Doing the Right Thing in Syria
By
Dr. Hasan Zillur Rahim
11
June 2012
Over
15,000 Syrians have been killed by Bashar Assad’s forces in the 15 months
since the uprising began in Syria. United Nations observers have just
confirmed the horrific massacre that took place in Mazraat al-Qubair, a
farming village of about 160 people in central Hama province. Nearly 80
men, women and children were shot, hacked and burned to death by Assad’s
bloodthirsty death squad known as ‘Shabiha.’ The observers could smell the
stench of burned corpses and see body parts scattered about the village.
The
massacre follows one in which 108 people were slain in the Syrian town of
Houla on May 25. Reports have surfaced, however, particularly in Germany,
that Syrian rebels were actually responsible for the Houla massacre but
most sources close to the ground, including a UN Human Rights Council
group, said evidence pointed towards militia loyal to Assad in the region.
Bashar
Assad has been exploiting Kofi Annan’s peace plan to continue his
genocidal acts. In the 15 months of bloodshed, he has been instigating
fear among the country’s 2.1 million Alawites – 12 per cent of the
population – that they will be massacred by the Sunni majority – 75 per
cent - if he were to fall.
As
the moment of truth nears in Syria, the opposition has been at pains to
assure the Alawites that they will not be targeted in a post-Assad Syria.
“We are all in this together,” has become the opposition’s motto as they
implore ordinary Alawites to also defect.
For
many pundits and policymakers in America, however, the situation in Syria
can only be understood in the context of a geopolitical chess game.
Writing
in the Washington Post, former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger summarized his analysis of the Syrian
situation this way: “Military intervention, humanitarian or strategic, has
two prerequisites: First, a consensus on governance after the overthrow of
the status quo is critical. If the objective is confined to deposing a
specific ruler, a new civil war could follow in the resulting vacuum, as
armed groups contest the succession, and outside countries choose
different sides. Second, the political objective must be explicit and
achievable in a domestically sustainable time period. I doubt that the
Syrian issue meets these tests.”
In
other words, let the killings continue because we are not sure who will
inherit power and whether or not they will push America’s interests. A
well-known columnist, writing in the Los Angeles Times, raises the same
concern: “The situation in Syria is further complicated by the familiar
question of who’s the good guy. The bad guy is clearly Bashar Assad. But
his opposition is a mixture of unattractive clerics and their followers,
liberal reformers and left-wing radicals.”
The
question of what is just and what is right do not figure in the equations
of these analysts.
One
consistent voice in the wilderness has been that of New York Times columnist Nicholas
Kristof who recently wrote that “when a government devours its own people,
as in Syria or Sudan, there are never easy solutions. That helps explain
President Obama’s dithering … Yet the president is taking prudence to the
point of paralysis … In Syria, we should make clear that unless the
security forces depose Assad in the next 30 days, our Middle Eastern
allies will arm the Syrian opposition. We should work with these allies,
as well as with major powers like Russia and China, to encourage a coup,
or a “retirement” for Assad … Stopping a government from killing its own
is an uncertain business. But our existing policies in Syria and Sudan
alike are failing to stop the bloodshed, and they also are putting us on
the wrong side of history.”
Conscientious
people everywhere are aware of the serious problems that can follow the
fall of Assad. The path to openness, justice and responsible governance
after decades of tyranny and dictatorship is not achieved in weeks or
months. Just look at Egypt and Libya. The peoples’ revolution is far from
complete. It will take time for a new era to dawn. So it will be in Syria.
Besides,
Western fear that intolerant religious zealots (always a minority but
exaggerated by the media) will find a way to turn the Arab Spring into a
Winter of Despair is unfounded.
Using
a statistically sound sampling technique called “controlled snowball,” 186
opposition activists were recently asked about their preferences for a
post-Assad Syrian government. 73% said it was important for the new Syrian
government to protect the rights of Christians. While many respondents
voiced support for religion in the public square, only a small fraction
favored clerical influence in government. As to which country they would
like to see Syria emulate after Assad, 82% chose Turkey. Perhaps the
biggest surprise was that the U.S. earned 69% favorable rating as a
political model, followed closely by France, Germany and
Britain.
Bashar
Assad may soon be forced to flee Syria as the opposition forces overcome
their differences and mount a concerted assault against government forces.
There will, of course, be chaos and turmoil. Some Syrians will be tempted
to settle old scores. Sectarian conflict may raise its ugly head. UN
observers may have to be deployed to ensure a peaceful transition so that
one tyranny is not replaced by another.
But there is also reason to believe that Syrians will come out stronger through their trial-by-fire and forge a government of consensus, justice and accountability, with “malice toward none and charity for all.”