Blogger Marc Lynch interviews US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford.
"I have seen no evidence yet in terms of hard changes on ground that the Syrian government is willing to reform at anything like the speed demanded by the street protestors. If it doesn’t start moving with far greater alacrity, the street will wash them away."
That was the blunt verdict offered by U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford in a wide-ranging telephone interview with Foreign Policy today. Ford sharply criticized the Syrian government's continuing repression against peaceful protestors and called on President Bashar al-Assad to "take the hard decisions" to begin meaningful reforms before it is too late. Not, Ford stressed, because of American concerns but because of the impatience of the Syrian opposition itself. "This is not about Americans, it is about the way the Syrian government mistreats its own people," Ford stressed repeatedly. "This is really about Syrians interacting with other Syrians. I’m a marginal thing on the sidelines. I’m not that important."
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But thus far, the Syrian regime has chosen to violently crack down on peaceful protests across the country, and has not made the kind of reforms which might have at an earlier point saved the regime. I asked Ford when the Syrian regime's violence would cross the line, when the repression and violence might have gone too far for any peaceful transition to be possible. "That's really not a question for Americans," he responded. "It's a question for the Syrian opposition, a lot of whom are quite tough. I've met enough of them, and believe me, they are a lot tougher than anyone in the Washington Post or the U.S. Senate. They know exactly what they are doing. I have talked to people who have lost immediate family, who have been killed or jailed. Nothing focuses the mind like that."
The Obama administration doesn't get it either. Ford keeps acting as if there's some expectation that Assad will reform (as do Obama and Clinton), and that if he does, the Syrian people will stop the uprising. We're long past that.
They're lining up to kick sand in the face of the President of the United States tonight. The Arab League is next. They're unhappy that certain American officials aren't speaking nicely to Syria.
In response to statements by U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has lost his legitimacy, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi said that he opposes verbal attacks on Syrian leaders.
Al-Arabi added that no one has a right to determine that the president of any country has lost his legitimacy, except for the people who elected him.
After meeting with Al-Assad, Al-Arabi said that there is no pressure on the Arab League to make a decision on Syria similar to the one made on Libya.
This guy is an embarrassment to the United States. Where are the Marines? Oh yeah, i forgot. They have orders not to shoot.
Syrian foreign minister kicks sand in Obama's face
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem kicked sand in the face of US President Barack Hussein Obama by threatening to restrict the movements of US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'alem admitted in a press conference that regime supporters, who infiltrated the U.S. Embassy compound in Damascus on July 11 while protesting a visit by the U.S. Ambassador to the town of Hama, erred.
Al-Mu'alem said that the protest was legitimate, and the regime was sympathetic to it, but as a country, they are responsible for protecting the embassy.
He added that if the U.S. Ambassador travels to other cities without the regime's approval, Syria would act like the U.S., which limits movements by certain diplomats serving in its territory to a radius of 25 km.
If Obama wanted to withdraw Ford, does anyone think he could get him out at this point (short of military action, which we know Obama would never take against any country other than Israel except maybe with UN approval)? What could go wrong?
Michael Rubin lays out some of the consequences (or what should - but likely won't be the consequences) in the event that it turns out that Syrian pilots have been shot down over Libya.
But first, let's go to the videotape.
According to one of the comments on YouTube:
Full info: The plane that was shot down was a Su-24MK "Fencer-D" a downgraded version of the soviet version but still a capable ground attack aircraft made in the early 90s.
The gunner is on his first day on the job and one of the barrels of the gun (A ZPU-4 Designed in 1949!) was not working.
Make no doubt about it, either this guy is an AA god or he just got a really lucky shot.
And here's a translation of the video from French to English:
... We're about 600 kns from Tripoli. This zone is strategic and this is the important refinery in Libya. As we enter Ras Lanuf dam, people start pointing something out to us, it's one of #G's fighter jets flying overhead.
'Don't stay there, move out' ' Into the cards, quick!'
The rebels fire, the plane passes once more above the refinery.
Suddenly, there's a thick smoke that looks like a bomb. The men wait, scrutinize the horizon and then joy explodes. "The plane crashed over there, we hit the plane."
