As little as I follow the play by play in the Middle East, the news online calling out that innocent (or any for that matter) people, including women and children, were killed by the leader of their own country in Syria by Assad, horrified me as likely it did most people in the civilized world. What is the world coming to, even in these 'sophisticated, we should know better' times?
What is the point of progress if such depravity can unfold, especially without warning as someone who has kidnapped others is apt to do to bargain for lives or reward to make a point or explain their 'thinking'