JANUARY 6, 2012
America and the Solitude of the Syrians
Deep down, the Obama administration seems to believe that Assad's tyranny is preferable to the opposition..
By FOUAD AJAMI
From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Nearly a year into Syria's agony, the Arab League last week dispatched a small group of monitors headed by a man of the Sudanese security services with a brutal record in the killing fields of Darfur. Gen. Mohammed al-Dabi, a trusted aide of Sudan's notorious ruler, Omar al-Bashir, didn't see anything "frightening" in the embattled city of Homs, nor did he see the snipers on the rooftops in the southern town of Deraa.
A banner in Homs, held up by a group of women protesters, saw into the heart of the matter: "All doors are closed, except yours, Oh God." Indeed, the solitude of the Syrians, their noble defiance of the most entrenched dictatorship in the Arab world, has played out against the background of a sterile international diplomacy.
Libya had led us all astray. Rescue started for the Libyans weeks into their ordeal. Not so for the Syrians. Don't look for Bashar al-Assad forewarning the subjects of his kingdom—a veritable North Korea on the Mediterranean—that his forces are on the way to hunt them down and slaughter them like rats, as did Moammar Gadhafi.
There is ice in this ruler's veins. His people are struck down, thousands of them are kidnapped, killed and even tortured in state hospitals if they turn up for care. Children are brutalized for scribbling graffiti on the walls. And still the man sits down for an interview last month with celebrity journalist Barbara Walters to say these killer forces on the loose are not his.
In a revealing slip, the Syrian dictator told Ms. Walters that he didn't own the country, that he was merely its president. But the truth is that the House of Assad and the intelligence barons around them are owners of a tormented country. Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, was a wicked genius. He rose from poverty and destitution through the ranks of the Syrian army to absolute power. He took a tumultuous country apart, reduced it to submission, died a natural death in 2000, and bequeathed his son a kingdom in all but name.
Associated Press
Anti-Syrian regime protesters shout slogans during a demonstration in the Baba Amr area, in Homs province..
Thirty years ago, Assad the father rode out a ferocious rebellion by the Muslim Brotherhood, devastated the city of Hama in Syrian's central plains, and came to rule a frightened population that accepted the bargain he offered—political servitude in return for a drab, cruel stability.
Now the son retraces the father's arc: Overwhelm the rebellion in Homs, recreate the kingdom of fear, and the world will forgive and make its way back to Damascus.
A legend has taken hold regarding the strategic importance of Syria—bordered by Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq—and the Assad regime has made the best of it. Last October, the Syrian ruler, with a mix of cunning and bluster, played off this theme: "Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake. Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans? Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region."
There is no denying the effectiveness of this argument. The two big autocracies in the world—Russia and China—have given this regime cover and sustenance at the United Nations. A toothless resolution brought to the Security Council last October was turned back, courtesy of these two authoritarian states, and with the aid and acquiescence of Brazil, India and South Africa. (So much for the moral sway of the "emerging" powers.)
For its part, the Arab world treated the Syrian despotism rather gingerly. For months, the Arab League ducked for cover and averted its gaze from the barbarisms. Shamed by the spectacle of the shabiha (the vigilantes of the regime) desecrating mosques, beating and killing worshippers, the Arab League finally suspended Syria's membership.
An Arab League "Peace Plan" was signed on Dec. 19, but still the slaughter continued. The Damascus dictatorship offered the Arab League the concession of allowing a team of monitors into the country. Bravely, the Syrians came out in large numbers last week to greet them and demonstrate the depth of their opposition to the regime. Some 250,000 people reportedly greeted them in the northern city of Idlib; 70,000 defied the regime in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus. Nevertheless, the killings went on.
The Western democracies have been hoping for deliverance. There is talk in Paris of "humanitarian corridors" to supply the embattled Syrian cities with food and water and fuel. There has been a muted discussion of the imposition of a no-fly zone that would embolden and protect the defectors who compose the Free Syrian Army.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a true cynic throughout. An erstwhile ally and patron of Assad, he finally broke with the Syrian ruler last fall, saying "You can remain in power with tanks and cannons only up to a certain point." But the help Ankara can give is always a day away. The Syrian exiles and defectors need Turkey, and its sanctuary, but they have despaired of the false promises given by Mr. Erdogan.
