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September 05, 2013 | | COURAGE UNDER FIRE Imprisoned for refusing to shoot civilian protesters, 'Heen,' a Syrian soldier in Assad's army, was tortured for months—before his escape to Iraq, he tells Andrew Slater in the second part of a riveting interview. Plus, Mike Giglio on the surge of defectors fleeing the Syrian Army.
Welcome Tensions were high as President Obama landed in Russia Thursday for the G20 summit amid controversy over the impending U.S. intervention in Syria and Russia's anti-gay laws. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a liar, saying he watched a congressional debate where Kerry denied al Qaeda was operating in Syria with the opposition groups. "This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them [the Americans] and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying," Putin said. French President François Hollande is also hoping to convince Putin to participate in a military intervention in Syria. Coming Soon! For the second year, The Daily Beast is convening the Hero Summit: An Exploration of Courage, Character & Our National Security. The October 10 Washington, D.C., event—which will be live-streamed online—is an influential gathering of some of the brightest and bravest individuals from America and abroad. Speakers include Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno, retired U.S. Marine Corps four-star General John Allen, former CIA director General Michael Hayden, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, New York Times Columnist David Brooks, author and former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor writer/director Peter Berg, and two of the film's stars, Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster. Follow the Hero Summit to see what else is on tap for the event. Allies? As the U.S. debates whether to intervene on behalf of the rebels fighting against Bashar al-Assad in Syria, evidence continues to mount that the resistance has adopted many of Assad's brutal tactics. A new video leaked by a disaffected rebel shows his comrades performing a ritual execution of captured Syrian soldiers, teasing them before killing them with point-blank gunfire to the head. Across Syria, guerrilla fighter groups and criminal gangs have joined the rough rebel coalition. Secretary of State John Kerry has downplayed the role of Islamic extremists and other "bad guys" in the opposition, but U.S. representatives say their briefings on the war showed the opposition's dark side more clearly. please, mr. president? Whaddya say, Obama? Chelsea née Bradley Manning, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison last month for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, is asking for a presidential pardon. "I urge you to consider this matter closely and to take a positive step towards protecting whistleblowers who release information to the media for the public good by either reducing Private Manning's sentence to time served, or by granting him a full pardon," Manning's attorney wrote in the request, which was filed on Tuesday, according to a statement on the website "Pardon Private Manning." The White House previously said a pardon request would be considered "like any other application." | | 
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