"The only people we hate more than the Romans..."
Posted on 06/05/2006 4:22:40 AM PDT by MadIvan
LEADING Syrian opposition figures, led by the country’s former Vice-President, gathered in London yesterday for a two-day conference to plot the overthrow of the Baathist regime of President Assad.
The unprecedented gathering, which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office insisted was not co-ordinated with any British officials, was led by Abdel Halim Khaddam, who predicted that Syria’s increasingly dictatorial leadership would one day soon be toppled by a popular revolt.
Speaking to The Times under tight security in a suite at the Dorchester in Park Lane, where the dissident National Salvation Front movement was launched, Mr Khaddam said that corruption and the abuse of power had alienated President Assad from his people.
“This regime is doomed. It has to use repression to stay in power, while the people go hungry and see the wealth stolen by the corrupt elite,” he said.
Mr Khaddam, 74, served as Vice-President for more than two decades and was once Damascus’s pointman in Lebanon, when Syrian security forces effectively controlled the country.
He fell out with the President last year after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, and after the ruling Baath Party failed to accept democratic reform.
The National Salvation Front claims that it has 75 prominent supporters from across the political spectrum, all of whom are exiles, including a representative of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Despite yesterday’s London meeting, observers believe that President Assad has strengthened his position in office over the past year. Last year he was under pressure from America and the West, and there were predictions that his regime would go the way of the Baathists in neighbouring Iraq.
But the leadership in Syria, dominated by the minority Alawite sect, has successfully presented itself as a force for stability in the region.
Mr Assad has re-established his authority in part by cracking down on opponents. Scores of dissidents have been arrested by the authorities, including Anwar al-Bunni, a lawyer, and Michael Kilo, a writer and one of the country’s best known human rights activists.
The one issue that could still threaten the regime is the UN’s investigation into Mr Hariri’s assassination, which has been widely blamed on Syrian intelligence officers working under orders from Damascus.
Mr Khaddam, who has given evidence implicating Mr Assad in the murder, said that it was unthinkable that the order to kill the former Lebanese leader would have been taken without the President’s knowledge.
“The assassination could not have happened without his [the President’s] order. In Syria the security apparatus is in the head of the President,” he said.
Since Mr Khaddam began speaking out against the Syrian regime he has been branded a traitor. Legal proceedings have begun against him and 24 other members of his family, including his wife, his three sons and daughter, who were all summoned to appear in court last month.
RISE OF A ONE-PARTY STATE
# Syria gains independence from France 1946
# Hafez Assad appointed Defence Minister in 1966. Became Head of State 1971
# Assad accused of bomb attack on American base in Beirut 1983
# Assad dies in 2000 and is succeeded by his son, Bashar, who had trained in London as an optomotrist
# In 2002, Syria is included in the US’s “axis of evil”
# UN inquiry into killing in 2005 of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, implicated senior Syrian officials. Syria has denied involvement
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I'm really suprised the dentist has lasted as long as he has
You know he doesn't have the power his murdering dad had and he has factions carping on all sides around him.
If he continues to push terror, he'll wake up dead sooner then later. And if he fails to persue terror the terrorists will kill him, any way if Assad is dead it is a good thing.
I like the idea of the Boy Assad being put down, but are these people any better?
That was my first thought as well. I imagine our gov't would rather let that one alone at this time seeing as how Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Africa are keeping us busy enough for the time being.
He did announce 5 months ago that he would set up a gov't in exile.
London seems to be the place for forming exile govt's these days >>>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1643447/posts
As bad as it is, most of the Syrian Christians I know actually like the Assad regime because it's been able to keep a lid on the Islamic extremists thus far. If the Baathists were to fall, it would probably be a power struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Communists, IMHO. This "National Salvation Front" sounds at first blush like a coalition of some unsavory folk, but I could be wrong.
Ping
I predicted last January that the Syrian regime would fall within a month. I was wrong.
Probably it is better with "changing the regime" like in Libya.
ping
That's what my friends say as well. Assad does not persecute the Christians and they fear what another leader would do.
I doubt it -- You'd have an islamist "republic" established in the Arab state with the largest Christian community in that part of the world. It would be a disaster.
"The only people we hate more than the Romans..."
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