Washington Steps up Pressure on Damascus
Secretary Condoleezza Rice has been on the war path recently, drumming up support for Washington's campaign against Syria. Ever since the President spoke out against Syria in the State of the Union Address, Washington officials have been stepping up their warnings that Syria must change its policies. Wolfowitz accused President Bashar al-Asad of being powerless to control his generals and the Iraqi border. His personal attack on the President suggests Washington is ratcheting up the psychological pressure on Bashar.
Secretary Rice has spoken out about Syria's roll in Lebanon and the region recently. The following are two of her statements.
Secretary Rice's Remarks With French Minister of Foreign Affairs Michel Barnier After Their meeting in Paris, France on February 8, 2005
Lebanon is a situation in which there is the potential for a very fragile democratic situation to be stabilized and supported by us. And that's why France and the United States sponsored Resolution 1559. There should be a very clear message to the Syrians that it is out of step with where the rest of the region is going to interfere in the democratic processes in Lebanon, and that those elections should go forward. The 1559 speaks to these issues and it should be followed.Rice on Missile Sale
The Syrians also, of course, need to stop supporting from Lebanon the rejectionist groups that are a threat to the very peace process that we all want to see go forward. The United States has already used the Syrian Accountability Act to levy sanctions against Syria. We are constantly looking at what more needs to be done in that regard. Because it is just not acceptable that Syria would continue to be a place from which terrorists are funded and helped to destroy the very fragile peace process in the Middle East or to change the dynamic of events in Lebanon.
From Interview With Ayala Hasson of Israel Television Channel One Secretary Condoleezza Rice Jerusalem February 6, 2005
QUESTION: We'd like your opinion about Russians selling missiles to Syria, given that Syria supports terror and those missiles could fall into the hands of terrorists.Syria has responded angrily to Washington's attacks and Syria's supporters in Beirut have been speaking out against Washington's latest round of attacks.
SECRETARY RICE: We've made very clear to the Russian government that we think it would be a mistake and indeed potentially destabilizing to have sales to Syria. At this point the Russians say that there is no such thing that they are going to do, and we hope that that is indeed the case. We understand that Russia has relations with Syria. A lot of people have relations with Syria. But what really needs to happen now is that all who have relations with Syria need to use those relations to convince the Syrians that it is time for them to end their support for terror; it is time for them to end their interference in the affairs of Lebanon; and it is time for Syria, if it wishes to be a member of the international community, to be more responsible in its behavior in international politics including in Iraq, where we are very concerned about support for the insurgency in Iraq that is coming from Syria.
It is not clear whether President Asad will meet with Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. coordinator of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon under resolution 1559, while he is in Damascus. Already he has failed to see President Asad on schedule, which many are calling a Snub.
5 Comments:
Dear Joshua,
As a Syrian, I would have liked to see you posting your comments on the state of free press (or the lack of) which can be the start for resolving most of Syria's problems. Let me explain:
If we start giving Bashar the benefit of the doubt that he is trying his best to reform but he is lacking the muscles to enforce positive changes, a free press – even on a local level – would ensure minimum steps to be taken in the right direction. The general consensus in the country is that Bashar is not his father and everyone agrees that he lacks full control over his pyramid of power. He is issuing one law after the other while only very few are actually being implemented (if any). He reduced the number of years of mandatory military service by decree and we are yet to see any implementation. His tax laws were issued 2 years ago and they are not implemented. He signed an order forming judicial committees to compensate owners of lands and properties confiscated and nationalized by the government and nothing came out of it after 2 years. He issued a new law encouraging non-Bathist press and only silly publications were issued permits. He is doing his part issuing the proper laws but something is wrong in implementing them.
If we give him the benefit of the doubt that he is not the one responsible for putting the stick in the wheal, then we can only deduce that he is not getting the feedback on the implementation of these laws and decrees on timely fashion.
If the United States is really interested in the welfare of the Syrian people as they claim, a pressure should start on advocating free press in Syria. Such tradition (after it is given time to become a tradition) ensures the immediate exposure of all intricate details impeding the implementation of all his "progressive" laws and decrees while exposing all forms of corruption.
