Will the U.S. Fail Syria Again?
A week ago, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad proclaimed the imminent cancellation of the much-hated emergency law. As one Facebook dissident wrote, “Syrians want to cancel the law of Assad because it is causing the emergency.”
This week, in his first public appearance since the uprisings erupted, Assad delivered a speech before the Syrian parliament — to allege that the demonstrations are nothing but a foreign conspiracy to destabilize Syria.
This after two weeks during which some 200 hundred Syrians have been gunned down in cold blood, several hundred have been injured, and up to 5,000 activists for freedom and human rights have been detained under abhorrent prison conditions.
Though the speech centered on reforms, it dodged them more than any time in the past. There were no specifics. There was no timeline. And there was no clear commitment to any implementations. Assad went so far as to claim that “99.9% of the people complain about their salaries or jobs, that’s all.”
So far, every Syrian who died for his freedom has died in vain.
On display this week was the same fatuously arrogant Assad the world is familiar with — deflecting blame and eluding responsibility for the massacres he committed against his people, the same way he evasively denied killing American soldiers in Iraq.
In an apparent shock, thousands of Syrians filled the streets of Damascus this week in support of Assad. Amongst them were the Rent-A-Crowd, the Scare-A-Crowd, and the Fool-A-Crowd. The last group, which constituted the absolute majority of demonstrators, embodied real opposition to Assad. They hit the streets to celebrate what they thought was their success in forcing through the reform package Assad announced under pressure a few days before. This week, they realize their triumphalism put faith in a lie.
If we have to find one central cause to Assad’s re-emergence as Iran’s agent and promoter of terror and violence in the Middle East, we will find it during an appearance, on March 21, of Secretary Clinton on Face the Nation. There, she threw Assad a lifeline by ruling out military intervention. “Each of these situations is unique,” she declared. Syrians never asked for military intervention. But ruling it out was all it took for the world to realize Assad has just been given a new lease on terror.
Regardless of how inept or just plain stupid this administration is, Syria is NOT our problem. America is not to blame if Assad stays in power. We don’t owe their citizens anything.
Farid, I suggest you take on your own mercenary mission or pay those willing.
I wonder what the Israelis think about what’s happening in Syria? Do they want Assad to go or to stay? If Assad stays, then you will still have a killer who will do pretty much whatever Iran wants him to do, including continuing his policy of launching terror attacks against Israel through Hezbollah. But if Assad falls, who will replace him? There are NO pro-western or democratic movements within Syria, so who would take over? The Syrian military? Or would some Muslim cleric or Islamist take over, as in Iran? The options look lousy either way. But to simply say that we should support the opporsition in Syria to overthrow Assad certainly does NOT guarantee that whoever replaces him will be any better, and could be a whole lot worse.
IN DEFENSE OF HILLARY
Come on Farid, give the dentist some slack. His father killed 20,000 Syrian rebels in three weeks. It’s been longer than that since Syria’s protests began and how many Syrians have died? 50, 90 a few hundred? That’s progress Farid. Bashar isn’t the basher his father was. Hillary’s got a good case when she says that the guy’s a reformer.
Asad is an ophthalmologist.
Wrong, Mike! He was a dentist. Hundreds of Syrians have the bite marks to prove it. Click my name for an expanded version of my post.
@Michal
Is that pronounced ‘optimist’?
Failed civilization? Check.
Religion of hatred? Check.
Another Arab tyrant? Check.
Brutal suppression, ethnic cleansing? Check.
Genocidal intent? Check.
Another Arab blames the hated infidel? Check.
Slight variation on your own words : “On display this week was the same fatuously arrogant Arab the world is familiar with — deflecting blame and eluding responsibility for the massacres his society committed against his own people, the same way he evasively denied… blah blah blah.
Consider it accomplished. To Obama, it is just a day’s work.
If by “fail” you mean not become openly engaged in military action Libya style, the answer to your question is. “We certainly hope so!”
We are not witnessing the rise of seekers of western style democratic rule and freedom. We are seeing the ascendency of fundamentalist Islam, perceiving an opportunity to use the cover of rallies against kleptocratic tyrants,whether dentists or colonels,s, to gain theocratic rule. Exactly why we should facilitate their agenda and embroil ourselves in even more hopeless wars to “help” those dedicated to the genocide of Israel, beats the hell out of me.