The U.S. response has been similarly shameful. From the outset of the Syrian rebellion, the Obama administration has shown remarkable timidity. After all, the Assad dictatorship was a regime that President Obama had set out to "engage" (the theocracy in Tehran being the other). The American response to the struggle for Syria was glacial. To be sure, we had a remarkable and courageous envoy to Damascus, Ambassador Robert Ford. He had braved regime bullies, made his way to funerals and restive cities. In the bloodied streets, he found the not-so-surprising faith in American power and benevolence.
But at the highest levels of the administration—the president, the secretary of state—the animating drive toward Syria is one of paralyzing caution. Deep down, the Obama administration seems to subscribe to the belief that Assad's tyranny is preferable to the alternative held out by the opposition. With no faith in freedom's possibilities and power, U.S. diplomacy has operated on the unstated assumption that the regime is likely to ride out the storm.
The tenacity of this rebellion surprised Washington, and due deference had to be paid to it. Last month, Frederic Hof, the State Department's point man on Syria, described the Damascus regime as a "dead man walking." There was political analysis in that statement, but also a desire that the Syrian struggle would end well without Washington having to make any hard choices.
Syrian rulers and protesters alike ought to be able to read the wind: An American president ceding strategic ground in the Greater Middle East is no threat to the Damascus regime. With an eye on his bid for re-election, President Obama will boast that he brought the Iraq war to an end, as he promised he would. That applause line precludes taking on Syrian burdens. In Obamaland, foreign policy is full of false choices: either boots on the ground or utter abdication. Libya showed the defect of that choice, yet this remains the worldview of the current steward of American power.
Hafez al-Assad bequeathed power to his son, Bashar. Now Bashar, in turn, has a son named Hafez. From this bondage, the Syrian people are determined to release themselves. As of now, they are on their own.
Mr. Ajami is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and co-chair of Hoover's Working Group on Islamism and the International Order.
***
29 COMMENTS
6 hours ago
Harry Nickelson Wrote:
I agree with most of L Levine comments [above] so I will not reiterate.
Even Obama [well maybe that's going too far!] can see the disaster of Egypt and ushering in Islamic madness under the guise of freedom is laughable: While Mubarak was no angel [and he was an ally or bulwark of sorts]- he understood the threat from the Brotherhood which the media and liberals down played. How's that working out?
And, just how is it in anyone's, let alone our national interest to support via a no-fly zone or in anyway the joke of democracy [LOL] for Islamists waiting in the shadows and clambering for our, the West's demise. I mean seriously- do you know how many pounds of jet fuel those fighters burn per minute and what they spew into the atmosphere? OMG! Maybe if Solyndra had been working on a hybrid fighter it wouldn't have been such a boondoggle. And aren't the Dems always spouting off about how we would never be fighting these wars (eg: Afganistan, Iraq, Viet Nam...) if we hadn't supported [armed] them in the first place?
WAKE UP AMERICA. ALL those Islamists were cheering in the streets on 9/11 and anyone pretending not to know this (or ignore) is only appeasing the rising threat.
WWII is going to look like a cake walk after this war: And remember wars are typically measured in civilian loses: unlike recent fronts where they have been minimized for media consumption.
______ 5 hours ago
Tom Tierney Replied:
WAKE UP AMERICA. ALL those Islamists were cheering in the streets on 9/11
So, what's your plan? More dictators?
Seems to me that when the U.S. promotes dictators, we get the blow back. If a country gets rid of the dictator and has "quasi-free elections" and votes in their new form of dictator "Islamic-apocalyptic-religious-crazy" or "secular-authoritarian-crazy", they at least have themselves to blame. They can now use their free hours not spent sipping tea, smoking the hookah or bad mouthing Israel to doing something more productive with their lives: like killing each other.
