This Is Not the Syria We Are Fighting For

While many Syrians are enthusiastic about the notion that a more coherent Syrian opposition exists today (Thanks mainly to the Qatari money pouring into its coffers and an unlimited Arab League support, a luxury no other opposition ever enjoyed in the past), the vision of its leadership should be of concern to the US State Department and to US Congress.

The picture to your left was taken last month (December of 2011) when a meeting was arranged between Birhan Ghalioun, who heads the SNC, and Sheikh Yussef al-Qardawi of Egypt. 

The very same month, Yussef al-Qardawi caused furor amongst the Copts of Egypt when he declared that Christmas should be banned in Egypt and so should Christmas trees.

Guessing whether Sheikh al-Qardawi will start a “Christmas tree suicide bomb squad” to please his followers is like anticipating the wondrous next Apple product in the US.

For the SNC, controlled by Islamists, to set-up Professor Ghalioun, a known liberal, for this picture has but one meaning: We own Ghalioun. The hand-holding in the picture means: Ghalioun is going nowhere. It just shows how weak Ghalioun is in the face of those planning their brand of Islam upon us all. Al-Qardawi is not even Syrian to have so much influence. 

For those amongst us shocked to see the head of the main Syrian opposition cozy-up to a hater of Christianity, please don’t let your mind wander back towards Assad or tilt to the nostalgia of a secure but horribly wrong Syria. Assad ain’t the answer to Syria’s deep-rooted problems either.

If you really want change, work for the third reasonable solution of helping real liberals and moderate Muslims by lobbying the US administration to come to its senses. You would be amazed how much influence your voice has in an election year.

Write, respectfully, the White House asking the President of the United States why he has outsourced Syria’s future to PM Recep Erdogan of Turkey. Do ask the question whether our President agrees with the notion that Christians in the Middle East should be deprived of their rights to freedom of religion.

This is why we fight for Syria.

As a Muslim, I deeply believe that the Syrian minorities are the treasure that will save us from ignorance to a more ingratiating fate. The Muslim Brotherhood interior design vision for Syria is one of submissive souls who are asked to trust their ideas and thoughts to men born in the last Millennia and who see women as walking wombs they can raid at will. 

I believe Syria’s present real policy, emanating from the White House, is too harsh for any reasonable person to accept and Syria’s future looks like a convoluted brainteaser imagined by Policy Makers we really should call them Oddity Makers.