"Without the correct tools, without the correct authority … we can't do the job," said one observer, who, like others interviewed, asked not to be identified because the league has instructed monitors not to speak to the media. "Which is sad because people are dying on both sides every day." This is the dire assessment of an anonymous Arab League monitor in Syria. The observers have reached the end of their time in Syria and after over 500 people have been slaughtered while they were there for a month, officially they want more time to observe more slaughter presumably. After all, no one actually believes, as the mission was originally intended, that representatives of the Arab League are going to stop Syrian dictator Bashar Assad from killing his own people. He's been doing that without rest for a year.

The observers are out of time, however and Damscus wants them to go home now. The possibilities for next steps are as follows: Get permission to stay longer and continue monitoring the situation, which will change nothing. Recommend that the Arab League sanction Syria based on the monitors report, which will change nothing. Based on the monitors' report, have the Arab League recommend action be taken against Syria by the UN Security Council, which will change nothing. Finally, the monitors can decide to bypass the Arab League and go straight to the Security Council, which will change nothing.

So glad we had this month-long period for the Arab League observers to view with their own eyes that Assad is indeed slaughtering his own people in an effort to put down a rebellion.