The Real Syrian Opposition
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The regime in Damascus must be starting to get really nervous about the efforts by the Reform Party of Syria, led by Farid Ghadry, to bring freedom and democracy to Syria. How else to explain the assault on Mr. Ghadry’s efforts launched suspiciously by Syrian “opposition groups” that somehow seem to be operating freely under the book of the dictator within Syria?
In a Baathist tyranny like Syria, the real oppositionists are almost without exception either in jail, killed, in exile, or operating so secretly that the government doesn’t know who they are or where to find them. Yet somehow, in the wake of Mr. Ghadry’s meeting last month with the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, Elizabeth Cheney – a sign that Washington might be seriously considering a policy of ousting the Syrian dictator – his detractor “oppositionists” have surfaced in Syria to grant interviews.
“We reject any aggression or occupation of our country,” Hassan Abdul Azim of the Democratic Arab Socialist Union was quoted as saying by the Agence France Presse. Elsewhere, Mr. Azim, who heads a five-party “opposition” coalition, denounced Mr. Ghadry as an American agent and a Zionist.
Another Syrian, Michel Kilo, described by the AFP as “a pro-reform” writer, said, “We’re struggling for democracy in Syria to make our country stronger in the face of the U.S. threat, not so that it is torn apart by the Americans.” A third Syrian, Haytham Mana’a, who describes himself as a human rights lawyer, offered his own attack on Mr. Ghadry in the Arab press.
This kind of anti-Americanism and derision toward exile leaders was a hallmark of another Baathist regime, that in Baghdad. Now the exile leaders are running Iraq and Saddam is in jail. In the Syrian case, Congress is now on the verge of getting decisively involved as it did with Iraq. Senator Brownback is playing a leading role in efforts to pass a Syrian Liberation Act modeled on the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998.
There is talk of having the Syrian Baath Party designated as a foreign terrorist organization under American law. If Washington wants to help defeat the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Damascus, one key to success will be remembering who America’s friends are – and distinguishing them from certain so-called reformists in Syria.
