Syria is steadfast in its political stance, even as the United States tries to win over its president Al-Assad, writes Sami Moubayed For many years, a popular saying in Washington DC had it that Syria's only ability was the ability to de-stabilise. This gave sufficient impetus for the Clinton administration to negotiate with the Syrians in order to reach agreements regarding South Lebanon and Palestine during the 1990s. This situation has now changed. Washington now believes that the Syrians are architects of stability, if they so want, rather than chaos. On 3 April, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Damascus, injecting fresh hope into Syrian-US relations. Pelosi, a Californian Democrat, however, does not represent the Bush Administration. Her trip comes amid a rising chorus in the US that calls for engaging with the Syrians. The Americans realise that they have two ways to deal with Iraq, which are to talk to either Syria or Iran. Talking with both seems too difficult, despite the cosmetic meeting that took place in Baghdad on 10 March. Continuing to isolate both is also impossible and so the Americans would rather talk to Syria. Damascus cannot resolve US problems in Iraq -- that was made clear by President Bashar Al-Assad in an interview with ABC last February. Syria can, however, moderate Iranian behaviour. For some time now, the Americans did not really know what to do about the Syrian-Iranian alliance. Some wanted to destroy it. Others wanted to invest in it as a stepping stone towards a dialogue with the Iranians. Destroying it by force would be too difficult, many reasoned. The US is pleased by the Arab countries' recent positive gestures towards Syria as embodied at the recent Arab summit. It feels that if Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are able to regain the trust and confidence of the Syrians, who in turn would reciprocate with a show of "Pan-Arabism" then this perhaps might get Damascus to cuddle up to the Arab world once again, and break out of the Iranian orbit. That does not mean, however, that they want to end the Syrian-Iranian alliance. On the contrary, they believe that Syria is a moderate country that can be approached. It does not have Iranian ambitions in Iraq, nor is it historically an anti- American country. Syria can produce results in the Sunni street of Iraq. And it can talk to the Iranians about the Shia street as well. Syrian control of the Sunni street in Iraq, however, is limited. It only controls part of it. The other part is controlled by the Saudis. So long as Syrian-Saudi relations were strained over Lebanon, it was believed that there was very little that the Syrians could actually do in Iraq. Now, that animosity has ended with the rapprochement that took place in Riyadh between President Al-Assad and King Abdullah. This is what the Syrians have wanted the Americans to realise, ever since 2003. As early as September 2004, Syrian Ambassador to Washington Emad Mustafa delivered a message to the Bush administration, expressing his country's willingness to cooperate in bringing security and stability to Iraq. The Americans did not reply, and, according to a recent article by the ambassador, "the US was not interested". Matters continued to escalate, with the US refusing to seek help from the Syrians until the Baker- Hamilton report came out in 2006. It too called for dialogue with the Syrians. So did other former secretaries of state, like Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger. Powell even gave an interview to Newsweek saying that during his last visit to Syria in 2003, he received a lot of cooperation from the Syrians. This challenges the US argument that Syria refused to cooperate in the early days, following the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Over the past six months numerous US officials have gone to Syria, from both the Republican and Democratic parties. At the top of the list of Republican visitors were Alan Specter (Pennsylvania), and two days ahead of Pelosi's visit, Frank Wolf (Virginia), Joe Pitts (Pennsylvania) and Robert Aderholt (Alabama). Last month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that based on the National Intelligence Estimate, "Syria is not causing strife within Iraq." He added, "the Syrians have nothing to do with it." Colonel William Crowe, who controls the Iraqi side of its border with Syria, spoke of the number of fighters coming in from Syria saying, "there is no large influx of foreign fighters that come across the border." The Syrians and Americans sat down in Baghdad on 10 March, followed 24 hours later by a visit to Damascus from Ellen Sauerbrey, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration. She came with a delegation from UNHCR to discuss the status of some 1.2 million Iraqi refugees residing in Syria. The Syrians interpreted her visit as a prelude to dialogue, not further confrontation, with Washington. Finally, the Brammertz report came out last month, praising Syria's cooperation with the UN commission investigating the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri. Brammertz noted, "the last three missions in particular were arranged and facilitated in a professional and timely manner by the Syrian authorities." The report added that Syria "has continued to provide the commission with assistance in response to its requests within the appropriate time scales, and the commission is grateful for the logistical and security arrangements provided by Syrian authorities." Requests for further assistance were sent to 23 countries. Some countries did not cooperate, Brammertz adds. Syria was not one of them, meaning, that it was complying with UN resolutions. Then came the visit by the UN chief negotiator Javier Solana to Damascus, in mid-March 2007. Solana asked the Syrians to use their influence in Lebanon to get the opposition, spearheaded by Hizbullah, to end the tension with the cabinet of European-backed Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora. He wanted Hizbullah to withhold its veto of the international tribunal investigating the Hariri case, promising, in return, a resumption of talks on the occupied Golan Heights, in addition to the EU agreement. His tone was conciliatory and he referred to the Syrians as "friends who could be relied upon". So far, the international media has made a big fuss over President Bush's condemnation of Pelosi's meeting with the Syrian president. Bush stated, "a lot of people have gone to see President Al-Assad, and we haven't seen action. He hasn't responded." He added, "sending delegations doesn't work. It's simply counter-productive." The Syrians, however, ignored President Bush and gave Pelosi a red-carpet welcome in Damascus. She went on a tour of the Old City and described it as "wonderful". The Syrians, meanwhile, continue to criticise the US administration. Speaking to the Saudi daily paper Al-Jazeera, President Al-Assad said, "this is an American administration without a vision". Other officials made similar statements. The Syrians, after all, have every reason to feel confident and comfortable. The Americans are back in Damascus and the Syrians did not have to alter a single position to get them to return. They remained adamant about their relationship with Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas, while still calling the US presence in Iraq an occupation, still supporting Iran's right to have nuclear technology, and still upholding the democratic choice of the Palestinians in having a Hamas-led government.
