November 22, 2008
No talk of reform from Syria leader
DAMASCUS, Syria - When Syrian President Bashar Assad told the world in March that he would withdraw his troops from neighboring Lebanon, he also promised a "great leap" of democratic reform in Syrian society.
Assad's pledge, which came as his regime was under intense international pressure, sparked hopes that he would allow the formation of opposition political parties and suspend the emergency laws that have governed Syria for 42 years. Reformers expected Assad to unveil details of his "great leap" at a conference of the ruling Baath Party, which began yesterday.
But in his speech at the meeting's opening, Assad shattered expectations of substantial political change. Instead, he focused on the need to revive Syria's economy and combat corruption. He made no mention of steps to open up the political system, guarantee civil liberties or rein in the power of Syria's security forces.
Assad also urged defiance to U.S. pressure, telling party members, "We must face international circumstances in a courageous manner and learn lessons from them." He did not directly mention the Bush administration's demands that Syria stop meddling in Lebanon and prevent fighters and funds from reaching Iraqi insurgents.
"It was disappointing," said Louay Hussein, a Syrian opposition activist. "The president did not follow up on his speech from March, when he promised significant reforms."
Hussein and other members of the nascent Syrian opposition expected Assad to outline specific steps yesterday that Syrian leaders had promised for months: allowing opposition parties to form and take part in local elections; permitting greater press freedoms; and lifting laws that allow indefinite detentions and crackdowns on critics of the regime.
Syria's Baath Party holds its congress every four or five years, and it is a chance to announce major changes in policy. The last conference was in June 2000, shortly after Assad rose to power following the death of his father, Hafez, who ruled Syria for 30 years.
In the current congress, about 1,200 party delegates will meet through Thursday. The most dramatic event of the conference so far was the resignation of Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, a longtime ally of Hafez Assad.
By focusing on economic reforms, rather than political ones, the president is trying to follow China's model of liberalizing the economy while suppressing dissent, opposition activists say. "I am not sure if the Chinese example will work in Syria," Hussein said.
Since assuming power, Assad has tried to project a better image to the West. Damascus has made economic and social reforms and has argued it would be a stable ally for the United States. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Syria's vast security apparatus began sharing information with U.S. intelligence agencies on al-Qaida and other militant groups. But that security cooperation ended when U.S. officials began criticizing Syria soon after Saddam Hussein's regime fell in 2003.
Assad faces a difficult choice. If he appears to be giving in too much to Washington's pressure, he could anger remnants of the old guard installed by his father and lose his grip on power.
With Syria on the defensive, the Bush administration has renewed its demands that Assad turn over Iraqi Baathists and expel leaders of the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad who live in Damascus. The United States also wants Syria to disarm the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah, which effectively controls Lebanon's southern border with Israel.
Despite its military withdrawal from Lebanon, Syria still has entrenched allies there. Emile Lahoud, the Syrian-backed Lebanese president who is facing popular pressure to resign, vowed yesterday that he would not step down. Sunday, Hezbollah and another pro-Syrian Shia party won all 23 seats allocated for southern Lebanon in the country's parliament.
Responding to criticisms about the slow pace of reform in Syria, the official Tishrin newspaper wrote yesterday: "To go at a tortoise's pace in the right direction is a hundred times better than leaping like a rabbit the wrong way."
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