WikiLeaks Cables Show US Strategy for Regime Change in Syria
http://wikileaks.org/cable/
06DAMASCUS5399 2006-12-13 16:03 2011-08-03 20:00 SECRET Embassy Damascus
...US State Embassy cables released by the media organization WikiLeaks provide a greater understanding of the Washington power politics that have led to this moment. For the past five to six years, the US policy toward Syria has used a two-pronged strategy for regime change: supported “civil society” activists and external opposition organizations; delegitimized, destabilized and isolated the country through sanctions and other measures to exploit vulnerabilities.
This cable summarizes our assessment of these vulnerabilities and suggests that there may be actions, statements, and signals that the USG can send that will improve the likelihood of such opportunities arising. These proposals will need to be fleshed out and converted into real actions and we need to be ready to move quickly to take advantage of such opportunities. Many of our suggestions underline using Public Diplomacy and more indirect means to send messages that influence the inner
circle. End Summary.
A cable from December 13, 2006, opens with the conclusion that the Syrian government has ended 2006 “in a position much stronger domestically and internationally than it did [in] 2005.” It features a collection of possible actions that could be taken to undermine the Assad regime.
The bottom line is that Bashar is entering the new year in a
stronger position than he has been in several years, but
those strengths also carry with them -- or sometimes mask
vulnerabilities. If we are ready to capitalize, they will
offer us opportunities to disrupt his decision-making, keep
him off-balance, and make him pay a premium for mistakes.
-- Vulnerability:
-- THE KURDS: The most organized and daring political
opposition and civil society groups are among the ethnic
minority Kurds, concentrated in Syria,s northeast, as well
as in communities in Damascus and Aleppo. This group has
been willing to protest violently in its home territory when
others would dare not. There are few threats that loom
larger in Bashar,s mind than unrest with the Kurds. In what
is a rare occurrence, our DATT was convoked by Syrian
Military Intelligence in May of 2006 to protest what the
Syrians believed were US efforts to provide military training
and equipment to the Kurds in Syria.
-- Possible Action:
-- HIGHLIGHT KURDISH COMPLAINTS: Highlighting Kurdish
complaints in public statements, including publicizing human
rights abuses will exacerbate regime,s concerns about the
Kurdish population. Focus on economic hardship in Kurdish
areas and the SARG,s long-standing refusal to offer
citizenship to some 200,000 stateless Kurds. This issue
would need to be handled carefully, since giving the wrong
kind of prominence to Kurdish issues in Syria could be a
liability for our efforts at uniting the opposition, given
Syrian (mostly Arab) civil society,s skepticism of Kurdish
objectives.
The shadiness of US relations with Syria is only amplified if you look at the other aspect of the US push for regime change: the public funding of opposition groups.
The US Doesn’t Undermine Countries, It Transforms Them
In April, the Washington Post reported on the funding of opposition groups revealed in the cables and highlighted a group called the Movement for Justice and Development (MJD). It noted it was closely affiliated with the London-based satellite channel Barada TV, which started broadcasting in April 2009 but “ramped up operations to cover the mass protests in Syria.” The cables showed “as much as $6 million” had been “funneled” to the group “since 2006 to operate the satellite channel and finance other activities inside Syria.”
A cable from March 11, 2009:
MJD’s effort to expand its base in Syria is noteworthy in that it is a moderate Islamist organization that publicly eschews any ideological agenda aside from ending the Asad regime through democratic reform. XXXXXXXXXXXX That said, we have heard numerous unconfirmed rumors by very nervous democracy-reform advocates that the SARG may have penetrated the MJD. XXXXXXXXXXXX MJD’s role in organizing an opposition television platform for broadcasting into Syria would make it a high priority target for Syria’s security services. At the time that the cable was written, the group was banned from Syria. But, that didn’t hurt the allure of cooperating with such a group to bring “democratic change” to Syria.
According to the cable, the group “doesn’t believe in Sharia law.” Throughout 2008, it “participated in symposiums” in Europe in the United States. It is a member of the Damascus Declaration, a unity statement made by Syrian opposition in 2005 that called the Assad regime, “authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish,` and called for peaceful reform through dialogue. They did not have a cooperative relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. And they were working with the Middle East Partnership Initiative, run by the US State Department, on a satellite channel that the Ford Foundation was allegedly helping to finance....
While the Arab Spring has been viewed as spontaneous moments in history that spurred a domino effect leading multiple populations in the Middle East and North Africa to mount uprisings against repressive dictatorial regimes, embassy cables show that looking for the right moment to topple Assad for at least the past five years....As the Syrian government became aware of US funding NGOs and opposition groups, the regime turned more repressive. A figure in Syria, whose name is redacted from a cable sent out on November 25, 2008, criticized the US saying it had “united Islamist nationalists and secular Arab nationalists”...the U.S. played its hand very badly, using its war on terror in a counterproductive way. Instead of isolating the Islamists and creating the kind of dynamic social ferment and gradual upheaval evident in the USSR and Eastern Europe in the mid- and late-1980′s, the U.S. has created conditions that have united, in Syria at least, Islamist nationalists and secular Arab nationalists....making Syria a hero in the Islamic world. The fact that Ba’ath Party thugs, with some security services support beat up some opposition activists, intellectuals, and cultural figures... was a far more important than the US five million to support the opposition, noted XXXXXXXXXXXX
Not “Regime Change” But “Behavior Reform”...
On April 28, 2009, a cable describing a “new policy front” was sent out. US Chargé d’Affaires ad interim to Syria Maura Connelly suggested that since the “primary Syrian external opposition organization” had completely collapsed the US do less “regime change” and more “encouraging ‘behavior reform.’”...As a result, the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and the Bureau of Human Rights and Labor (DRL) took the lead in identifying and funding civil society and human rights projects...The cable lists Freedom House, American Bar Association, American University, Internews, MEPI with the Aspen Strategic Initiative Institute, Democracy Council of California, Regents of the University of New Mexico and the International Republican Institute (IRI). It highlighted how the most sensitive MEPI-sponsored programs are funded and noted the Syria government would “view any US funds going to illegal political groups as tantamount to supporting regime change.”
It suggests concerns Syria could address if it wanted to be seen in a more positive light. This aspect of the US “behavior reform” strategy appears to be rather consistent with the rhetoric of the State Department during the current uprising. Then, Connelly wrote:…Action on any one of the following five concerns might shift the SARG’s image into a more positive light. (1) The release of specific imprisoned high-profile civil society and human rights activists; (2) credible movement to resolve the citizenship status of stateless Kurds; (3) loosening media restrictions, including Internet censorship; (4) lifting travel bans on Syrian citizens; and (5) following up on promises to establish a “Senate” that would create a legislative space for opposition politicians to work in…
Finally, the cable on this Orwellian-sounding policy of “behavior reform” suggests further Americanization or Westernization could help achieve US goals in Syria as well (like exporting more KFCs and Gap stores)...
The rebels the US has supported and possibly armed) are now dealing with “tribal hostilities” within their ranks, meaning they are now assassinating and killing one another. What this shows is US diplomacy, funding Syrian opposition groups and covertly supporting regime change in Syria...has significantly influenced the regime’s decision to unleash its military and security forces... In short, efforts to advance American hegemony through the buildup of “civil society” and the so-called advancement of “human rights” have failed....
........
from The Anti-Empire Report
July 28th, 2011 by William Blum
= http://killinghope.org/bblum6/
An updated summary record of US foreign policy. Since the end of the Second World War the USA has ...
Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of which were democratically-elected. 7
Attempted to suppress a populist or nationalist movement in 20 countries. 8
Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries. 9
Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries. 10
Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders. 11
In total: Since 1945, the United States has carried out one or more of the above actions, on one or more occasions, in the following 69 countries, more than one-third of the countries of the world: world map of US interventions: http://killinghope.org/index.
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Australia
Bolivia
Bosnia
Brazil
British Guiana (now Guyana)
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo (also as Zaire)
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Fiji
France
Germany (plus East Germany)
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kuwait
Laos
Lebanon
Libya
Mongolia
Morocco
Nepal
Nicaragua
North Korea
Pakistan
Palestine
Panama
Peru
Philippines
Portugal
Russia
Seychelles
Slovakia
Somalia
South Africa
Soviet Union
Sudan
Suriname
Syria
Thailand
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam (plus North Vietnam)
Yemen (plus South Yemen)
Yugoslavia
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