As the horror emerges from Syria, with heartbreaking and ghastly footage from the prisons and Assad’s extermination machinery, it is important to remember the apologists for the dictatorship, those who performed public relations services for the regime, whether it was paid or unpaid, whether it was by spreading slander about the civilian opposition or misinformation or covering up the crimes of the regime. They are on the wrong side of history. And many of them continue their efforts on behalf of other tyrants like Ortega in Nicaragua, Maduro in Venezuela, and Putin in Russia. I’ve had the misfortune of seeing their nasty handiwork up close and personally: @RaniaKhalek, @MaxBlumenthal, @aaronjmate, @AliAbunimah, @BenjaminNorton @AbbyMartin, @jimmy_dore, @VanessaBeeley @theOliverStone, the late @johnpilger and I’m sure I’ve forgotten others who attempted to whitewash Assad and erase the struggle against Assad’s brutality by categorizing it as something else (western imperialism?). They have blood on their hands (and they don’t care).