The time is ripe for the US to engage Syria on Mideast issues

Damascus seems willing to work with the US on the Arab-Israeli conflict and Iraq.

from the March 8, 2007 edition

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Second, he warned of the risk that the lethal sectarianism that has dogged Iraq might spread further afield. "Why are the Americans not helping to lower the sectarianism in Iraq?" he asked. "We have an enormous fear of sectarian fitna [social breakdown]." He did not spell out that Syria might itself provide fertile ground for sectarian agitators, since there have in the past been signs of serious discontent from ethnic and religious groups that feel excluded from governmental power. He said only, "We in Syria are proud that we are a country of tolerance and coexistence without any discrimination on a religious or ethnic basis."

Mouallem also warned of the dire consequences – for the US and for global stability – that would follow any military attack on Iran. He expressed the hope that neighboring Lebanon could resolve its current political crisis peacefully. And he described Syria as eager to resume the peace process with Israel that was broken off in 2000. He even indicated that, once "comprehensive" peace talks resume with Israel, Syria would not necessarily wait for progress for the Palestinians before moving forward in its own talks with Israel. (A much fuller account of the interview is available at my "Just World News" blog.)

After following Syrian and regional politics for 30-plus years, I judge that the new Syrian self-confidence projected by Mouallem is pretty well founded. In my few days in Damascus, I've also had good discussions with independent analysts and veteran activists in the country's human rights movement and its tiny liberal political opposition. From these people, I learned that the failure of the Bush administration to remake Iraq and the fact that the US now seems so bogged down there have sent a strong signal to all Syrians that their country is no longer at risk of undergoing any American project for coercive regime change. Indeed, it seems that Washington has come close to concluding that it needs Damascus's help if it is to minimize the damage from the imbroglio in Iraq.

For both regime supporters and opponents here, the events in Iraq over the past three years have provided a horrifying object lesson of what can result from any too-rapid, coercive, and ill-studied a push for "democratization" in the Middle East. The dissidents I talked with stressed that the push for democracy must be gradual, and driven by forces internal to the country.

With the Middle East poised on a knife-edge, it seems a good time for Washington to engage seriously with Syria. Let's hope the March 10 meeting leads to an intensification of such engagement.

• Helena Cobban is a Friend in Washington for the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The views expressed here are her own.

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