Syria, Day 20 of 85: Assad's speech, and Reason #265 for my hating George W. Bush

I had a really happy little post to put up today, but I think it would be inappropriate to go with it and thus ignore the significant political activity of the past 12 hours. And since politics are never happy...I now have a less-than-happy post.

About 10 hours ago, President Bashar Assad addressed the Syrian people in a highly-anticipated speech about Syria's role in the international community. For those who don't follow foreign politics, here's the best run-down I can give without double-checking my facts (so please forgive any inaccuracies and post corrections if you have them; I'm not the best at following international news):

-6-8 months ago, an explosion killed Rafik Hariri, a former Prime Minister of Lebanon. A lot of people--but most especially Lebanon--thought Syria was behind the killing.

-Bush jumped on the bandwagon, using Hariri's murder as a springboard for ordering long-standing Syrian troops out of Lebanon. Syrian president Assad said, "Working on it." Bush said, "Now." Assad pulled out all the troops.

-An investigation began to find the truth behind Hariri's murder. The UN got involved, Lebanon and America got itchy...and then, maybe a month or two ago, one of the Syrian intelligence members who was scheduled for investigation suddenly "committed suicide," taking all his knowledge with him. Bush, Lebanon, and the UN were not pleased.

-About 3 weeks ago, Bush and the UN started pushing Syria harder, demanding they cooperate with the Hariri investigation. Notably, said investigation started cornering Assad's incredibly powerful brother-in-law.

And then, today, Assad spoke to his people about all this. The streets of Damascus were crowded and throngs of students (as young as high-school-aged) filled the University of Damascus to hear their president speak. To oversimplify, he said this:

"We'll cooperate to an extent, but we won't roll over and die."

It was a more aggressive speech than I think a lot of people were expecting, and even had some pretty unusual criticism of the Lebanese government. Assad said that various powers are trying to divide Syria and continue the already-underway destruction of the Arabic culture. He pretty much said that the Syrian people need to stick together against this outside aggression.

I'm not going to take a side in this--I'm just a bystander with limited information. If you want more educated commentary on this whole thing, I direct you to syriacomment.com. But there isn't a doubt in my mind that America is using the whole Hariri murder as an excuse to get the world to turn on Syria. Hell, it's a powerful Arab country that Bush hasn't either chained to his administration or blown the hell out of yet. Time to move! And Bush's international policy bullshit--aka treating every other country like the kid who kicked over his sandcastle, his evil and insubordinate underling, or the mentally-retarded step-son he keeps locked in his attic--has been particularly bad with Syria. For example:

-Bush says Syria is letting insurgents and militants and other nasty people into Iraq, so they have to put a stop to it. Syria puts in an effort. Bush says it's not good enough...despite the fact that the area between Syria and Iraq has LOTS OF DESERT FILLED WITH WANDERING PEOPLES WHO AREN'T REGISTERED IN ANY NATION. "Spend all your time and money doing a ridiculously hard thing because I say so, and because I started a war I can't handle!...That's not enough time and money! BAD SYRIA!"

-Bush says Hariri's murder just brings up the fact that Syrian troops should be out of Lebanon immediately. Assad pulls out the troops, surprisingly close to immediately. Bush continues to push the Hariri investigation whilst trying to demonize Syria. "Look, my American people! Syria's not cooperating with us! WHY AREN'T THEY COOPERATING WITH US?!...Although ignore all the cooperation thus far."

No, Syria isn't doing everything America says, but would you? The concessions Syria makes--serious concessions, mind you--are never enough for America. America went to an unjust war with a Syrian neighbor. America's given money and weapons and power to Israel for years, when Syria's been at war with Israel for years. If you were Syria, would you do everything America says? Would you do anything America said?

I'm just honestly sick of the way America picks and chooses its evil Arab nemeses based on the "Do they agree with us or not?" test. America: "Disagree with us? We'll use your scandals as a reason to threaten and/or invade you. Think America is a-ok? We'll ignore all your shit." *cough*saudiarabia*cough* Bush does the same thing with his staff. "Agree with me? Then here, here's an extremely important job you're not qualified for." *cough*FEMA*cough* At least his own party called him on that when he tried to put his right-hand lady friend on the Supreme Court.

I haven't seen the American news in weeks, but I sincerely hope Syria's protests have been broadcast there. The people aren't blowing things up, they're not burning effigies...it's been students with signs chanting in the streets. I drove by a crowd of students--both Syrian and foreign--setting up station at a busy street intersection and drawing honks from pleased drivers. I read protest signs on Arabic TV, noticing the painted English words were things like "Illegal" as opposed to "Die." If American media hasn't completely dropped the ball, they'll show their images of burning cars in Iraq next to the peaceful, educated political protests in Syria. God knows the Americans need to see it's not all death and destruction over here.

When my aunt picked me up from the airport 20 days ago, the first thing she said--with a sad smile--was "We're afraid Bush will kill us." I told her there was no way Bush could justify a war just because he didn't like the way a government operated...but, then again, that's what I said about Iraq.