America the Abused

One feels sympathy for America in face of the hypocrisy and lying coming from the elite of the Arab regimes and opposition movements, specifically that of Syria and Egypt.

In their quest to demonize the Assad regime and mobilize the Arab people against it, the Syrian opposition’s favorite technique is to spread the message that America supports the regime, and that this support—or the delay in taking a political position—is one of the reasons the Assad regime has lasted so long. They market evidence of this support, not forgetting the link between America’s position of “dawdling” and Israeli interests.

The Syrian regime resorts to the same “tool” as its opponent: The opposition are also American agents, and are instruments for advancing “American Zionist” plots to attack and divide Syria.

The truth—which makes the hypocrisy especially evident—is that both sides of the conflict are desperate to get American support. The regime is relying on its historical role in ensuring the stability of the Golan Heights to persuade the United States not to intervene on behalf of the opposition, which would put Israel’s security at risk. On more than one occasion the Assad regime has used the al-Qaida name to win America over to its side and incite them against the “extremist-controlled” opposition. The opposition has yet to provide a platform, international or domestic, which leaves out the demand that the United States intervene to overthrow the Syrian regime. Each president of the opposition coalition has been keen to collect a souvenir photo with the U.S. secretary of state. At meetings for the Friends of Syria and its “loved ones,” the majority of the opposition figures seemed to be devotees of Ford, the former ambassador to Damascus. That is saying nothing of the logistical, financial and military support the opposition has received from America.

In Egypt, no sooner had the first signs of a conflict between the army and the Morsi regime appeared on the horizon, than the two factions started a race to win American support for their side. In public they call for the exact opposite: The forces opposing Morsi used America’s name excessively to persuade the public that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood had the absolute support of the U.S. government, citing dozens of examples of how Washington’s ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson has supported Morsi, some describing her as the right hand to the deposed president.

Since the day Morsi was ousted, the Muslim Brotherhood has relied on the theory of an American conspiracy as the foundation for its political and media campaigns aimed at mobilizing public support among its base. In reality, both factions have invested heavily in anti-Americanism among Arab and Muslim sectors of society to win the battle.

But the Muslim Brotherhood and the “civilian” opposition are both lying to the public, because in reality they are trying to win its approval through various means. Since they came to power the Islamists have sent delegations to Washington and other Western capitals to deepen “the bonds of friendship.” During the Morsi era, Egyptian intelligence hosted officers from Mossad and the CIA to finalize the truce in Gaza. On the night of the “coup” Essam Haddad, top adviser to Morsi, used all his resources to pressure America to issue a condemnation of what happened.

The Egyptian opposition “fought desperately” at the doors of the White House, pushing every one of their friends to prevent the U.S. from describing what happened as a coup, and won, even if it was just a brief statement from the State Department or White House spokesperson supporting the choice of the “millions of Egyptians who have taken to the streets.”

In both of these situations, America is the loser. Those who court it in secret attack it in public, increasing the Arab public’s level of hatred for the United States, and appearing in turn to be in a state of schizophrenia. Opposition followers believe their leaders’ words, and supporters of the regime applaud conspiracy theories.