It's getting to the point where we should simply let the animals rule their own zoos and maybe just have UAVs like the Predator circling the fence line to take care of anything that "escapes".
____________ 5 hours ago
larry levine Replied:
there is no right answer, and blowback is over rated
we have been at war for 1300 years, The Long War, interrupted for truces, some for a century or half century
our enemies will blame us and call it blowback, our job is to stand true and blow-back to them their blowback
life is war, we are born into it
6 hours ago
Carl Loeber Wrote:
Cowards in Washington .. you are right .. this is the Rwanda for this President .. Washington should have sent missiles into the palaces of the dictators in Damascus .. almost a year ago .. when they first started shooting the protesters .. Cowards .. don't be afraid Mr. President .. you asked for this job .. don't go down in history with another Rwanda .. don't be afraid of the Russians .. as you said in Libya Mr. President .. only America can do the job .. it is America's job to protect the innocents and proclaim freedom ..
5 hours ago
Jeffrey Shaw Wrote:
The Shah, Hussein, Mubarak, Gaddafi, the Turkish Generals were thrown under the bus respectively, by Carter, Bush the Lesser, Obama, Obama and the Clinton with the larger ankles. In each case the vile dictators or secular leaders were replaced (or soon will be replaced) purely Islamic-driven regimes driven by Islamic ideals. They were voted in by popular demand and their focus and motto are ever the same - "First Saturday and then Sunday." This refers to the elimination from this earth of first, the people who worship on Saturday (Jews) and the those who worship on Sundays (Christians). People need to start reading the Qaran and understanding the true nature of the religion, which is at its core, the antithesis of of Christinaity. As brutal as it sounds, the dictators in the ME are keeping the mindless worshipers of blood-lust and warfare at bay. The entire ME has taught us one valuable lesson, but we continue to ignore it - The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
4 hours ago
Kenneth Perlman Wrote:
"In Obamaland, foreign policy is full of false choices: either boots on the ground or utter abdication."
Even worse, in Obamaland foreign policy is non-existent. Our allies tremble and our enemies laugh. Meanwhile we can no longer afford to project our strength much less exercise our will.
4 hours ago
Kenneth Perlman Wrote:
I'm still trying to figure out why it was necessary to gratuitously insult England and why "we" sided with the Pro-Chavez president against the Supreme Court and Legislature in Honduras. The studied insults to Israel's prime minister had to be noted by all allies and enemies alike. Raising the settlements issue (when it was not on the table and not part of the agreed agenda destroyed any peace negotiations between Israel and the "palestinians". You really have to wonder when its going to be your turn if you are a US ally.
______ 4 hours ago
Jeffrey Shaw Replied:
Obama and his fellow travelers are first and foremost, anti-colonialist, as was the primary calling of the President's father. Remember, during the first week his Presidnecy, he took the bust of Winston Churchill out of the Oval office and ordered it returned - not to the Smithsonian, but to the British Embassy. In other words, "get this thing out of my sight and out of the country." By his actions, it is clear that his greatest enmity is reserved for the quasi - colonialist power he hates the most - the United States. It fits with his preference toward dictators in South America. Aside from that, I don't know where his hatre for Isreal, comes from - perhaps he picked up something during his years in an Indonesian madrasa.
4 hours ago
Wim Roffel Wrote:
What happened to the noble art of negotiations? When the opposition in Damascus was about to negotiate with Assad US ambassador Ford found it necessary to visit Hama, make there some radical statements and in that way sabotage the negotiations. Instead the US is propping up the SNC, a loose US made selection of exiles who share America's desire for regime change, don't want to negotiate with Assad and mostly would like armed foreign intervention.
Regime change in Syria is impossible without a civil war and that may easily cost 100 to 200,000 lives (50,000 were killed in the much smaller Syria). And for what? To get a Brotherhood regime that is just as dictatorial or even worse? Why are we pushing the Saudi agenda?
2 hours ago
Greg Harvey Wrote:
I appreciate what Ajami has written. But I think we're missing a key point in Obama's biography: what kind of social scientist was his mother? And why might he be averse to interfering in how people live their lives (or how a sovereign state operates) because of that?
