Esprit de Corps

Ad Hoc Friends of the Syrian People Ministerial hosted by Hilary Clinton in New York City (Photo courtesy of State Department/Public Domain)

Written by Scott Taylor

Since the outbreak of violence in Syria more than 19 months ago, Western media have been hard-pressed to define those who have taken up arms against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The diverse collection of ethnic, religious and political ideologies appears to illustrate a widespread dissatisfaction among the people. In other words, if these disparate factions have a common hatred for their president, then he must be a really evil dude.

This was, of course, the simplistic assessment made by the United States Department of State and parroted by John Baird, Canada’s own bellicose minister of foreign affairs in those initial heady days of what was dubbed the Arab Spring.

Mobs in the street toppled Hosni Mubarak, then the president of Egypt, and forced Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee from Tunisia where he was president as well. Citizens also took up guns in Libya to battle Muammar Gaddafi’s security forces. It seemed that democracy-loving, freedomminded citizens were rising up all across the Middle East to depose their hated despotic rulers. That certainly fitted within the simple confines of a Hollywood movie plot line, and made it easy for Western powers to identify the good guys and bad guys.

When the rebellion in Libya bogged down into essentially a tribal civil war, the die was already cast and it was too late to re-write the script. NATO had already lent the full weight of their air power to support the rebels, so they had to be the good guys and they had to win.

In a typical Hollywood film, the final scene would have been of the long-suffering mob of good guys venting their rage on their tormentor by beating and sodomizing Gaddafi to death in the street. However, no one told those wacky Libyan good guys that the credits had rolled. They are continuing their purge of armed anarchy, highlighted by the Sept. 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens.

As for the Syrian conflict, the very fact that Assad has been able to cling to power this long has given observers more time to assess the root causes and possible consequences. It is now obvious that while Assad has an abundance of detractors, he also has loyal support from certain factions, including his own Alawite minority and Syrian Christians.

On the flip side, the duration of the fighting has also given us the opportunity to examine exactly what constitutes the Syrian opposition coalition. After 19 months of providing the rebels with political support in the form of sanctions and covert military aid directed through Turkey, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has now come to the conclusion that she doesn’t really like what she sees on the opposition’s team bench.

To rectify this, the US has convened a conference in Doha, Qatar, in a belated attempt to overhaul the Syrian opposition political leadership. Some Syrian groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, have denounced America’s interference in trying to focus the 400 or more expected delegates around a collective, moderate platform.

However, the entire four-day conference, even if successful, may prove to be an exercise in futility. Most analysts now realize that these Syrian political leaders who are living in exile abroad have far less actual influence than those military commanders who are busy battling Assad’s forces inside Syria.

Recognizing this, the US State Department is pushing for the loose-knit Free Syrian Army to take the lead role in future combat operations. The name Free Syrian Army was, of course, coined by the same spin-doctors that want us to recognize the good guys from the bad guys. How can any force wanting freedom be bad?

Unfortunately for their Western mentors, those wacky Free Syrian rebels haven’t seen enough Hollywood films to know that the good guys don’t commit cold-blooded atrocities. Last week yet another disturbing video was posted on the Internet showing a brutal execution of unarmed and cowering Assad supporters.

Allegedly captured near the northern town of Saraqeb, 10 young men are kicked and beaten as they lie huddled together on the dirt floor of a battle-damaged building. Then, to the repeatedly shouted chorus of “Allah Akbar,” the captives are shot at point-blank range.

I’m sure that when Baird has finished his daily bellowing of “Assad must go!” he will take a moment to condemn this latest atrocity by these rebels to whom he has committed Canada’s support.