WHY SHOULD IRAQIS HAVE ALL THE FUN?:

Free Damascus (NIR BOMS & ERICK STAKELBECK, Nov. 27, 2003, Jerusalem Post)

[T]he Reform Party of Syria (RPS), a fledgling US-based political movement comprised of resident Syrians and Syrians living abroad... was formed shortly after 9/11 to express a voice that has been virtually nonexistent in Syria under 40 years of oppressive Ba'ath Party rule: a voice of freedom.

For members of RPS, the president's castigation of "dictators in Iraq and Syria" who "promised the restoration of national honor [and] left instead a legacy of torture, oppression, misery, and ruin," represented an anchor of hope for a new Syria, one free from extremism, terror and iron-fisted rule.

While talk of Middle East reform usually centers on Iraqi de-Ba'athification or the student protesters of Iran, RPS has become increasingly visible during the last few months, spearheading a pro-democracy message framed in the context of a new Syrian constitution.

For members of RPS, the post-9/11 reality presented both a challenge and an opportunity. The time had come to speak out against the perpetual police state their homeland had become under decades of Ba'ath Party rule.

Next year in Damascus...

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 27, 2003 9:36 AM