Where the World's Views of America Come into Focus
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Where the World's Views of America Come into Focus
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Feb. 28, 2005
By Alix Van Buren and Nicola Lombrdozzi
DAMASCUS: In this region and in these times, any surprise is possible. It is
here that Washington may want to attack next, and where Israel threatens to
attack.
Five years in power have not changed Bashar Al-Assad: a beautiful face, a moustache, and attentive eyes. A young eye doctor initially unwilling to become president, he was catapulted to power at age 34 after the death of his father in July 2000. Educated in Europe, he would embrace modernity, the Syrians told themselves, and at the time, they applauded this.
THE INTERVIEW
La Republicca: Mr. President, the United States has raise the tone of its accusations, and Israel has threatened a raid, and has likened you to a gangster. What happens next?
Bashar Al-Assad: In spite of appearances, I do not feel isolated at all. It is true, the trans-Atlantic relationship has mended at our expense. But in fact, as far as the choice of what to do to maintain stability, many differences between the U.S. and E.U.] remain. Europe knows that our first interest is stability. It knows that we can collaborate in the fight againt terror, because we know how. We have fought terror all through the 1970s and 80s. Washington has imposed sanctions on us and isolated us in the past, but each time the circle hasn't closed around us. If, however, you ask me if I'm expecting an armed attack (from the United States), well I've seen it coming since the end of the war in Iraq. Since then, that tensions have been rising.
La Republicca: And now? Are you on the brink of a settling of accounts with Washington?
Bashar Al-Assad: I don't think so, for now it's just skirmishing. True, the White House language, if looked at in detail, leads one to expect a campaign similar to the one that led up to the attack on Iraq." The U.S. holds us responsible for the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. But the controversy over the attack in Beirut has been tremendous. It is undeniable: it took a major intelligence effort to mount the attack. But if we really killed Hariri, that would be political suicide for us. Beyond ethical and human principles, the question is, who benefits from the crime? Certainly not Syria.
La Republicca: Who do you suspect is responsible for the crime?
Bashar Al-Assad: I do not want to prematurely charge anyone with criminality. Many people imagine that if something happens in the Middle East, it must be attributable to Syria and Israel. But I tell you this: there are Lebanese groups that are more than capable of mounting such an action. And this has happened more than once in recent years, for example the murder of Elie Hobeika (former head of the Lenanese Christian militia, killed in 2002), and car-bombing against those supporters of Hamas. But we will wait until the results of the [U.N.] investigation.
La Republicca: Bush has said that the ball is now in your court. He has put a number of demands on the table: Full compliance with U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence forces from Lebanon, and elections in Beirut -- without interference. Mr. President, how do you answer?
Bashar Al-Assad: There are two answers. The first thing you referred to is Resolution 1559. We have respect for all [U.N.] resolutions, whether right or wrong. During the course of a mission, relationships will change. My second response is that our troops will withdraw to the Syria frontier, but Lebonese forces must fill the vaccuum.
Of the rest, Washington's ultimatum is sealed with lead and gives insufficient time: we began withdrawing our 60,000 troops in 2000. You see, to keep them in a foreign country is not in our interest; it comes at a high price, in economic and political terms.
La Republicca: The Lebanese opposition says that after you were invited into the country, you remained too long.
Bashar Al-Assad: Not for pleasure. It is true, we have been here ten years more than we thought we would be. But observe the recent history: the civil war ended in 1990 and it was necessary to rebuild the army, to rebuild the country. This was oulined in the Taif Agreement [the agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war], that specified that the two governments would agree on the proper time for a definitive withdrawal. (http://www.meij.or.jp/text/PeaceProcess/taif.htm)
What we did not expect was the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, which lasted until 2000. There were hopes of peace for the entire region in those days. Instead, now we have an infuriating war on our borders. You see those mountains outside the window? Well, in the 1982, Israeli forces arrived a few kilometers from Damascus.
From a technical viewpoint, the repatriation (of Syrian forces) could happen within the end of the year. But from a strategic viewpoint, it will only happen if we get serious guarantees. In a word, peace.
La Republicca: In the public squares of Beirut, people have declared a "peaceful intifada." Mr. President, do you not fear that it [Lebanon] might become a new Ukraine?
Bashar Al-Assad: No, whoever expects another Ukraine in the "Country of Cedars" is decieving themselves. You see, Lebanon is complex, and you must know how to interpret it. It is a tribal society, where conflicts between different communities have taken place throughout history. Your allies today were your enemies yesterday, and the society changes from one season to the next, even more now that there is an election campaign. But if someone from the outside wants to come and poke at the flames, it can have disastrous consequences. It is not for peace. Washington has another objective.
La Republicca: What is its objective?
Bashar Al-Assad: It is because of Iraq, a war that we have never accepted. Washington accuses us of insufficient cooperation, and helping the guerrillas. But the truth is, they blame us in order to cover up their many errors in Iraq: the dissolution of the government and the disbanding of the military. The problem is the absence of a good plan. The only way of eventually winning the war is to find out what coincides with desires of the Iraqi people.
La Republicca: Because of the hostility toward the invasion of Iraq, many young people of your country cross the border to go and fight against the Americans. The White House charges that you do not sufficiently control the border. It that true?
Bashar Al-Assad: The pourousness of the border is a danger for us as well. This is how gangs of smugglers and terrorists enter our country. We simply do not have the means … it is impossible to seal the 500km border. If we had been able to seal it, we would have done so during the time of Saddam, when his agents infiltrated the country with bombs - to explode them in the public squares. That is why I have asked the Americans for help."
La Republicca: Have the Americans answered?
Bashar Al-Assad: Yes, I have received a Pentagon envoy, , and I have discussed this with the [U.S.] Department of State. I have asked for night vision equipment and radar -- more or less the same technology that they use on the border with Mexico. I have even proposed, in October, the creation of joint Syrian - Americans patrols.
