Vali In Washington: The Alawites Worse
Than Shiites - Khomeini Adopted Them In Support Of
Hafez al-Assad
02 August 2012By Tariq Alhomayed
There appears to be a heated debate in the corridors
of America's political capital about the formation of
a specific stance towards the situation in Syria,
between those who see the need to intervene because
the current timing is favorable, and as a matter of
preparing for the post-Assad phase, and between those
who believe that matters should not be pushed in order
to change the existing equation in Syria, i.e. in
order to remove minority Alawite rule!
It may seem to the reader that this article is both
frank and provocative in terms of its use of certain
terms such as "minority", "Alawite", "Shiite" and so
on. But these descriptions are borne out of necessity,
and we must call things by their proper names, because
there are those who are doing this very clearly in the
American media today, as part of the debate there
surrounding the situation in Syria. This is what we
have seen recently in a number of articles in major
American newspapers, some of which seem to be the
result of a "press briefing" given to senior American
journalists from the US administration. The consensus
between the majority of writers, in spite of their
differing ideologies, has become clear, and likewise
the style of media coverage is heading in one
direction, particularly trying to emphasize the
presence of al-Qaeda in Syria, although previous
official US statements played down these claims!
The latest of these sectarian, journalistic narratives
can be found in the recent article by Vali Nasr,
author of the thesis "The Shia Revival". Nasr is an
American of Iranian origin, Dean of the Johns Hopkins
School of Advanced International Studies, and advisor
to President Obama's special envoy in Pakistan and
Afghanistan. He was one of the most prominent
instigators of the US invasion in Iraq, and is a
staunch advocate of America's alliance with the
region's Shiites. Nasr recently wrote an article in
the New York Times entitled "Syria After the Fall",
where he adopts the persona of an Iranian living in
Washington and offers not so much a political and
analytical insight as a sectarian assessment.
To summarize Nasr's piece, he called for power sharing
in Syria with the consensus of Russia and Iran,
because there are "more than a million Shiite Muslims
in Syria". This is a simplistic sectarian assessment,
and not political analysis. Some might argue that
Nasr's proposal would be similar to the Taif
Agreement, but this is also naivety, for the Taif
Agreement had its reasons in Lebanon, but the Syrian
composition is not the same, nor does it need
sectarian quotas!
The Alawites are not Shiites, but Khomeini adopted
them as such in support of Hafez al-Assad, and in
order to enhance his capabilities in the region. To
say that there are one million Shiites in Syria lacks
accuracy, for there are no reliable statistics to
support that. This is the problem we are seeing now in
certain areas of the US media, particularly among
sectarian researchers in their dealings with the
proportion of Shiites in our region, where there is no
checking or documentation on their part. However, if
we assume that the "one million" figure is correct in
Syria, how can it be that a researcher such as Nasr
previously defended the Shiite majority in Iraq - of
course they were not the majority - and their right to
rule, and then returns to warn against the Sunni
majority ruling in Syria, fearing for the Alawite
minority, which he calls Shiite? This is simplistic
sectarian analysis!
The intention here is not to respond to the claims
made in Vali Nasr's article, for that would take too
long, but the objective is to alert some of our Arabs
to what is being plotted in Washington by so-called
researchers who enjoy prestigious status, and are
close to the decision making circles of President
Obama…Will anyone take notice?
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London.
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EsinIslam.Com
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