Add to that his presence in Indonesia shortly after the Sukarno coup and the counter-coup by the Muslim generals, his stepfather's association with the military, his rumored trips to the mosques with his stepfather, and known trips by his mother to Semarang and Solo that were intended to extend her studies as an anthropologist.
Heck, add Star Trek's "prime directive" to the mix for a cultural touchpoint of the 60s that expressed the same viewpoint without being specifically "liberal" (though, arguably, Roddenberry's sensibilities leaned that directly.)
I'm not exactly arguing FOR Obama's foreign policy when I note that it "makes sense" that he believes the US should be more cautious in practicing intervention and should rely more heavily on diplomacy as opposed to military action. I suspect he views this as a matter of violation of conscience as much as anything else.
____________
What do you think ?
Các anh chị nghĩ thế nào, có ý kiến phê bình gì qua bài viết thuộc dạng "OPINION", tựa "America and the Solitude of the Syrians" của FOUAD AJAMI, từ báo THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, được mở đầu với nhận định "Deep down, the Obama administration seems to believe that Assad's tyranny is preferable to the opposition.", và một số Ý kiến phê bình từ "29 COMMENTS" của đọc giả ?
Là một người Việt Nam Tỵ Nạn cộng sản, xin được tỏ lòng khâm phục, ngưỡng mộ và hết lòng ủng hộ SỰ ĐỨNG DẬY của người dân Syria đã ĐỨNG LÊN làm CÁCH MẠNG LẬT ĐỔ cầm quyền độc tài Assad, những người dân Syria quả cảm đã kiên cường chiến đấu, đã bị GIẾT hàng ngàn người, vẫn tiếp tục kiên quyết đương đầu với bạo lực, với sự TÀN ÁC DÃ MAN của độc tài Assad và dòng họ cả những kẻ bán linh hồn cho ác quỷ, làm tay sai để duy trì chế độ đã trở thành TỘI ÁC của tên độc tài sát nhân Assad đáng ghê tởm này.
Dù khó khăn gian truân, nhưng với QUYẾT TÂM để được LÀM NGƯỜI ĐÚNG NGHĨA, để được SỐNG XỨNG ĐÁNG LÀ CON NGƯỜI ĐÚNG NGHĨA, chắc chắn dân tộc Syria sẽ CHIẾN THẮNG độc tài Assad, chắc chắn dân tộc Syria sẽ làm nên LỊCH SỬ .
Và những kẻ nắm trong tay QUYỄN LỰC của thế giới, những kẻ từng TỰ HÀO là đầu tàu trong trách nhiệm cao quý là bảo vệ TỰ DO DÂN CHỦ và QUYỀN LÀM NGƯỜI cho nhân lọai, cho thế giới, đã vì QUYỀN LỢI, THẾ LỰC, DANH VỌNG, BẠC TIỀN hay vì bất cứ cái thứ gì khác, với bất cứ hình thức nào đã nuôi dưỡng, bao che, dung túng cho những tên cầm quyền độc tài bạo ác GIẾT DÂN, chà đạp nhân phẩm của người dân, tước đọat QUYỀN LÀM NGƯỜI của người dân, biến người dân thành nô lệ cho chúng đều đáng bị CHÊ TRÁCH, LÊN ÁN nếu không muốn nói là đáng bị PHỈ NHỔ, KHINH BỈ.
Còn nữa, những người VN BỊ MẤT NƯỚC vào tay bè lũ phản quốc CƯỚP NƯỚC DIỆT CHỦNG BÁN NƯỚC Việt gian đảng phỉ cộng sản VN, đã HỌC thêm BÀI HỌC gì nữa qua tình hình gần đây của Syria, qua thái độ của Mỹ, của phương tây được ông FOUAD AJAMI trình bày qua bài viết "America and the Solitude of the Syrians" cũng như qua những Ý kiến- Phê bình từ "29 COMMENTS" của đọc giả trên tòan thế giới?
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
07012012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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