Maybe I can count on you looking further into this subject in your future articles as a dedicated reader of your column.
Dear Anonymous, You are right that reforms are advancing with only glacial speed. Some say this is because Bashar is not in control. Others claim it is because of Bashar's non-confrontational personality and because he is trying to reform institutions without bringing revolution to them. He puts capable people at the top of the ministries but it is the body that is disfunctional. Until new bureaucracies can be created with people hired on merit and the proper education, the results of the ministries will be the same. The same Mafia's will rule and retard change. Of course things are more complicated than this.
Moreover, Bashar has explained that he wants slow change in order to avoid disorder (which includes regime change). Although he often says administrative reform is intimately linked to political reform, he also says that he is following the Chinese model and has no plans to allow democracy.
He also says that he won't fire large numbers of state employees until there are other jobs for them. Thus he is trying to boost trade to create jobs following the China model, but doing this under sanctions and without proper bureacratic reform is difficult. It is a vicious circle, you are right. How Syria will break out of it is unclear. We will keep asking.
Best, joshua
Dear Joshua,
While I am hearing a lot of arguments to the extent that Bashar is putting capable people in top positions, we see four major defects:
1- Many newly appointed officials on top such as the ones connected with the various sects of the economy are imported expatriates disconnected from the Syrian complicated laws and the legal loopholes. They lack the means to establish effective channels between the economic elements in the society necessary to communicate the detailed problems hindering reforms. While Bashar and his wife are reaching to the masses to get a feel of the social problems (maybe primarily for enhancing their self image), his economic ministers are only relying on Bath controlled establishments (like the chambers of industry, commerce and agriculture) which have no interest in anything but advancing their member's personal wealth.
2- While these newly appointed ministers have acceptable resumes, Bashar is not giving them the free hand to make the necessary cleanup of their ministries. Appointments of employees on departmental level and below still require the approval of Bath leadership and appointments are still made on the basis of favoritism and not merits. In turn, such appointees are making sure these departments they head serve their personal interest at the expense of the general welfare.
3- No reforms are made on the level of local governments whatsoever. A local official is still appointed for being only a Bath favorite and lacking the minimum merits to do the job and the chance of scheduling an appointment with such an official is much slimmer than meeting Bashar dining at a local restaurant. Once again, the means to communicate problems prior to solving them is absent.
4- The Judicial system is Syria is in a state of misery. Chances of finding an honest non-corrupt judge are slimmer than winning the lottery. Justice is auctioned on daily basis to the highest bidder. Final verdicts take years to obtain. Enforcements of verdicts cost a good percentage of the verdict. Suing the government is next to impossible even though the government is the main confiscator of people's economic rights (since we are keeping the discussion on the economic problems of Syria)
In light of the above, I don’t see how Bashar is doing anything at this time to correct the problems with the Syrian economy except by encouraging the unequal distribution of wealth and making the poor much poorer while his relatives are harvesting the majority of economic benefits under his so-called reforms.
Thank you for replying back to my previous post.
dear joshua as a syrian living outside the country i find it remarkable how you continue to focus on syria and regime change and the problems associated with the syrian regime. Yes it is not perfect but i havent heard you talk about the alternative to this regime if changed? I am of the personal view that if GOD FORBID syria where to have political change in the country that the so called islamic brotherhood will gain alot of support and syria will be in a far worse of a situation. Furthermore you and your commentators seem to forget the rest of the middle east. Is syria the only one who has corruption within its rank? Is the united states completly amuned? isnt the liberation of women in saudi arabia far more vital rite now than the syrian argument. Its obvious why syria is the target, not only is it a staunched enemy and rival to israel, it is the last standing arab country who has the guts to play with israel in the game that it created. Israel has violated human rights on more occasions than syria, it has rejected numerous united nation resolutions which funny enough syria has not. Syria this syria that get over it and leave the syrians at peace. We are not the devil on earth even if some would like to think so... and to you lebanese out stop blaming syria for everything and stop trying to make people forget that the bunch of you hate each other so bad that you started killing each other on roadsides through identifying ones religion and secr via their citizen card... syria does not show religion nor sect only nationality the way it should be LONG LIVE SYRIA AND ASSAD.....
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