Proof of a Scandal: U.S. Policy is Making Syria into an Anti-Western, Antisemitic Islamist State
This article is published on PJMedia.
http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2012/12/18/proof-of-a-scandal-u-s-policy-is-making-syria-into-an-anti-western-antisemitic-islamist-state/
By Barry Rubin
In his article, “The Revolt of Islam in Syria,” Jerusalem Post,
December 12, 2012, Jonathan Spyer, senior fellow at the GLORIA Center,
points out compelling information about the new Western-backed
leadership in Syria.
The bottom line: If this is Syria’s new government then Syria
now has an Islamist regime. This is happening with the knowledge and
collaboration of the Obama Administration and a number of European
governments. It is a catastrophe and one that's taking place due to the
deliberate decisions of President Barack Obama and other Western
leaders. Even if one rationalizes the Islamist takeover in Egypt as due
to internal events, this one is U.S.-made.
As Spyer points out, U.S. and European policy can be summarized as follows:
“To align with and strengthen Muslim Brotherhood-associated
elements, while painting Salafi forces as the sole real Islamist
danger. At the same time, secular forces are ignored or brushed
aside.”
The new regime, recognized by the United States and most
European countries, as the legitimate leadership of the Syrian people,
is the Syrian National Coalition, which has also established a military
council.
Spyer’s detailed evidence for these arguments--much of which
comes from raw wire service reports, praise is due to Reuters in this
case--is undeniable. And if we know about these things there's no doubt
that the highest level of the U.S. government does so as well.
Why is this happening? Because Obama and others believe that
they can moderate the Muslim Brotherhood and it will tame the Salafists,
despite massive evidence to the contrary. This is one of the biggest
foreign policy blunders of the last century and the cost for it will be
high. It should be stressed that such a strategy is totally unnecessary
and the alternatives have been ignored, the real moderates are being
betrayed.
“To align with and strengthen Muslim Brotherhood-associated
elements, while painting Salafi forces as the sole real Islamist
danger. At the same time, secular forces are ignored or brushed
aside.”
The new regime, recognized by the United States and most
European countries, as the legitimate leadership of the Syrian people,
is the Syrian National Coalition, which has also established a military
council.
Spyer’s detailed evidence for these arguments--much of which
comes from raw wire service reports, praise is due to Reuters in this
case--is undeniable:
--“The founder of the Free Syrian Army, former Syrian Air Force
Colonel Riad Asaad, is notably absent [from the leadership]. General
Mustafa al-Sheikh, the first of his rank to defect to the rebels, is
also not there. Sheikh is known for his fierce opposition to the Muslim
Brotherhood. Hussein Haj Ali, the highest ranking officer to defect so
far, was similarly absent.” These men are all anti-Islamists.
--“A Reuters report on the new joint military council
calculated that the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies account for
about two-thirds of the 263 men who met in Antalya and formed the new
body. Salafi commanders are also there.” In other words, the Islamists
will get the overwhelming share of weapons provided under U.S.
sponsorship, Turkish oversight, and Qatari and Saudi financing. And the
United States has not objected to the arming of Salafist
super-extremists as long as they aren't affiliated to al-Qaida.
--“The new council is headed by Brigadier Selim Idriss, who is
described as a non-ideological military man. But his deputies,
Abdel-basset Tawil of Idleb and Abdel-Qader Saleh of Aleppo governate
are associated with the Salafi trend.” In other words, there’s a
non-Islamist front man for what will be an Islamist-controlled army.
--“The domination by the Muslim Brotherhood of the new military
council mirrors the movement’s leading position in the new civilian
leadership body – the Syrian National Coalition. The leader of this
coalition is Ahmed Mouaz al-Khatib, former Imam of the Umayyad Mosque in
Damascus.
“Khatib is closely associated with the Damascus Branch of the Muslim
Brotherhood. The leader of the new coalition has a long history of
antisemitic, anti-Western and anti-Shia remarks. (He praised Saddam
Hussein, for example, for “terrifying the Jews” and wrote an article
asking if Facebook was an “American-Israeli intelligence website.”) He
is also an admirer of the Qatar-based Muslim Brotherhood preacher Sheikh
Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
--“Within the body headed by Khatib, the Muslim Brotherhood dominated
Syrian National Council controls around 27 of the 65 seats on the
executive body of the new coalition. There are also Islamists and
fellow travelers among the non-SNC delegates. The Brotherhood is by far
the best organized single body within the coalition. One secular
delegate at the first full meeting of the coalition accused the MB of
`pushing more of its hawks into the coalition, although it already has
half of the seats.’"
How has the United States handled this threat? Well, it declared one
Salafi group off-limits because it is linked to al-Qaida. That’s it.
As Spyer points out, there has been and still is an alternative: for
the West to back non-Islamist leaders including liberals, Arab
nationalists, and Kurdish nationalist forces. Such a strategy was not
pursued either in Egypt or in Tunisia.
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So when Syria gets an anti-Western, antisemitic, and
anti-democratic (aside from holding elections) regime don’t be
surprised. You can read it in the surprised and grudging admissions of
the Western mass media a year or two after this regime takes power or
you can know about it right now.
This outcome might have been inevitable any way but I don’t
think that’s true. A vigorous policy of supplying non- and anti-Islamist
forces while doing nothing to help the Brotherhood and Salafist
militias plus the formation of a non-Islamist dominated political
grouping that would receive Western aid could have produced a very
different result.
But Western, and especially Obama Administration, policy is now
putting into power yet another anti-Western regime that will oppress its
own people and put a high priority on trying to wipe out Israel.
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International
Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of
International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest book, Israel: An Introduction, has just been published by Yale University Press. Other recent books include The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center and of his blog, Rubin Reports. His original articles are published at PJMedia.
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