American president Obama recently received an open letter, backed by two of the most prominent neoconservative institutions in America: the Foreign Policy Initiative, which demands American leadership in the contemporary world, an armed leadership, a global cop. And the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, which was founded after the September 11th attacks with the goal of ‘defending the free nations in the face of their enemies’. The letter was signed by 56 ‘foreign policy experts and former officials of the US administration’, as they defined themselves. Among them is Karl Rove, former advisor in the George Bush Jr. administration, and the engineer of his election campaigns; James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA; Paul Bremer, the American governor of Iraq after the 2003 invasion, and Robert McFarlane, National Security Adviser to Ronald Reagan.
The list also includes a group of neoconservative hardliners, such as John Podhoretz, editor of ‘Commentary’ , the most loyal monthly to the Zionist right wing; Danielle Pletka, vice-president for foreign and defence policy studies at the well-established right-wing American Enterprise Institute, William Kristol, son of Irving Kristol, the godfather of neo-conservative philosophy and founder of the ‘Weekly Standard’ magazine, generously funded by the famous Jewish billionaire Rupert Murdoch; Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, one of the most prominent hawks of the Republican Party. This list is not complete though; worth mentioning are persons of Arabic and Syrian descent: Khairi Abadha, Ammar Abd al-Hameed, Hussein Abd al-Hussein, Fu’ad Ajami, Tony Badran, Khawla Yousuf, and Radhwan Ziyada (in alphabetical order).
The letter urges to adopt more effective measures to prevent the Syrian regime from further committing atrocities against Syrian civilians. It demands the enforcement of ‘secure zones’, as well as other ‘no-go zones’ for the regime’s army around Hums, Idlib and other threatened areas. The letter calls for communication with the ‘Free Syrian Army’ in coordination with ‘allies’ in the region, and providing it with a full scale support including means for self-defence. Among other measures, the letter demands better American coordination with ‘the political opposition groups’. According to the text the Americans should provide them with secure communication technologies to help them ‘improve their capability to get ready for a post-Assad Syria’. It appeals to Congress, demanding severe military sanctions against ‘the Syrian Government’, especially in energy, banking and import sectors.
What more could the uprising wish for? Nothing remains but that the signatories board an American tank (as it says in the boring often repeated metaphor, which is being churned out by some dazed minds), storm the capital Damascus through her widest gates, and set up camp in front of Raudha Palace, or climb up to Qasiun Palace, and drag Bashar al-Assad in front of the International Criminal Court – after raising the flag of Syrian independence, of course!
And how could one, after reading such a letter, blame that other sort of hypocrisy: pretending to be concerned for the Syrian people and warning about the consequences of civil war, division of the country, and the fall of Syria as an easy prey into the grip of greedy powers (imperialism, neo-colonialism, Zionism – let’s remember the Sykes–Picot agreements). This in turn is another favour to the regime, as its instruments can shed crocodile tears, lamenting a ‘resisting’ and ‘rejecting’ regime facing an aggressive alliance!
However, the Syrian people have realized the nature of its struggle against the regime and the map of – friendly, hostile and moderate – powers that take part in dictating its equations, as well as the severities of this complex scene. They have contemplated these issues and witnessed it in every mode action, since the early martyrs in Dar’aa and until the present number of victims that approaches ten thousand. Its most important answer so far was the emphasis on the peaceful and patriotic character of the uprising. Every week there were more demonstrations than the week before. True, the balance of sacrifice is gross, but the uprising did not stop, accumulating daily victories, major and minor, in the face of a ruthless regime that was not deterred at all, and actually received open (and hidden) assurances.
All those tricks to trick people into swallowing the poison with the honey, could not deceive the Syrian people for a whole year. The widespread motto ‘There is no God but God!’ is nothing but another expression to tell the false ‘friends’ of Syria on both sides of the equation: Thank you for nothing, and … leave us alone!
translated from Al-Quds al-Arabi, 11 March 2012