for pleasure,” according to a report leaked to Foreign Policy magazine.

The report, reportedly signed by the chief who oversaw the monitors, laid out a number of problems that prevented the observers from being effective, from health problems to inexperience to “personal agendas,” according to the document posted by reporter Colum Lynch.

Among the problems noted in the document:

-- The Syrian government ‘put in place a tight strategy to limit its access to the core areas, and keeping the Mission occupied with issues of concern to the Government.’ The report says that, nonetheless, ‘the Mission succeeded in overcoming the obstacles that impeded its work.’

-- ‘Means of communication’ that belonged to the observers were withheld at the Jordanian border, the report says. That left them with 10 satellite telephones that had trouble getting signals. There weren’t even enough walkie-talkies for the observers to communicate among themselves.

-- The team tried to rent cars in the early days of the mission, but rental companies started to pull back, fearful of the risks to their cars and their drivers in light of Syrian riots.

-- The Syrian media ‘exaggerated events to the extent of distorting truth’ as part of ‘a hostile media campaign’ against the Arab League observers.

Bringing in the Arab League monitors was a key part of a plan to end months of bloodshed in Syria. Opposition activists complained that the monitoring team could be misled by the government. It was sometimes hard for observers to even tell who was shooting, The Times’ Alexandra Zavis reported.

The Arab League suspended the monitoring mission Sunday, citing the ‘critical deterioration of the situation in Syria and the continued use of violence.’

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Why are U.S., Russia squabbling over Syria at the United Nations?

-- Emily Alpert in Los Angeles

the southern city of Dara.