US fighting proxy war in Syria

Press TV has conducted an exclusive interview with George Jabour, president of the Syrian UN Association, to further discuss the issue.

The following is a rough transcript of the interview.

Press TV: Persian Gulf dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia & Qatar are leading the Arab League's censure of Syria. Why does no one see the very-obvious hypocrisy at play here?

Jabour: Because they intend to harm Syria. Their objective is not democracy, is not fighting dictatorships, but it is to harm Syria. It is to stop Syria from continuing its path of resisting the Israeli ambitions in the Arab world. It is quite clear. I suppose democracy has other ways to reach it.

Press TV: Considering the fact that, as you pointed out, this stance against Syria is because of its resistance to Israel, does that make any sense to you though as an Arab considering the fact that Saudi Arabia and Qatar both claim that they stand for Palestine?

Jabour: They stand for Palestine, but the military of the United States is in Qatar. And the alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United States is very, very long.

Let me say this, there was need for reform in Syria, political reforms especially, and this was not taken into account by the regime for several years. The whole thing started, perhaps, because of the need for internal political reforms in Syria.

But then Syria did not strike at that point. The president declared that he is for reform. He supported the demonstrators in their demands and met with them.

But then something else came into the picture which was the need for plans already prepared for Syria coming from various parts of the world, Israel, the United States, and the Egyptian revolution of certain Arab elements in the neighboring and in the Arab countries. This is true. It should be addressed as it is.

Now the unrest sort of put a [stop] into political reforms, but political reforms are continuing in Syria. We are waiting for more political reforms. More steps should be taken by the regime. Of course, the unrest does not rest. Yet, we have to combine those - the unrest and the dialogue, both at the same time.

The dialogue should be with the opposition groups that are in Syria and this should be done within a few, perhaps, days, weeks, I don't know. The government talks about a national dialogue conference, and the foreign minister admitted that the material was made in preparing this national dialogue conference.

Press TV: I'd like to go back to the issue with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has, currently, troops in Bahrain to crush protests there and, in fact, even supports Bahraini authorities who torture physicians that dare to treat protesters in that country. Is it really conceivable that Saudi Arabia is motivated by humanitarian concerns in Syria?

Jabour: I suppose that the answer is right there in the question. And I see that I answered that question. Saudi Arabia has [planned] so many steps to seem somewhat democratic. And it is not taking these steps. It is quite clear that the Saudi system is not a democratic system. Still, women cannot drive cars. They have so many things to talk about if we would like to judge the Saudi regime by human rights standards, by democratic standards.

No, it is not human rights; it is not democracy that is going to the area. This is quite clear.

Press TV: About the reforms that you have mentioned, all this talk of violence or military intervention, etc, on the part of many of these Arab League members such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc, about military intervention in Syria against President Assad, does that, in fact, hinder any reforms from going forward?

Jabour: Well, it is not helpful. I hope it does not hinder, but it is not helpful. Reforms should take place as immediately as possible that, of course, these threats coming from here and there do not help.

Press TV: The United States has always claimed that its aim is to promote democracy in the region, yet it stands by as the Saudis, as the Qataris present themselves as the defenders of this democracy that it wants to bring in the region. What is the US game plan here? I know you've mentioned the issue of Israel but is there something else going on behind the scenes as well as far as the United States goes?

Jabour: Well, I suppose there's a general plan for the United States in the region. And this general plan is to weaken the access composed of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. This is an acknowledged, accepted, announced demand of the United States.

Syria here is now considered to be weakened, and there is this attack on Syria by the information media, by the domestic media and so forth.

I was interviewed by [an American radio station], yesterday. I said something that I would like to repeat here. I was asked about the legitimacy question, the legitimacy of the Syrian regime. I said that Mrs. Clinton is not the source of the Syrian legitimacy. The legitimacy stems from the people.

Nobody is asking the Syrian people what sort of system of government the Syrian people want. As a matter of fact, the United States claims to be addressing democratic [systems] is totally invalid. It's something that I would not like to use a lie for but it is a lie. It is a clear lie.

Press TV: I find that interesting, I'm glad you mentioned that, Mr. Jabour. I want to ask you about the Arab League's opinion so far and its actions so far. I spoke with you last week, in fact, about the suspension of Syria from the Arab League. Now we're hearing rumors that the Arab League will begin discussions with the Syrian opposition which is not currently even based in Syria itself. Do you trust the Arab League's motives in general, apart from just looking at the specific countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar?

Jabour: The Arab League has been dominated, recently, by the oil block, by the [Persian] Gulf states, and by their allies in some Arab states.

The absence of Egypt from the Arab League because of the internal situation of Egypt, and the absence of Iraq from the Arab League because of the situation in Iraq - the Iraq government is imposing itself again within the Arab picture - there's this difficulty regarding the new elections.

So, we have the League of Arab states now, more or less, and there is an influence of the oil states in the [Persian] Gulf. This means that the Arab League, at this moment, is very much under the American command.

I think that, essentially, the initiative of the Arab League should work out for Syria's benefit and the Arab benefit. I would like to support it, but then I'm not sure that it will reach the objective of helping Syria as the revolution starts to overcome the crisis.

The [committee] will help Syria overcome its crisis. I don't know if this is the real objective of the committee, or it's a cover up sentence in order to conceal the hidden objectives.

However, I trust Syria diplomacy to find out what is the main intention of the Arab League. And I still count on the Arab League initiative to lessen the detention in Syria.

Press TV: I'm glad you mentioned the oil block countries in the Persian Gulf area who are a part of the Arab League and are currently dominating it. You know, in every one of those countries part of the oil block we've seen unrest as well.

In Saudi Arabia we've seen unrest in places like Qatif; in Kuwait, we recently saw protesters entering parliament and asking for the prime minister to resign as they've been demanding for many, many years now. Bahrain, of course, you know well about. We've also had in the UAE five activists who have been detained there, who are on hunger strike and are not attending court.

So, how much, do you think, of this putting forward of Syria to the UNSC, etc, is about distracting the international community so that the international community does not criticize each of these individual Persian Gulf dictatorships?

Jabour: The international community is subject to the dictatorship of the international media. And the international media, as we know, is essentially the Western media. This is a fact of life.

Let us remember in this moment of UNESCO's financial difficulties with the United States, let us remember, that the United States quit UNESCO back in the 80s because of the international media organization that the former director general of UNESCO, Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, wanted to have UNESCO implemented internationally. He had a project called the “international media system”.

And then the United States boycotted UNESCO for several years because of that system that M'Bow, a Muslim from Senegal, defended.

Now, I suppose, the international community is motivated by the international media, and this means that the media of the Arab and Islamic countries have to be stronger, have to be better.

I congratulate Press TV. I have been in touch with Press TV since it started. I think they have been doing quite well, internationally, but then improvements are always necessary.