Claremont Independent

The Syrian ambassador, Imad Moustapha, long-serving representative of a country belonging to the “Axis of Evil” (as expanded after the invasion of Iraq) may have surprised his audience. He was urbane and witty, sprinkling his conversation with American idiom. A modern art and classical music connoisseur, Ambassador Moustapha’s talk focused on a positive future of US-Syrian relations. His speech, emphasizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, brought approving applause from the audience; he even received a standing ovation at the end of his talk.

One can only hope that many of the listeners in the Athenaeum were unaware of Syria’s continued human rights abuses. Syria was branded as a state sponsor of terror early in the George Bush presidency, a member of the five-state axis of evil declaimed by John Bolton at the United Nations. There was, and remains, considerable justification for such a classification. Hafez al-Assad, thirty-year dictator of Syria, a political counterpart (and hated rival) of Saddam Hussein, ruled with an iron fist to keep his family in power. He maintained himself through indoctrination, violence and constant aggression against Israel, a popular move in a country hosting hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. Syria constantly meddled in the affairs of her neighbors, particularly Lebanon, where Syrian pressure helped spark and sustain a bloody civil war that lasted for fifteen years and cost 150,000 lives. Under Hafez Al-Assad, Syrian political repression became a science; his secret police became experts in the murder of academics, journalists and political opponents of the regime.

Ambassador Moustapha began his speech by remarking on the bullying he had endured as the Syrian Ambassador to the US after the events of September 11th. What he did not explain was that as recently as 2003, Syria hosted armed cadres of Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in camps around the country. One of the architects of the Beirut Embassy bombing and the Marine Barracks bombings in 1983, Imad Mughniyah, was protected by the Syrian government until his mysterious assassination in early 2008. Known Al-Qaeda operatives resided within the country as late as spring of 2008, recruiting the dispossessed to spread violence in Iraq. Syria’s government saw support of terrorism, including against the United States, as a legitimate part of its foreign policy.

The Ambassador went to great pains to demonstrate how supportive Syria was towards the United States after 9/11, sharing intelligence and resources. The primary Syrian motivation, in retrospect, seems to be avoiding the inevitable US sledgehammer, in the form of sanctions and air strikes, which were likely retribution for state sponsors of terror.

However, once cannot ignore that Bashar al-Assad has gone to great efforts to appear as a liberal, reforming dictator. Many hardline Ba’athists find the young, British-educated Bashar distasteful. His first political moves involved a symbolic release of political prisoners and the negotiation of trade agreements with Europe. He has increased domestic freedoms, albeit in a very limited fashion, and made limited attempts at economic liberalization. At the same time, more than half the population remains employed by the government, stifling economic liberalization or political pluralism. No opposition party is tolerated. Torture, not of the water boarding kind, is still in use in Syrian prisons.

Syria has continued to present a number of threats to US interests. Ambassador Moustapha brushed aside questions involving Syria’s nuclear program. An Israeli airstrike in 2007 destroyed a reactor that was producing nuclear material. Although years away from producing a bomb, the secret facility still violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which Syria signed. Syria’s demonstrated willingness to supply enemies of the United States mean a nuclear Syria could precipitate nuclear terrorism against America.

The Ambassador also avoided a question about Syrian actions in Lebanon and Iraq, saying that the “past is the past.” He pointed out how complimentary Condoleezza Rice was in describing the improvement of security in Lebanon and Iraq, thanks to Syrian cooperation. Until 2006, Syria actively supplied insurgents in Iraq, providing munitions to kill US troops. Terrorists involved in bombings taking hundreds of American lives, responsible for the kidnapping and torture of US diplomats throughout the region are still provided sanctuary and hospitality by the Syrian government.

Relations between Syria and the US have been poor since Syrian statehood; Syria was a Soviet satellite for five decades and a brutal military dictatorship, actively sponsoring terrorism and promoting violence throughout the region. While the war in Iraq has inevitably caused great strain in the relationship, attempts by Assad to appear as a pro-Western modernizer have improved relations between the two countries. Syria, under pressure from President Bush, finally withdrew the last of its army from Lebanese soil in 2005 (though Syrian intelligence was implicated in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in the same year). The willingness of Bashar Al-Assad to work for peace in the region vastly improved diplomatic relations with the West. President Obama opened channels to the Syrian government within days of his arrival in the White House, a recognition of Bashar’s attempted introduction of basic freedoms. Perhaps, instead of placing all the blame for poor relations on President Bush, Ambassador Moustapha ought to pause for a little introspection. The best hope for positive relations is democratic reform within Syria.

Ian Johnson CMC ’09 is a staff writer for the Claremont Independent.

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