The Syrian vice president Abdulhalim Khaddam, speaking with a leading Saudi Arabian daily, a-Sharq al-Awsat, said this week that "No one will be spared the harmful effects of the... war." Therefore, he said, the Arab states should have accepted Syria's proposal for a ban on the use of Arab bases and military facilities by America and British forces. The reason they did not, Khaddam said, was because of psychological warfare waged against the Arabs by the US and Britain. Even Western-oriented Turkey, he noted, "laid down conditions [for the Americans]. In contrast, some Arab states agreed unconditionally [to the deployment of US forces on their territory], without demanding anything in return although they will incur losses from this massing of troops...."
"Whoever thinks this war will bring him security and stability is miscalculating," the Syrian said, "and not taking a realistic and objective view of current conditions and of future possibilities." The American intention to carry out regime change "means another Sykes-Picot erasing the Arabs' future for several decades to come," Khaddam warned, saying that there would be "negative fallout of the war on the Arab world, from Mauritania to the Gulf.... [even for those] who claim to be America's
friends." In fact, the Syrian vice president told a-Sharq al-Awsat, the US does not really value any Arab state, for if it had, "it would have taken the demands of the Arab peoples into account, rather than embarrassing its friends, and helped them by avoiding conditions that will be suffocating to all of them." Similarly, on the Israeli front, the Syrian vice president said that the US sees Israel alone as a regional strategic ally. Therefore, any talk of peace in the region is unrealistic, he said. "We in Syria do not want the humiliation that Ariel Sharon is proposing," Khaddam stated,
"especially as the superpower capable of imposing a solution is standing totally by Israel's side."
Abdulhalim Khaddam told the Saudi newspaper that he was confident "Syria will be the least harmed among the Arab states.... Because of its political, economic and cultural make-up, Syria is a united and cohesive country. Syrians may differ with the leadership over a certain matter, but when it comes to an external threat all of Syria will rally around its leadership. This is something that is difficult to find in many Arab states. Thus, the impact of the earthquake will be more destructive in other Arab countries."
As for the American plans in a post-Saddam Iraq, Khaddam estimated that the Iran-based Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq will not cooperate with the US, nor will Damascus-based Iraqi dissidents. "As for the Kurds..." the Syrian said, "according to our information, they have not broken off their contacts with Baghdad, but they are in a difficult position: they're caught between American pressure on the one hand and their concern not to enter into a war pitting Kurds against Arabs on the other. They are also fearful of Turkish intervention and the effect that would have on them. We don't want to prejudge them. We have to await forthcoming events."
"Whoever thinks this war will bring him security and stability is miscalculating," the Syrian said, "and not taking a realistic and objective view of current conditions and of future possibilities." The American intention to carry out regime change "means another Sykes-Picot erasing the Arabs' future for several decades to come," Khaddam warned, saying that there would be "negative fallout of the war on the Arab world, from Mauritania to the Gulf.... [even for those] who claim to be America's
friends." In fact, the Syrian vice president told a-Sharq al-Awsat, the US does not really value any Arab state, for if it had, "it would have taken the demands of the Arab peoples into account, rather than embarrassing its friends, and helped them by avoiding conditions that will be suffocating to all of them." Similarly, on the Israeli front, the Syrian vice president said that the US sees Israel alone as a regional strategic ally. Therefore, any talk of peace in the region is unrealistic, he said. "We in Syria do not want the humiliation that Ariel Sharon is proposing," Khaddam stated,
"especially as the superpower capable of imposing a solution is standing totally by Israel's side."
Abdulhalim Khaddam told the Saudi newspaper that he was confident "Syria will be the least harmed among the Arab states.... Because of its political, economic and cultural make-up, Syria is a united and cohesive country. Syrians may differ with the leadership over a certain matter, but when it comes to an external threat all of Syria will rally around its leadership. This is something that is difficult to find in many Arab states. Thus, the impact of the earthquake will be more destructive in other Arab countries."
As for the American plans in a post-Saddam Iraq, Khaddam estimated that the Iran-based Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq will not cooperate with the US, nor will Damascus-based Iraqi dissidents. "As for the Kurds..." the Syrian said, "according to our information, they have not broken off their contacts with Baghdad, but they are in a difficult position: they're caught between American pressure on the one hand and their concern not to enter into a war pitting Kurds against Arabs on the other. They are also fearful of Turkish intervention and the effect that would have on them. We don't want to prejudge them. We have to await forthcoming events."