By By Ken Hanly Sep 7, 2013 in Politics The many videos of victims of the alleged chemical attacks near Damascus attributed to the Assad regime no doubt helped convince many that they should support the military retaliation planned by Obama. There have been many other graphic videos showing brutality from both sides of the conflict including a video of a rebel eating the heart of an opponent. However many of the videos showing rebel outrages are of radical Islamists such as the Al Nusra Front. The New York TImes apparently obtained the execution video from a former rebel who became disgusted by the killings and smuggled it out of Syria. The video is not of a recent event but happened back in April of 2012 although originally the Times claimed it was this spring However, it is still new to the media and went viral. Another video discussed on The message is if the West doesn't act, we (the rebels) too will have no red lines, and will use chemical weapons." The Fox news article claims there is no evidence that the rebels have chemical weapons but that is simply untrue. There is quite a bit of evidence including the seizure of sarin gas by the Fox news analyst "A year ago on some of the jihadi chat rooms, including in Syria, there has been talks about using all of the weapons needed and it's ideologically permissible for them to use those weapons". In response defenders of Obama's plan point out that the moderate opposition military council immediately condemned the action portrayed in the clip showing the execution of Syrian soldiers. In this conflict the idea of picking out good guys and bad guys seems rather fruitless in that war crimes are committed both by the opposition and Assad. In fact it is even more complicated. The west's bad opposition Islamic extremists are often preferred by locals to the moderate Free Syrian Army forces: " Locals complain that unlike al-Nusra, the more secular and Islamist groups that align with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are becoming increasingly corrupt. It is a complaint that al-Nusra has fueled, organizing anti-FSA protests in towns in northern Syria. The jihadist group is careful also to distribute war spoils among civilians in rebel enclaves." While the moderates are often interested mostly in advancing their material welfare, the radical Islamist Al Nusra front are concerned about helping the people and establishing some sort of order and normal life that is appreciated even if their brutal imposition of Sharia law is not. However, this type of video can be used to sway people against supporting the rebels as well. A new video is described as so barbaric that the New York Times staff who watched it and edited it for online publication were made "physically ill" in watching the video. The actual shooting part is blacked out in the appended video.There have been many other graphic videos showing brutality from both sides of the conflict including a video of a rebel eating the heart of an opponent. However many of the videos showing rebel outrages are of radical Islamists such as the Al Nusra Front.The New York TImes apparently obtained the execution video from a former rebel who became disgusted by the killings and smuggled it out of Syria. The video is not of a recent event but happened back in April of 2012 although originally the Times claimed it was this spring However, it is still new to the media and went viral.Another video discussed on Fox New s shows rebel commanders talking about their reaction if the west did not respond to Assad's alleged chemical attack. Yigal Carmon, the president of the Middle East Media Research Institute said:The Fox news article claims there is no evidence that the rebels have chemical weapons but that is simply untrue. There is quite a bit of evidence including the seizure of sarin gas by the Turkish government and Russian evidence that gas was used near Aleppo as referenced in the enclosed video of the later massacre.Fox news analyst Walid Phares does note:In response defenders of Obama's plan point out that the moderate opposition military council immediately condemned the action portrayed in the clip showing the execution of Syrian soldiers. In this conflict the idea of picking out good guys and bad guys seems rather fruitless in that war crimes are committed both by the opposition and Assad. In fact it is even more complicated. The west's bad opposition Islamic extremists are often preferred by locals to the moderate Free Syrian Army forces:While the moderates are often interested mostly in advancing their material welfare, the radical Islamist Al Nusra front are concerned about helping the people and establishing some sort of order and normal life that is appreciated even if their brutal imposition of Sharia law is not. This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com More about Syrian civil war, Al Nusra front, obama's attack on Syria More news from Syrian civil war Al Nusra front obama s attack on Sy...