What Assad Said

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Roundtable

End of Days for Assad?

Michael Bröning, Tony Badran, and Mara E. Karlin and Andrew J. Tabler on the increasingly brutal crackdown in Syria, the durability of the Assad regime and what, if anything, the United States can do to bring the crisis to a peaceful end.

I speak to you at an extraordinary moment when events and developments seem to pose a test to our unity and altruism. It is a test which, as circumstances would have it, recurs every so often due to the continuous conspiracies against this country. And it is our will and solidarity, and God's will, that, when facing it, we pass it every time with flying colors, which only enhances our strength and immunity.

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I know full well that the Syrian people have been waiting for this speech since last week. I deliberately delayed giving it until the picture became clear in my mind, or at least some of the main headlines of this picture. This way, today's speech would stay clear from emotional rhetoric which comforts people but does not alter or impact anything, at the time when our enemies are working every day, in an organized and scientific way, in order to strike at Syria's stability. Of course, we acknowledge their cunning in selecting highly advanced methods in what they have done, but we also acknowledge their stupidity in selecting the wrong country and people, where this type of conspiracies does not succeed.

We tell them, you have no choice but to continue to learn from your failure. As for the Syrian people, it has no other choice other than to continue to learn from its successes.

Brothers, you are aware of the major changes taking place in our region over the past few months. They are major and important changes that will have repercussions on the entire region without exception; on the Arab states but maybe even beyond. This concerns Syria, as it is part of these states.

However, if we wished to look at what concerns us, as Syria, in what has happened so far in this great Arab arena, we can say that what has happened vindicates the Syrian perspective from a very important angle. What has happened expresses a popular consensus. When there is a popular consensus we should be assured, whether we agree or disagree on many points. What does this mean? It means that the Arab popular condition which was marginalized for decades ... has now returned to the center of events in our region. This Arab condition had not changed. They tried to domesticate it but it didn't succumb, and this will have much impact.

As far as we are concerned, you recall how in my previous speeches, I used to always speak about the Arab street, and the street's compass; about the opinion of the citizen. Many in the press used to sometimes ridicule this. And foreign politicians used to reject this and smile, especially during our meetings when Syria was under severe pressure. They used to propose to us proposals that went counter to and in contradiction with our interests, and which included conspiring against the Resistance and against other Arabs. When the pressure used to mount I used to tell them, even if I were to accept these proposals, the people would not accept it. And if the people did not accept it, they will reject me, and that would mean political suicide. Of course, they used to smile incredulously. Today after these [popular] movements, there have been several meetings where I repeated the same talk, and they agreed with me.

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The other side has to do with the directions of the Arab peoples toward the central causes, at the forefront of which is the Palestinian cause. We believe and hope that our belief is correct, that these changes will lead to a change in the course of the Palestinian cause, on which it has been for the last two or three decades. A change from the course of compromises to the course of adhering to rights.

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Syria is not isolated from what is happening in the Arab world. We are part of this region. We interact. We influence and we are influenced. At the same time, however, we are not a copy of other countries. No one country resembles the other. We in Syria have characteristics that may be different in the domestic as well as in the foreign realms.

Domestically, our policy was built on development and openness; on direct communication between me and the people and citizens ... regardless of what was and what was not achieved. In terms of general principles, these are the principles of domestic policy.

Our foreign policy has been based on adhering to national and pan-Arab rights, rights to independence, and support of Arab resistance where there is occupation. The link between domestic and foreign policies has always been the same thing I noted earlier, that the compass for us in everything we do is the citizen.

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At any rate, the outcome of these two policies has been an unprecedented state of national unity in Syria. This national condition has been the reason, or the energy, or the true protector of Syria in the previous few years when pressures against Syria began. ... Through [our national unity] we managed to maintain Syria's central role.

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Increasing or maintaining this role, with its principles that are rejected by others, will push enemies to work to weaken it through other means. ... You are aware that Syria today is being subjected to a major conspiracy, with strings extending to countries near and far, and with some strings inside the country. This conspiracy is relying -- in its timing, not its form -- on what is taking places in Arab countries.