The Syrian Uprising: US Follow A Failed Path

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Saturday October 08, 2011 18:57 by Ramzy Baroud

Ramzy Baroud is the editor of PalestineChronicle.com and author of My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London). Here he writes of Syria and US attempts to interfere in the country's future. But he says: United States involvement in Syria is the second-greatest danger facing the Syria uprising (the first being the cruelty of the regime).

United States ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is quite a feisty diplomat. He shows up unannounced and uninvited at various hot spots in the country, greeted with varying degrees of enthusiasm and, oftentimes, anger. When he made a highly touted appearance in the city of Hama in July, residents reportedly greeted him with flowers. However, his appearance at the home of an opposition figure in Damascus on September 29 earned him a salvo of tomatoes and rocks from angry protesters.

The Syrian people began their uprising for long-denied rights in March. The government responded with the only method it knew well: sheer brutality, coupled with illusory language of change and reforms. The world watched as Syrians died in droves. But then the politicking began. Some genuine Syrian opposition groups passionately organized to give a voice to their people at home. Others also organized, although their reasons were not so genuine.

"The State Department has secretly financed Syrian political opposition groups and related projects, including a satellite TV channel that beams anti-government programming into the country, according to previously undisclosed diplomatic cables," reported the Washington Post on April 17. ...

United States involvement in Syria is the second-greatest danger facing the Syria uprising (the first being the cruelty of the regime). Sweeping sanctions and threats will turn the conflict into another American fight against an Arab regime, as opposed to an unadulterated people's uprising - a revolution even - for the rights of Syrians and the future of their country.