G
gilliam
Guest
Sitting in a hotel lobby in Sofia, Bulgaria Dr. Khaled Hakki sips slowly his coffee.
“Elections in Syria are Next” he vows with the confidence of a Kurdish doctor who speaks fluently seven languages.
The reaction to the Iraq vote amongst Syrians has been something of a phantasmagorical dream. Gone are the skeptics who have claimed that the US entered Iraq for its oil to replace it with Syrian faces green with envy for a new and democratic Iraq whose population has suffered as much under Ba’athism as have the Syrians. The smug on their faces are gone. Now, they believe.
“Don’t you find it strange that Iraqis vote in Syria and Syrians cannot vote in their own country?” fused Dr. Mohammed al-Ghaida, the son of the leader of one of the largest tribe in northern Syria that boasts close to 150,000 members of which close to 10,000 have already joined the Reform Party of Syria. Smoking continuously, he adds: “It is just a question of time before we take control of our destiny and for all Syrians to return to Syria to choose a new leadership capable of bringing Syria into the 21st century”. Amen Dr. Al-Ghaida.
These conversations took place exactly a week before the elections but if the news coming out of Iraq today is true, Iraqis have in one day silenced the critics who claimed that Arabs cannot handle or better yet do not want democracy, have sent a very clear and loud message to all the other oppressive regimes in the region that autocracy is crumbling, and have, with ink on their finger, challenged the wisdom of most American policy makers who, through years of badly constructed policies, kept the Iraqis chained to their rulers. Conventional wisdom in Iraq says that Kissinger is out and Wolfowitz is in.
In the aftermath of this elated and historical day, it is hard to imagine Syria standing still or better yet the world standing still in the face of Syrian despotism. No matter what happens next, Syria is about to change dramatically and not because Assad wants to but because Iraq is forcing the ripples of democracy and the Ba’athists in Damascus can do nothing but stare in disbelief. If Assad has any iota of wisdom or self preservation he would announce tomorrow that Syria is changing its constitution to allow other parties to participate in the political process, freeing all prisoners of conscience such as Riad Seif and Aref Dalilah, and capitulating to a new Syria where the best and the brightest can govern with total transparency and accountability to the Syrian people.
But then self preservation is the last thing Assad can handle at the moment because although democratic Iraq is breathing down his neck, he cannot see it the way he did not see the effects of 9/11 on the United States. nationalreview.com/thecorner/05_01_30_corner-archive.asp#054679
“Elections in Syria are Next” he vows with the confidence of a Kurdish doctor who speaks fluently seven languages.
The reaction to the Iraq vote amongst Syrians has been something of a phantasmagorical dream. Gone are the skeptics who have claimed that the US entered Iraq for its oil to replace it with Syrian faces green with envy for a new and democratic Iraq whose population has suffered as much under Ba’athism as have the Syrians. The smug on their faces are gone. Now, they believe.
“Don’t you find it strange that Iraqis vote in Syria and Syrians cannot vote in their own country?” fused Dr. Mohammed al-Ghaida, the son of the leader of one of the largest tribe in northern Syria that boasts close to 150,000 members of which close to 10,000 have already joined the Reform Party of Syria. Smoking continuously, he adds: “It is just a question of time before we take control of our destiny and for all Syrians to return to Syria to choose a new leadership capable of bringing Syria into the 21st century”. Amen Dr. Al-Ghaida.
These conversations took place exactly a week before the elections but if the news coming out of Iraq today is true, Iraqis have in one day silenced the critics who claimed that Arabs cannot handle or better yet do not want democracy, have sent a very clear and loud message to all the other oppressive regimes in the region that autocracy is crumbling, and have, with ink on their finger, challenged the wisdom of most American policy makers who, through years of badly constructed policies, kept the Iraqis chained to their rulers. Conventional wisdom in Iraq says that Kissinger is out and Wolfowitz is in.
In the aftermath of this elated and historical day, it is hard to imagine Syria standing still or better yet the world standing still in the face of Syrian despotism. No matter what happens next, Syria is about to change dramatically and not because Assad wants to but because Iraq is forcing the ripples of democracy and the Ba’athists in Damascus can do nothing but stare in disbelief. If Assad has any iota of wisdom or self preservation he would announce tomorrow that Syria is changing its constitution to allow other parties to participate in the political process, freeing all prisoners of conscience such as Riad Seif and Aref Dalilah, and capitulating to a new Syria where the best and the brightest can govern with total transparency and accountability to the Syrian people.
But then self preservation is the last thing Assad can handle at the moment because although democratic Iraq is breathing down his neck, he cannot see it the way he did not see the effects of 9/11 on the United States. nationalreview.com/thecorner/05_01_30_corner-archive.asp#054679