La Republicca: Have they replied to your requests?
Bashar Al-Assad: I am still waiting.
La Republicca: And then there is the issue of Hezbollah. You have never hidden your support to the organization, one that Washington calls a terrorist group. Israel sees its hand behind Friday's terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, and now they are accusing Damascus.
Bashar Al-Assad: If we want to talk about terror, then let's begin by saying that the Hezbollah movement was born in order to fight during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Its range of operations are limited to Lebanese territory. It does not strike inside Israel, with the exception of groups like the Islamic Jihad.
Hezbollah is also a political party, with 11 deputies in Parliament. Therefore, it cannot be liquidated without inciting a cauldron of terror. Europe has not put Hezbollah on its list of terrorist groups. In fact, Hariri was talking with the E.U. to hinder any such inclusion.
La Republicca: Israel says that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad faction in Syria ordered the recent attack in Tel Aviv, and that this implicates you.
Bashar Al-Assad: It's a pointlessly offensive accusation. Syria has nothing to do with it. The Islamic Jihad office has been closed for years. There remain some political supporters, who have been expelled from Israel. But if we had a mind to, where would you say we should expel them to?
La Republicca: The new Palestinian government has rushed to express solidarity with Syria. Is this a sign of a new understanding between Damascus and th Palestinians? For many years, even before he became president, Arafat had been 'persona non grata' in Syria. Has that changed?
Bashar Al-Assad: I would have liked to meet him. But then, he has been under seige, and he couldn't travel. Now contact with Palestinian President Abu Mazen has tightened. As soon as he was elected, he came to Damascus. We have one priority: to recompose the unity of the various Palestinian factions. Therefore, you see, it is not correct to point to Syria as a destabilizing force.
La Republicca: Prime Minister Sharon wants you demonstrate your peaceful intentions. And in his first interview with an Arabic newspaper, he has defined himself as a man of peace.
Bashar Al-Assad: Pardon me for grinning. For Syria, an agreement with Israel is a strategic choice. Sharon says he doesn't believe the sincerity of my offers, but then why not verify my sincerity? The parameters of peace are already well-known. Certainly enough to have talks and negotiations.
La Republicca: Your father, President Hafez Al-Assad, supported of wanting to leave "an inheritance of peace." Recently it has become known that in 2000, an understanding on this had been concluded. What happened to those plans?
Bashar Al-Assad: President Clinton called my father on the telephone. He agreed to a short summit meeting. Clinton said, come, you will see, you will be satisfied. He [Clinton] had received assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Barak.
Clinton met my father in Geneva. The agreement was for the restitution of the Golan [Heights] with the exception a 100 meter-long strip near Tiberiade Lake. At the last moment, Barak pulled out. He became frightened after going right up to edge of the airplane, just before there was no turning back.
He [Hefez Al-Assad] understood that Israel was not ready for peace, that Barak did not have the political support to make peace. But Syria was ready. With Rabin we had approached peace. Then Rabin was murdered, and with him, the hope for peace.
La Republicca: Israel has said that a resumption of negotiations must happen without preconditions. Is this acceptable?
Bashar Al-Assad: It depends on what is meant by the term "preconditions." What are we to say to each other? If we start a dialogue that it is not shared, will it turn out the way it did in 1994 and 2000? Therefore, how do we want to define what is meant by no preconditions? For Syria, I repeat, peace is a strategic choice. For Israel, instead, it changes from government to government.
La Republicca: America charges Syria with being out of step with the times, and not adapting to the democtaric transformation in the Middle East.
Bashar Al-Assad: Rapidity is a subjective concept. The truth is that we have completed some important steps. Our problems are bureaucratic and administrative, modernizing an entire society, changing the mentality of people to engender more creativity and dedication, and to purge corruption that it has very deep roots.
But every great revolution takes years, or at least one generation. We need the help of the international community. And my responsibility is to preserve the social and political stability of the country. Modernization can involve a huge cost … a huge sacrifice by wide layers of the population.
La Republicca: What is the condition of human rights in Syria?
Bashar Al-Assad: I could tell you that it is better than at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, but that would be too easy. I could tell you of the thousands of liberated political prisoners, and of the review of the rest in custody. But I admit it: we have strict rules. For many years, we lived in a situation of constant danger, decades of war, and the hostility of many countries prepared to terrorize and turn upside down, our government. We cannot allow normal laws in this situation. At least for the moment.
La Republicca: You have an ambivalent relationship with the opposition. You accept them, but you control them.
Bashar Al-Assad: With regard to the dissidents, I am a man whose mind tends toward as much opening as possible. But I cannot allow them to create trouble. They are not my employees … I must protect my country. If someone in Hyde Park [verbally] attacks the Queen, he succeed in nothing. But here for example, if someone stands in the road complaining bitterly about the Christians, the day after could bring civil war.
La Republicca: Mr. president, what do you fear most these days?
Bashar Al-Assad: The thought of this armed America, which acts like a superpower with no vision. None of the problems that resulted in the 2001 attack against the Twin Towers and the war against Saddam have been resolved. Indeed, some are even more aggravated, the issue of stability the most of all.
From Damascus to Jeruselum, from Islamabad to Kabul, terrorist recruitment has been extended. The most recent attack in Syria was just a few weeks ago. In the Lebanese mountains are based Al-Qaeda cells, and even Italy is a fertile recruitment ground.
La Republicca: But what can you do to aid in the fight against terrorism?
Bashar Al-Assad: I have offered Washington our aid. Sooner or later they will notice that we are the key to the solution. We are essential to the process of peace in Iraq. Perhaps you will see, one day the Americans will come knock on our door.