Don’t Let Syria Play Out Like 2009 Iran
The West is rightly fretting over where the Arab revolutions will bring us, but there’s one we can be thankful for in Syria. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had it right when he said that the Syrian military should follow the example of Egypt’s that “empowered a revolution.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had it wrong — amazingly wrong — when she said that members of “both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said that they believe he [Bashar Assad] is a reformer.”
Bashar Assad’s regime is anti-American to the core and is tied at the hip to Iran. It has supported elements of al-Qaeda; preaches radical Islam despite its secular governance; is a major backer of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and has the blood of countless U.S. soldiers and Iraqis on its hands. The Iraqi government even tried to build support for a UN tribunal to prosecute Syrian officials for destabilizing Iraq in 2009. You’d be hard-pressed to find an uprising more worthy of the West’s support, at least politically.
The only argument that exists to oppose U.S. support for the uprising is that it could benefit Islamists. After all, Hafez al-Assad had to carry out a massacre at Hama in 1982 to crush the Muslim Brotherhood. At the same time, it is unlikely that the Islamists will be the sole leaders of a post-Assad Syria. They will have to share power with secular democratic forces, and it must be remembered that Assad already vigorously supports the terrorist groups that, it is feared, an Islamist-governed Syria would.
Assad is well-aware of this fear and uses it to his advantage. For example, he did not arrest the late Abu Qaqa, an anti-American cleric who called for establishing Sharia law. While secular demonstrations for freedom were prohibited, Qaqa was allowed to hold anti-American rallies for Western consumption. His right-hand man believes he was a government agent, and his funeral was attended by Baathist officials. The goal of using Qaqa was two-fold: to have a front with which to connect with anti-American jihadists and to encourage the illusion that the only alternative to Assad is rule by Islamic extremists of the worst kind.
The same thinking was behind Assad’s orchestration of riots in Syria in February 2006 in reaction to the publication of the cartoons mocking Mohammed. As a confidential source told the U.S., the message was: “This is what you will have if we allow true democracy and allow Islamists to rule,” and that “we are the only thing standing between you and the Islamist hordes.” Now, one of Assad’s advisors is attributing the uprising to the influential Muslim Brotherhood theologian Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi, and of the approximately 270 political prisoners released, only 14 were not Islamists. The regime made the decision that it works to its advantage to showcase its Islamist opposition, rather than the secular activists (especially women) like Suhair Atassi.
NO NO NO NO NO, not again, haven’t we learnt anything from the already lybian quagmire? Instead of looking at the short term, look at the long term, and tell me: what’s next?
The people in this part of the world celebrated on 9-11.
We don’t owe them anything.
At last, somebody else who remembers!
Never think beyond the moment, how typical. If the west induces Syria to ‘fall’ , the iranians will use it before they lose it and full blown war breaks out in the middle east. See Psalm 83/Isaiah 17 and jeremiah 49 for more on that. Its already prophecied and God will see it done, but the blind, myopic west seems determined to cause its own demise. Fools!
Yeah! Let’s bomb Syria too! What the hey, let’s bomb everyone! What a wonderful idea.
And I thought Lieberals were dumb.
The major thesis is on point, except it veers into delusional territory by stating that Syria should follow the Egypt model through an ‘empowered revolution’.
IF Syria follows the Egyptian model it will be an unmitigated disaster, a waste of blood and treasure too.Following Egypt means that the Brothers will be even more firmly in place, but this time through ‘democratic’ change.Oh my God!!
Syria’s regime MUST be toppled, and there is cause for optimism with the Kurdish minority leading the fray.
“Syria’s regime MUST be topple”
Sorry but no. Ok, well, what about Israel doing it alone? you have been just there with the power to do it and lots of motives too.
I really agree a lot with your points, but unfortunately I disagree with you here. There is a must, actually, but is not Syria, it’s Iran. As the arabian tyrant said, “cut the head of the snake”, and the rest of its satellites will follow suit. But guess what, I’ve not heard too many people pushing for it now. Every time the West goes into a conflict which is not Iran, it’s a victory for Iran. They have been the masters all these years, masters of how to deflect the international attention away from themselves. Revolts today are not different than that.
Maybe there is a freedon loving syrian with republicans ideals of representative government elected by democratic methods (I just don’t believe there is) but the absolute winners would be always MB or Iran or Al-Qaeda, or all of them.
Your second paragraph is what is delusional. It beggars belief that someone could write such nonsense and and expect anyone to believe it had anything to do with a real event.
Liberals ARE dumb. When given a choice of intervening in Syria or Libya, they chose Libya.
Stock up on beans and ammo now. World War is coming, and it’s going to make the previous ones look like a skirmish on a school yard.
Sorry, Barry alreaqdy shot his regime’s wod in Libya. The entire Mideast is now officially a three ring circus.
d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
“Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”
Have you noticed the ragtag ‘warriors’ getting it on with their rifles, shooting multi bullets into the sky (do they come down??) and these are our (yes, Canada is there too) allies? They look like morons, but so do we because we are ‘concerned’ for their welfare, because another bunch of morons wasting bullets is trying to kill them in bunches. I understand the Tuaregs are among Khadaffi’s ‘army. I also know that bullets are expensive, not something one should waste. Wow.
I agree with Belmont Club that throwing missiles around is a kind of crack cocaine to the wealthy west (ie, University Grad Obama et al.)
In the mean time the REAL concern should be to develop our own North American energy resources. Khadaffi and Co can afford to be a problem for us because he is sitting on saleable oil. Well, we should be determined to STOP BUYING IT FROM THE MIDDLE EAST!!!! OK???
Iranians showed their movement against the Ayatollahs by carrying out the Noruz Ceremony which the Ayatollahs failed to ban. So we have defeated them. Our problem is why members of the press and other writers still do not understand the differences betwenn Iranian culture and Ayatollahs’ theocracy.
Americans should concentrate on electing a POTUS who isn’t a socialist with, at best, Muslim sympathies.
Paraphrasing a Randy Newman song lets bomb everyone but Australia -wouldn’t want to hurt no kangaroos. I wish Iran and Syria would just get in a fight with each other.
Bashar Assad’s regime is anti-American to the core
So is the Syrian population.
Get all of our people out of every muslim hell hole. I could care less if they stone each other to death. muslims have no redeeming qualities. NONE.
Stop muslim immigration, deport the ones already here and watch the muslim citizens very closely. If they don’t like it they can get a free one way ticket to the muslim shithole of their choice.
sorry klinton, he won’t and can’t be reformer. support the syrian uprising