THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 255, December 28, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER & COLLEAGUES TRAVEL
ABROAD, BUT BID FOR DIALOGUE YIELDS LITTLE
By Dr. Michael Rubin
AMERICAN POLITICS, FOREIGN POLICY, & FREELANCE DIPLOMACY: U.S. POLITICIANS ENDANGERING AMERICAN
NATIONAL INTERESTS & SECURITY BY BLIND & INEPT ENGAGEMENT WITH AMERICA'S ADVERSARIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
-- LEGITIMIZING TYRANNICAL DICTATORS & STATE SPONSORS OF TERRORISM -- UNPRINCIPLED & IRRESPONSIBLE
POLITICIANS USE THEIR SEATS IN THE U.S. SENATE TO UNDERMINE AMERICA'S POSITION IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR THE
SAKE OF GAINING PUBLICITY & FURTHERING THEIR DOMESTIC POLITICAL AMBITIONS
FULL STORY:
On Christmas Day, 2006, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (Republican, Pennsylvania.) arrived in Damascus for meetings with
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other senior regime officials. He becomes the fourth senator in recent weeks to
break an informal travel embargo and visit the Syrian capital, following visits this month by Senators Bill Nelson
(Democrat, Florida), John Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts), and Christopher Dodd (Democrat, Connecticut).
When Senator Specter announced his intention to visit Damascus, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned
to ask him not to go, but the Senator refused her request.
"I deferred to them a year ago, and I deferred to them last August," Specter told the Associated Press. "If there were any
signs the administration policy [in the Middle East] was working, I'd defer to them again."
But is blind engagement any better? Specter's trip was his 16th. taxpayer-funded visit to Syria since 1984. While he may
relish the image of statesman, Specter has little but failure to show for his efforts.
On each trip, Syria's state-controlled television broadcast Specter's meeting with the Syrian President. Specter may believe
his words are tough, but the Syrian government twists them to imply endorsement. On January 5, 2003, for example, the
Syrian Arab News Agency reported that "the U.S. Senator ... voiced the United States' appreciation for Syria's
positions and efforts aimed at making the Middle East more secure and stable, adding that his country views Syria's
positions as principled and rational."
On December 26, 2006, Syrian television reported that Specter "stressed ... Syria's pivotal role in the region." Bolstering
the sense of importance and confidence of state sponsors of terrorism does not help regional diplomacy.
For all their travels, the Senators who visited Damascus would be hard-pressed to name any Arab dissidents whose
freedom they won. When Specter met Assad in January, 2003, he did not raise the case of Ibrahim Hamidi, the Damascus
correspondent for the London-based al-Hayat daily, whom the Syrian regime had ordered imprisoned just two
weeks before for publishing material not cleared by state censors. Today, prominent dissidents such as Aref Dalila,
Michel Kilo, Anwar al-Bunni, Mahmoud Issa, and Kamal Labwani remain imprisoned.
While Specter and Assad spoke of the importance of dialogue, blind engagement can endanger U.S. national security.
In January, 1990, Specter traveled to Baghdad to meet then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. For Hussein, Specter was
useful. He believed the Iraqi leader's talk of peace. Over the next few months, Specter resisted proposals by U.S. Senate
colleague John McCain (Republican, Arizona) for sanctions on the Iraqi leader and, instead, called for dialogue. Hussein
used the delay to rebuild his military and, on August 2, 1990, ordered his tanks into Kuwait.
Specter's engagement with Iran was as poorly conceived. On Capitol Hill, he has been a leading voice for rapprochement
with the Islamic Republic. On August 30, 2000, he accepted Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's call for a dialogue of
civilizations and met with the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament at a New York reception. How sincere was the dialogue?
While Specter and his colleagues helped legitimize Iran's image, interaction with the Islamic Republic lost its taint. As
European trade with Iran tripled, Khatami pumped 70 percent of the hard currency windfall into Iran's nuclear and military
programs. Nor did Specter's dialogue stop the terror threat. The 9/11 Commission report shows that, during this period,
the Iranian government was granting free passage to and from terrorist training camps for the 9/11 hijackers.
Specter and his colleagues' latest engagement will hurt U.S. national interests as much as previous engagements. Syria
remains a state sponsor of terrorism. Despite Specter's 16 trips, not only is Assad widely reported to be continuing to
finance and offer safe haven for terrorists responsible for the deaths of Americans, but also he now reportedly
facilitates their passage into Iraq. By legitimizing Assad, the freelancing Senators undercut pressure from the United
Nations for the Syrian ruler to accept responsibility for the Syrian role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime
Minister Rafik al-Hariri. By conditioning Assad to expect reward for noncompliance, such engagement not only
undercuts prospects for peace, but also may actually increase the likelihood of further bloodshed.
Statesmanship should involve more than accruing passport stamps and photo-ops with foreign leaders. U.S. Senators
should not be dupes for dictators. Not every regime is sincere when it extends an olive branch. Diplomacy is not only
about talk, but also about judgment and strategy. If Specter's strategy were so wise, his track record of engagement
might not be so dismal.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Syria
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
The Middle East & the Arabs
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Dr. Michael Rubin, a Ph.D. in History (Yale University) and a specialist in Middle Eastern politics, Islamic culture and Islamist
ideology, is Editor of the Middle East Quarterly and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research. Dr Rubin is author of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran (Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, 2001) and is co-author, with Dr. Patrick Clawson, of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005). Dr. Rubin served as political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003-2004); staff
advisor on Iran and Iraq in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (2002-2004); visiting lecturer in the Departments of
History and International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2001-2002); visiting lecturer at the Universities of
Sulaymani, Salahuddin, and Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan (2000-2001); Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy (1999-2000); and visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Yale University (1999-2000). He has been a fellow at
the Council of Foreign Relations, the Leonard Davis Institute at Hebrew University, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and
International Affairs.
The foregoing article by Dr. Rubin was originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, December 28, 2006, and can
be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
December 28, 2006
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