After Iraq and Libya Syria in line for destruction طباعة

 

Sabah Jawad

It is safe to say that most Arab countries, if not all, are governed by corrupt dictatorships which have been in place for decades, Syria being no exception. The ruling Baath party, which was established in 1947, has been in power for nearly 50 years. The current leader Bashar al-Assad ‘inherited’ the presidency from his late father Hafiz al-Assad in the year 2000. The ruling Baath party’s three proclaimed aims Unity, Freedom and Socialism are hardly mentioned after 5 decades of ‘revolutionary’ rule!
For various historical reasons Syria became a member of the “resistance and rejectionist” front against Western and Israeli plans of hegemony in the Middle East. The “front” consists of the Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi resistance together with Iran. Without these forces many people believe the whole Middle East would have fallen under American and Israeli control after the occupation of Iraq. When the US was at the height of its military might after the occupation of Iraq in 2003 the then Secretary of State Colin Powell went to Damascus to demand that Syria close Palestinian resistance organizations’ offices, stop supporting the Lebanese resistance and break the alliance with Iran. Needless to say the question of democracy and human rights was not among the list of demands. Syria also refused to sign a humiliating ‘peace’ treaty, similar to the Egyptian and Jordanian treaties with Israel, which has been occupying the Syrian Golan heights since 1967. Syria was declared part of the “axis of evil” by John Bolton and was subjected to military pressure and economic sanctions by the West and reactionary Arab regimes. The aim has been to quash the centres of descent in the area and create the US dream of domination and control of the strategic region and its energy resources.
There are genuine democratic, progressive and patriotic forces in Syria which have been campaigning for years against dictatorship but, sadly, they have been eclipsed by very vocal forces, backed heavily by Western and regional powers with the aim of highjaking the democratic struggle and implementing Nato plans in the area. These opposition groups which are calling for Western military intervention in their country are not different from sections of the Iraqi opposition who collaborated with the US and Britain in the war on and occupation of Iraq with disastrous consequences for the Iraqi people. Syria and its people will suffer a similar or worse catastrophe if these Nato-Saudi backed forces win.

 

اخر تحديث الجمعة, 01 يونيو/حزيران 2012 23:01