THE former Syrian Vice-President, Abdul Halim Khaddam, set himself up as a would-be Quisling for President Bush yesterday, after he called for a ‘popular uprising’ in Syria to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
He made the call from Paris, where he is under the protection of the French government.
France is the former colonial power in both the Lebanon and Syria, which were its spheres of influence for many years.
There is not the slightest doubt that Khaddam’s call is in direct line with the requirements of both the US and British governments who, after getting their fingers very badly burnt in Iraq, are now looking for a much cheaper victory in Syria to cover up the chronic failure of their Iraqi adventure.
In fact, the British Foreign Secretary Straw, during his visit last week to the Lebanon, revealed a positive enthusiasm for taking action against Syria.
Khaddam, speaking from Paris, said yesterday that Syrians were frustrated with the current regime and should be mobilised by the opposition groups in the country to overthrow the president.
Syria has responded that Khaddam will be tried for treason, while President Assad has said that he will not be appearing before any UN official to be questioned about the death of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq al Hariri, last year.
Damascus told the UN commission that the request to meet Bashar al-Assad violated Syria’s sovereignty.
A UN inquiry has tried to implicate Syria in the murder of the ex-Lebanese Prime Minister. Damascus, however, denies any involvement. It has stated that Syria gained nothing from the killing, which was in fact used to build up an anti-Syria hysteria, to try to prepare the way for the US and Israel to replace the Syrian presence in the Lebanon.
President Assad has denied all the allegations linking him to any plot against the Lebanon and has the support of the Syrian people and the majority of the Lebanese people for his position.
Khaddam’s call comes after a number of US military offensives inside Iraq along its border with Syria.
There have been reports of a number of incursions by US troops into Syrian territory, and of clashes between US and Syrian troops and border guards.
There have also been calls by US military officials for US troops to ignore the border with Syria and to teach the Syrian army a lesson, because of Assad’s alleged support for the Iraqi insurgency.
However, the US and British imperialists will be making an even bigger mistake than they did when they attacked Iraq, if they intervene in Syria to support some fake ‘democratic movement’ to overthrow President Assad.
Any imperialist intervention inside Syria will meet massive resistance from the Syrian masses and armed forces, and bring civil war to the Lebanon between the Hezbollah and the various Christian Maronite movements who have traditionally allied themselves with Israel, as well as bringing a storm of Scud missiles onto Tel Aviv and a number of other Israeli cities.
The British trade unions and the TUC must intervene in this developing crisis.
They must tell Blair that they will respond to any US-UK intervention into Syria by calling a general strike to bring down his government, and that not only must there be no military intervention into Syria, there must be an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.