Syria's Softer Side: The Obamas Should Embrace The Assads

As President Obama turns his attention to the Middle East peace process one country is glaringly absent from his schedule: Syria.

For all the face time he is spending this month with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Egyptian President Mubarak and Palestinian Chief Mahmoud Abbas, Pres. Obama would do well to welcome Syrian President al-Assad into the fold.

Without Syria on board to curb Hezbollah, resolve the Golan Heights issue and help contain Iran's influence in the region, a final settlement will not be possible.

Moreover, despite Pres. Obama's renewal of sanctions against Syria two weeks ago, Damascus remains willing to resume indirect peace talks with Israel.

Since the beginning of the Iraq War, Syria has suffered mass misrepresentation in the media. So, when I visited last month I was stunned to find that the country has a much softer side.

Often described as a hotbed of anti-Americanism, that eschews ties to the West under Iranian tutelage, in reality that reputation couldn't be further from the truth.

One look at the country's first lady Asma al-Assad should help prove so to disbelievers. The British-born, jeans-wearing wife of the current President Bashar represents a radically more modern regime.

Profiled by French Elle as the most stylish international first lady (oui, she beat out Mme. Sarkozy), the comparisons between Mrs. al-Assad and Mrs. Obama are surprisingly abundant. Both take a hands-on approach to national social work and raising their kids, both forgo formalities for the everyday at home, and both insist on date nights out with their husbands.

When the couple turned up in jeans to watch a play in Damascus in late 2008, the episode caused a furor of excitement. "What's abnormal about it? We're married, we're young, why wouldn't we go to the theatre?" she told the London Times in an interview.

Syria's softer side can be found not just in the upper echelons, but also amongst the people on the street.

In April I toured the country and was overwhelmed by the welcoming response I found, nearly everywhere I went.

As a blond female tourist in this part of the world, it's normal to attract a lot of unsolicited conversation. Whereas in Cairo though it was typically to sell me a souvenir or take a photo, and in Beirut it sounded more like wrangling for a date, in Damascus most people simply smiled and said "Hello! Where are you from?"

From the souks of Damascus to the ruins at Palmyra, the Syrians I encountered were warm and curious. They wanted to know what I was doing there, what I thought of their country, the food, the landscape and would I please tell my friends and family to visit?

Absolutely -Syria has become a safe, tourist-friendly place that everyone should consider visiting on a trip to the Middle East, particularly those who appreciate historical sites and like to shop (even VOGUE went for the May issue).

Just don't expect your Facebook to work.

Presently, the dark days of the reign of Bashar's father, President Hafez al-Assad, appear long gone. A United Nations tribunal of the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is now underway. That investigation should go a long way to exposing the remaining loyalist elements and corruption in the current regime.

The terrorism that the U.S. accuses Syria of sponsoring is mostly in cross-border support for Hezbollah that doesn't threaten the safety of Syrians' everyday lives. It's a lawful state where bombs don't go off randomly and civilians know that the police are very much in control.

Unfortunately, where those Syrian arms and funds end up in Lebanon, Gaza and Israel, they do kill civilians. Syria has said they can reign in Hezbollah and help with Hamas once the Israelis withdraw from the Golan Heights. To not put al-Assad on the front of the U.S.'s Middle East agenda simply does not make sense.

Comments

[Olivia Sterns - Huffpost Blogger]

This week Obama announced that he will return a U.S. ambassador to Syria after a 4-year hiatus. It's a very constructive move that I think will go a long way to improving security in the region.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/24/us.syria/
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama has decided to send a U.S. ambassador back to Syria, a dramatic sign of reconciliation between the two countries, the State Department announced Wednesday."

[forward07]

Check this link on Mrs Assad and Mrs Obama

http://www.fw-magazine.com/content/what-michele-obama-can-learn-asma-al-assad

[Mardean Isaac]

Firstly, not only have I been to Syria on two occasions, I have Syrian friends, and family who live in Syria. Onto the politics: there are tens of thousands of "disappeared" political activists in Syria, and thousands of political prisoners still in Syrian jails. (Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/legacy/englishwr2k7/docs/2007/01/11/syria14722.htm) Not only is freedom of press limited to the point of paralysis, the Syrian government has ordered the murder several prominent anti-Syrian journalists in Lebanon (see Gebran Tueni). Kurdish cultural practices are cracked down upon heavily; use of their language is restricted, including many Kurdish books not being allowed to be published; after the football clash in Qamushli in 2004, many Kurds were killed and others rounded up and tortured.

Almost no independent political activity or assembly is tolerated in Syria and the Assad regime maintains a tyrannical control through the ludicrous continuation of a so-called "emergency" state an effective means of robbing the populace of civil liberties under the guise of a perceived threat. I know many people who have been followed and harassed by the secret police for no good reason. Torture is prevalent in prisons. And yes, Syria is officially secular but the president must be Muslim and Islamic jurisprudence influences the law. Again, the issue is not religious discrimination, it is arbitrary, brutal, and all pervasive control of the country by the Assad regime which continues to act maliciously towards its own citizens with impunity.

[andalus]

Mr Issac apparently has never been in Syria nor lived among its people,Let me set the record straight. Syria is one of the safest places I have travelled and lived in. The insinuation it is not a 'safe' country is a blatant lie. All countries, sir, have prisons, for those who commit acts of crime.

Your denigrading stereotypical synopsis of the country is the same as any right-wing anti-Syrian propoganda that has permeated the media throughout the years of neo-conservatism in this country. Nowhere have I experienced a country's relgious tolerance, as I have in Syria. From my own experience, Mr. Isaac, the people of Syria love their president and first lady. Perhaps if our western media allowed for the real face of Syria, i(Diane Sawyer's sojourn to the country, Barbara Walter's trip) , the country would be shown as in its true face. Your comments, are out of place.

Why should you judge Mr. Assad according to your standard: is it because he refuses to accept the continual illegal occupation of the Golan and the Palestinan territories. Is it because he asks for nuclear disarmament which includes Israel with its arsenal of the fourth largest in the world? Is it because he asks that all people of all faiths be considered as one people? See the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope's comments on the state of religious tolerance in Syria.

Mr. Isaac, read about Syria and visit it before you pass judgment in absentia.

[LisaGee90]

all you want to happen is someone in the oval office read this.