Commentary: Revelations Anwar Al-Bounni* examines Abdul-Halim Khaddam's remarks and ramifications In a dramatic send-off for 2005, the Syrian former vice-president, a man who was president of Syria for 42 days after the death of Hafez Al-Assad, appeared on Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television network and began acting as Santa Claus, handing out all sorts of gifts, some booby trapped. Abdul-Halim Khaddam threw a bomb at the Syrian regime, and a shrapnel or two found their target. He provided clues, with some credibility, to the international committee investigating the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri. Khaddam's remarks provided a boost to the parliamentary majority in Lebanon, who accuses the Syrian-Lebanese security services of killing Al-Hariri. And he dealt a serious blow to the few Lebanese parliamentarians which is still close to the Syrian regime and trying to defend it. Khaddam tried to give the international and Arab community some hope that there is an alternative to the Syrian regime, something that many have been looking for. He offered an alternative from inside the regime. He offered himself, a man with Arab and international credentials, a man who knows how the country is run and how the Syrian society operates. Khaddam has all the political and even religious credentials that qualify him to lead the country into a transitional period many hope to see started in Syria sometime soon. Many think that Khaddam gave the Syrian opposition ammunition with which to support their claims that the regime is bankrupt and has outlived its usefulness, and that the time for democracy and human rights has come. What Khaddam also did was offer Syrian propagandists the chance to show their loyalty on television. The Syrian people received Khaddam's statements with a sense of shock. They weren't astonished by what he had to say about the concentration of power and the nature of the people who run the country. Nor were they surprised by his disclosures about the rampant corruption of the past 40 years. The Syrian official media responded to Khaddam in kind, charging him with corruption without pausing to think how the mud slinging would affect their own public image. Khaddam is no Santa Claus, though. He had his own reasons for the disclosures. Under the Bashar regime, Khaddam was deprived from his former position of power. He was close to the slain prime minister and is still friend with his family. Khaddam knows that there is no real chance for real reform in Syria, despite the shenanigans. He is keenly aware that the world is looking for an alternative in Syria. And he knew that Arabs and non-Arabs alike want a smooth transition in Syria, not something radical. One thing that the Khaddam revelations did was show the fragility of the institutional composition of the Syrian regime. The hysterical reaction that the world saw unfolding on Al-Arabiya proves that the regime is little more than a few individuals. It proves that loyalty for the regime means loyalty to these particular individuals rather than to the nation and its interests. The Syrian institutions are in place to serve a few individuals and to cover up their corruption and crimes. The Syrian institutions are also quick to denounce anyone who turns against the regime. Everyone knew about the corruption and the nuclear waste scandal. Everyone knew but was silent about these crimes and many others. They did so because the perpetrator was loyal to the regime. Once the perpetrator turned against the regime, he was fair game. Another thing that the Khaddam revelations did was offer international and regional decision-makers a reasonable political alternative that they may use to change things in Syria without causing a major stir. Khaddam's television appearance and the following visit to Saudi Arabia by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, as well as the Lebanese reaction to the entire affair suggest that some decisions have been or are being made about the future of the Syrian regime. Will the next few weeks or months see dramatic changes unfolding in Syria and the region? So many questions remain unanswered. Will the Syrian regime give in, now that its options are narrowing? Will it provide painful concessions to save its key figures? Or will it continue to pretend that things will work out somehow? Will the Syrian regime make its own people pay for its mistakes? * The writer is head of the Syrian Research and Legal Studies Centre.
