US Out of Touch with Reality: US Historian

An American historian says the US calculations about the collapse of the Syrian government and their portrayal of situation on the ground in Syria are “out of touch with reality,” Press TV reports.

Dr. Webster Tarpley wrote in an article published on Press TV website that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s “defiant and self-confident” speech on January 6 shattered the optimism of US think tanks about the collapse of his government.

Referring to a remark by the US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, that Assad was “out of touch with reality,” Tarpley quoted an expatriate Syrian journalist as saying that “many Syrians wonder whether it isn’t the United States and its allies who are out of touch….”

The American political critic says according to reports, areas under the control of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) are exhibiting characteristics of a “failed state.”

Tarpley said the US, as the main sponsor of foreign militants in Syria, has been taken aback by reports about the “rising wave of hatred in northern Syria” towards the FSA due to their “catastrophic misrule.”

    “Ordinary Syrians of all backgrounds are increasingly disgusted by the corruption, incompetence, and oppression of the FSA regime. The rebel chaos is contributing to a significant increase in the popularity of Assad and his regime, which had guaranteed stability and freedom from the worst privations for decades,” Tarpley added.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants fighting the Syrian government are foreign nationals.

Earlier,  James Jatras, former US Senate foreign policy analyst, told Press TV that what could be done to stop the crisis in Syria is to move towards a genuine national reconciliation and a negotiated settlement.

According to a UN report, militants from 29 countries have so far infiltrated into Syria to fight against the Damascus government, most of whom are extremist Salafists. The Syrian government has repeatedly said that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and that a very large number of the militants operating in the country are foreign nationals.

Press TV has conducted an interview with James Jatras, former US Senate foreign policy analyst, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Mr. Jatras, the crisis in Syria is literally taking its toll on civilians and is taking a turn for the worse. Just what can be done to stop this crisis?

Jatras: Well what could be done to stop this crisis is supposed to move towards a genuine national reconciliation and negotiate a settlement and as I have consistently said that the only way that could happen is that the West powers take off the table the a priori demand that Bahsar al-Assad must step down.

We must have negotiations with no pre-conditions and we got to suspend this policy of supplying weapons and money to these insurgent groups that include so many groups like Jabhat al-Nusra that are al-Qaeda links and engage in terrorism of this sort.

Press TV: We see in this process that several countries in the region especially Qatar and Saudi Arabia are funding and actually arming these terrorists in Syria?

Jatras: That unfortunately is the case. I think they look at this as kind of an ideological war that they could bring their Sunni clients in Syria to power particularly the Muslim Brotherhood.

They see this as a move against Iran which they consider an ideological as well as a geopolitical threat and they think they can keep up this behavior, they can find some way to drag NATO into this war, the way the Obama administration intervened in Libya.

Press TV: Of course with the NATO being involved physically on the ground along the border with Turkey, what will happen in the foreseeable future do you think?

Jatras: I think there is a real split in Washington as there is elsewhere between people who want to get us into this war and other people who don’t want us in this war and I think that the…is designed as a tripwire to create an incident that would “justify” a NATO intervention. I think other people opposed to that but it is a very, very dangerous deployment.

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