FPI Bulletin: The Administration's New Syria Policy is Promising, but More Needs to be Done

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From FPI Executive Director Jamie M. Fly and Policy Analyst Evan Moore

In a promising yet long overdue development, the United States signaled today that it no longer views Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be a “reformer.” “Syria would be better off without him,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said of Assad.  “He’s lost his legitimacy.”

Yet the Obama administration, once again, stopped short of explicitly calling for Assad to step down—despite the fact that Assad's forces have killed more than 2,000 civilians since protests first began in March 2011 and are now escalating their lethal offensive on protestors during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
 
It is regrettable that the White House has been slow to respond to emerging democratic movements not just in Syria, but throughout the broader Middle East.  This has proved detrimental to America’s reputation in the region.  To take a key example, Egyptian activists refused to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her March 2011 visit to Cairo, citing disappointment that President Obama had taken so long to support Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.

In Syria, influential figures in the country’s protest movement are starting to raise similar doubts about the United States.  As opposition leader Razan Zaytouneh, a 34-year-old human rights lawyer currently in hiding in Syria, told the Italian-based Arabic news service Adnkronos, “There is an overwhelming feeling among Syrians that the Western states are giving chance after chance to the regime in order to repress the revolution, and that there are no real efforts to condemn and to demand for the regime to leave.” 
 
To reverse this perception, the White House should take steps that leave no doubt about where the United States stands.  To begin with, President Obama should demand—clearly and without equivocation—that Assad step down and make clear that it is the policy of the United States to help the Syria people achieve their democratic aspirations.
 
The United States should also take advantage of emerging fault lines within the Syrian government.  Economic sanctions by European and other partners — including blacklisting companies and financial institutions that do business with the Assad regime and a U.S.-led multilateral boycott of Syria’s energy sector—could also persuade the business elite in Damascus to break with the regime.  The administration should also step up its regional diplomacy by sending feelers out to senior Syrian officials that might want to defect from or even overthrow the Assad regime, and discouraging Syria's neighbors from providing much-needed financial resources.

Last month, U.S. Ambassador to Damascus Robert Ford made an unannounced visit to the violence-wracked city of Hama.  That was an encouraging use of public diplomacy.  However, it is doubtful that, if confirmed by the Senate, Ford will be allowed by the Assad regime to be an effective voice for the United States.  Therefore, unless the administration is prepared to use Ford as a proactive envoy to the Syrian people, the White House should seriously consider keeping him in Washington until he can represent U.S. interests in a post-Assad Syria.
 
Despite the early removals of Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak from power, the Arab Spring has settled into a stalemate between dictators and demonstrators.  The outcome of the Syrian people’s quest for their fundamental rights will be critical to the outcome of the Arab Spring.
 
As the leader of the free world, President Obama wields unparalleled moral authority.  The steps the administration took today are long overdue and much needed.  Now the onus is on the President to make clear that the United States is willing to follow up rhetoric with action.

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Additional FPI Resources

• Five Steps to Hasten Assad’s Exit – Foreign Policy Initiative – July 14, 2011

• Syria's Nuclear Impunity – FPI Executive Director Jamie Fly and Policy Advisor Robert Zarate – The Weekly Standard – May 28, 2011

Suggested Reading

• Obama Must Call for Assad’s Ouster – Open Letter – Freedom House, Genocide Intervention Network/Save Darfur Coalition, Project on Middle East Democracy – August 10, 2011

• Engage With Syria—the People, Not the Regime – Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) – August 10, 2011

• Responding to Syria: The King's Statement, the President's Hesitation – John Hannah – Shadow Government – August 9, 2011

• Assad's Noose Tightens – Lee Smith – The Weekly Standard Blog – August 9, 2011

• The Arab States and Syria – Editorial – New York Times – August 8, 2011

• This Can Only End with the Assads’ Fall – David Gardner – Financial Times – August 8, 2011

• A Battle Plan to Stop Assad: Three Steps to Focus the Brutal Dictator's Mind – Benjamin Weinthal – New York Daily News – August 8, 2011

• Is the U.S. Ambassador to Syria Being Unfairly Blamed for the Administration’s Bad Policy? – David Schenker – The New Republic – August 4, 2011

• Who Will Help the Syrians? – Editorial – New York Times – August 3, 2011

• Preventing Civil War in Syria – Elliott Abrams – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) – August 2, 2011

• Ten Questions Ambassador Ford Should Have Been Asked – Elliott Abrams – The Weekly Standard Blog – August 2, 2011

• Syria’s Ramadan Massacre – Editorial – Washington Post – August 1, 2011

• The New Hama Rules – Editorial – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) – August 1, 2011

• Syria’s Energy Sector: It’s Importance in Sanctioning the Assad Regime and Supporting Pro-Democracy Reformers – Foundation for Defense of Democracies – August 2011

• To Topple Assad, it Takes a Minority – Bassma Kodmani – New York Times – July 31, 2011

• Free Syria – Lee Smith – The Weekly Standard – July 23, 2011