05 May 2011 By Tariq Alhomayed President Obama has remained completely silent with
regards to what the Syrian regime is doing to its
citizens. Meanwhile, however, the US president did not
hesitate to remind the King of Bahrain of the need to
"respect the universal rights of the people"! Obama is troubled by the trial of four Bahrainis
accused of killing policemen. One of the crimes was
even caught on camera, showing a policeman being mowed
down by a car several times, as if the police do not
share the same rights as the people. At the same time
however, Obama has maintained a flawed silence towards
the deaths of more than 500 unarmed Syrians, killed by
the Syrian regime! Dr. Redwan al Sayyed was absolutely
right, in his article featured in Asharq Al-Awsat last
Friday, when he asked, "why does America 'betray' its
allies and not its opponents; nobody knows except
President Assad and the pillars of his regime!" The US and France have gone quiet, as well as
Britain whose prime minister says that intervention in
Libya is not the same as intervention in Syria, as the
former was justified by the position of the GCC states
and the Arab League. This is the same excuse used by
the Americans for not taking a firm stance towards the
Syrian regime; it is a weak excuse and is ultimately
worse than silence. Before commenting on the position of the US and the
West towards Syria, one must say that the position of
the GCC, and likewise the Arab League, is also flawed,
and there is no justification for it - how can the
Syrian nation be ruled through armoured vehicles, when
the regime claims to be republican? This goes for the
Gulf and the Arabs, but the excuses of Obama's
administration are [also] unacceptable. The White
House issued successive statements about the Egyptian
revolution and the need to remove Mubarak (we all
remember "now means now"), along with the British
Prime Minister and the French President. The White
House was not the only American entity putting
pressure on the Mubarak regime, whether through
speeches by the President or his spokesperson, there
was also the [US] State Department and Congress. Yet
Washington was not doing all of this under the cover
or the demands of the GCC states or the Arab League.
In fact Washington leaked information that was
offensive to the people of the Gulf and the Saudis in
particular, saying that they are committed to the
"dictator" Mubarak. Yet today Syrians are being killed
by their own regime and the Obama administration has
not even uttered the word "leave". In fact, the US
president has not even said that the Syrian regime has
lost its legitimacy! Here is a question for Washington and particularly
President Obama, who is famous for his "change"
slogan: what is the difference between Daraa and
Darfur, or between Daraa and Kosovo? Which is worse,
what is happening in Syria's Daraa, or what happened
in Israel as a result of Hamas' rockets launched from
Gaza? Which is worse, what is happening in Daraa or
what is happening in Bahrain, which is being
documented by an international media prohibited from
entering Syria? If Obama believes that his speech in Cairo had an
impact he must realize that his silence regarding the
Syrian regime will have an even greater and deeper
impact. The reasons for his silence are well known –
to protect Israel and not the Syrian people, who, it
seems, are not included when it comes to the
"universal rights of the people", which the US
President calls for and demands the Bahrainis to
respect! If America is a real friend of the people then with
friends like these who needs enemies! Comments 💬 التعليقات |