No matter how bad or how good the regime might be, why do we think a regime will not fight for its survival? What would happen here if a militia tried to overthrow the US government?

But what do you expect people to do when they've got a government that oppresses them brutally?

The problem is that Assad is the one who is using his military to murder his own civilians so he can keep practically absolute power. He could avoid all kinds of bloodshed if he stepped down, but he won't. He could choose to have a government that's more Democratic and fair and representative of the people but he won't. The population has no choice but to either give in to his brutal tyranny or fight it.

The UN has tried to help again and again. Now they're simply putting the atrocities on record. It may seem like empty and impotent rhetoric but without the UN we would probably not know what's going on in the country at all except through rumors and anecdotes. This way it's official and part of history. If there is ever charges brought against Assad what the UN says will be part of the evidence because they have gathered it on the ground as it happens through eye witnesses and counting and identifying the victims and hearing their testimony.

of the carnage, even to the point of wearing garb and using captured equipment to make it look like the government. This shit happens all the time but he who control the message controls the minds. Assad is surely a dictator and not a good person but we seem to ignore atocities when they are committed against people we don't like.

The opposition do not have time for that fakery.

The opposition and the regime are based in fakery. The legitimate civil opposition are long dead, thanks to the intervention by regional and world powers that have escalated this into an armed religious conflict and proxy war.

Congratulations - its everything you denied it would become.