A man wants to show us the hero of the day, all the rebels surround him to celebrate his feat.
"There's only one working cannon (defective equipment) and I still managed to shoot it down anyway. I'm not trained, I'm not a soldier and I still hit it when it came back'
"Approximately 4kms from here there are 2 pilots, come see them quickly".
We follow the with our car in the desert.
At the scene, pieces of metal still smoking... the remains of the fighter jet that had been flying overhead... the bodies of the 2 pilots. According to their papers, 1 Libyan and 1 Syrian. The jet's wing is an unimaginable war prize for the rebels.
Overnight, these reports have taken a new twist: Al Jazeera is reporting that free Libyan forces have downed two Syrian planes in Ras Lanuf, about 400 kilometers west of Benghazi. Unconfirmed reports had earlier suggested that the free Libyans had downed two Sukhoi SU-22s, which is what the Libyans train on in Syria.
If these reports are true, it is time for President Obama to bring home Robert Ford, his recess appointment as ambassador to Syria. Successful engagement requires sincerity of both partners. Obama may be sincere, but it is clear that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not. We do not need to cut off dialogue — we still have an embassy in Damascus and can pursue the daily requirements of diplomacy, whatever they may be, at a more junior level.
Many senators remain upset that Obama refused to address their concerns on Syria and dispatched Ford as a recess appointment. They gave Obama’s outreach to Syria three months. Rather than improve Assad’s behavior, however, engagement has only worsened it. This is true even if the rumors of Syrian participation are exaggerated.
If Obama refuses to bring Ford home, perhaps it is time for Congress to reassert itself and play hardball with the State Department’s budget.
With Republicans in control of the House, there's even a chance that could happen.
The Obama administration is trying out its new 'engagement' with Syria.
The US condemned Syria on Saturday for the secret trial of a young blogger on "spurious" spy charges and appealed for her immediate release.
Tal al-Mallohi was taken into custody in December 2009. Her blog, known for poetry and social commentary, focused mostly on the suffering of Palestinians. It was not clear whether al-Mallohi's arrest was connected to the blog.
The United States on Saturday demanded that Syria release a blogger who was jailed on suspicion of spying against the regime. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley demanded that Damascus free Tal Al-Mallouhi, saying that the accusations against her were “false and without basis.” She was arrested in December 2009, after the army accused her of helping agents of a foreign country attack a Syrian army officer.
I wonder if this is the attack they have in mind. It would be kind of ironic for the Syrians to be accusing a pro-'Palestinian' blogger of helping Israel, wouldn't it?
But in any event, the Obama administration's pleas are likely to fall on deaf ears.
This comment by Charles Krauthammer from Thursday night's Fox News All Stars is too good not to pass along. He's discussing President Obumbler's naming an ambassador to Syria.
We haven’t had an ambassador because we know, we suspect — we’re sure, actually, Syrians were involved in the murder of Rafik Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon, a broad daylight assassination. At that time, he was the leader of the anti-Hezbollah, the anti-Syria forces.
As a result, there was a [international] court that was convened. The Bush administration pushed hard to have it active. It will render a verdict in days now, and it will indict high-level Hezbollah officials in Lebanon and probably Syria.
This is a regime that has been arming Hezbollah to the teeth [with] tens of thousands of rockets, violating every provision of the truce that was declared after the Second Israel-Lebanon War, [is an] ally of Iran, essentially an enemy of the United States, undermining all our activities and infiltrating itself into Lebanon out of which it had been kicked in 2005.
All of this is happening and what does the administration do? It sends an ambassador in return for absolutely nothing. Returning an ambassador after withdrawal is a sign of conciliation and, in this case, appeasement. There is nothing, there is no reason to do it. Obama had a dream that if he sweet-talked Assad he would get Syria to break its relations with Iran and Hezbollah and become an ally of the United States. It [the Obama administration] gave all kind of inducements. It was humiliated by Assad’s response. He expressed contempt for these inducements — [and] the United States offered it in return, the return of an ambassador! It’s appeasement of the first order.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
Blogger Marc Lynch interviews US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. 
