“Fallujah is closer to Washington than New Orleans”
You might expect that to be a critique of the Bush administration–but when Samir al-Taqi said it, he was being anything but critical. That is actually the way he explained the stark reality that is shaping the way he and other intellectuals are approaching Syrian foreign policy.
If it were a critique of the Bush administration, as it should have been, al-Taqi would not have followed up with, “we need the United States to discuss regional problems.” Are you sure you don’t need regional actors to discuss regional problems? And if the US is a de facto regional actor, isn’t it time for it to get the fuck out and start being a regional actor in the vicinity of, say, New Orleans?
If it were a show of resistance, anything close to opposition to the American empire, they would not be offering “advice” to the next imperial president. Sami al-Moubayed would not have bent over backwards to prove that Syria is a good pet, “ready to be helpful [to Washington]” as long as it stops its “campaign to vilify and demonize Syria.” Is Syrian foreign policy really: don’t hurt our feelings (or threaten our assets) or we won’t support your imperial aspirations in the Middle East? Bilateral imperialism is still imperialism.
I get the impression that Syrian officialdom lives vicariously through Hasan Nasrallah’s resistance. Anybody who thought otherwise has not noticed the opportunistic nature of the “official” image of defiance. We should not think, anyway, that these three would have dared go to Washington and extend a hand to AIPAC had they not run their plans by somebody else first.
Fallujah is closer to Washington than New Orleans.
This is, truly, a dark, dark comedy–only nobody knows to laugh.
One Response to ““Fallujah is closer to Washington than New Orleans””
By Nour on Jul 27, 2008
Thank you for that Yaman. I was disgusted when I read what Samir Taqi and the rest of these so-called “intellectuals” had to say. It was an act of utter humiliation in which they were begging the US to treat Syria as a good pet. The very fact that they even attended such an event at the very Zionist Saban Center was enough for me to lose respect for these people. But to follow it with such nonsensical, intellectually bankrupt statements completed the farce.