President Al-Assad: the Warrior against Terrorism (8)

 Terrorism is has never been a Syrian Phenomenon; extremist Islamic matrices have characterized this unfortunately international phenomenon. Syria has faced and defeated a frenzy terrorist phenomenon by Moslem Brotherhood gangs by the end of the seventies and beginning of the eighties of the last century. Actually some of those who supported such a frenzy phenomenon are themselves the same now who support the ongoing terrorism against Syrians, particularly some ewes, Jordan and the USA. The Late President Hafez Al-Assad was able to lead the battle of all Syrians against terrorism and to put an end to terrorism against Syrians.

Syria, a secular peaceful country under the only secular leadership in this part of the world, since the beginning of the 21st Century once more has been the target of terrorism. This very terrorism under many forms: occupation, threats, sanctions, derailed the ambitious plans of reforms and modernization, not to mention the heavy losses inflicted on all sectors of Syrian life. The US-made terrorism and Wahabi exported terrorism from dozens of countries mushroomed and escalated. Foolishly, Israel the occupier of the Arab land, embraced, hosted and sponsored by itself this terrorism! Here comes the historic role and leadership of the Syrian Army and its Supreme Commander, President Bashar Hafez Al-Assad, the man who has been defending heroically not only his country, the region but the whole world against terrorism.

H.E. President Bashar Hafez Al-Assad is indeed the world number one man in combating terrorism; he has been in words as well as in deeds leading every effort as to outline, define , combat and eradicate terrorism. Among the points to be highlighted to this effect and for this noble purpose are:

“The problem is not whether Bin Laden is dead or alive. The problem is that there is a certain reality that is aggravating hatred and tension among peoples. It is this reality and its causes that should be addressed instead of looking for certain persons.”

“The advent of the 21st century came while the world was astonished at the criminal act of 11th September last year in the United States, which we immediately denounced and condemned, specially that Syria suffered from terrorism and has experience in combating it.”

“In order that the fight against terrorism achieve its purpose, there should be a clear definition of terrorism and discrimination between it and legitimate struggle against aggression and occupation.”

  “You are aware that Syria called for this several years ago, and you recall that the late President Hafez al-Assad called during his visit to Athens in 1986 for an international forum to define terrorism so that the peoples of the world may be fully aware of what they combat.”

  “However, to our surprise there was a reversal of conceptions and theories, and there appeared that in the war against terrorism some conceived this war as a war against people, who strive to restore their rights.”

 “There are terrorist operations in Iraq that claim the lives of innocent people; those we reject categorically. But there is also a resistance movement, and that’s a different issue altogether — a completely normal issue.”

 “It also accused Saddam of having weapons of mass destruction. But seriously, if you ask Americans whether they’ve been successful at sealing the border with Mexico, they’ll tell you that it’s a very difficult proposition. We’ve made it very clear to the Americans that it’s impossible to completely control our border with Iraq. But we also tell them that the war itself is what’s causing the chaos. It’s not exactly fair to make a mistake yourself and then start blaming others for it.”

 “This new enemy that emerged in the nineties is our Islamic religion, the religion of justice, love and ethics, which was deformed in the media and education to look as a religion for killing, extremism and terrorism. Whenever there is unrest in any region in the world, fingers of accusation are pointed at Islam, even though there are no Moslems in that region. And every act of destruction or terrorism is considered done by a Moslem until the opposite is proven and most often the opposite is proven. But the accusation remains.”

 Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim