Mr. Bush, this is a letter from an average Syrian who respects the USA and loves both his country and Palestine. This is a letter written out of defeat, to remind you who the Syrian people are, and where they are heading if the current status quo is maintained in the Middle East. We were once described by Winston Churchill as a "great people." My name is Sami Moubayed, a graduate of the American high school in Damascus, the American University of Beirut, and a frequent contributor to The Washington Report Magazine, an American publication in Washington DC. I have befriended Americans for as long as I can remember, and have been tutored by great American teachers. I write to  you on the 15-anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China, which my American teachers at high school described as "one of the bloodiest chapters of the 20^th century." Strange—but I see no difference between the massacre in China of 1989, and the current events in Palestine and Iraq. Unarmed people were mowed down, en mass, both then and now, by a massive war machine, for the sole crime of expressing their views about liberty and freedom. The entire US administration has said a lot about Syria and the Middle East in the past year and a half, but no one has taken into serious account where the Syrian people stand on all that is being said. Please listen to what an average Syrian has to say, about Syrian-American relations, about the occupation of Iraq, about the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and the conditions in Palestine. I don't think you have yet heard the opinion of an average Syrian, Mr. Bush, since the reports that reach you at the Oval Office, complied by the CIA, summarize official remarks, made by President Bashar al-Asad, Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara, and Dr Buthaina Shaaban. True, they all represent what the Syrian people think and feel, but their remarks are official, based on state-to-state dialogue. Since you insist on being the only decision-maker in the Middle East, you must listen to what we, the Middle Easterners, have to say regarding all that is taking place around us.

In May 2004, I wrote an article, comparing the invasion of Iraq with the Nazi invasion of Europe. It created a thunderstorm among many of the Americans I know. I heard that the US Embassy in Damascus was very upset at its content. Good, I said to myself, because that means that this article reached its target audience. I wanted to arouse anger among foreign readers, to remind them of the anger that we have been feeling for nearly 4 years now. We were also very upset, Mr. Bush, at the latest bloodbath in Rafah, which the USA watched and did nothing to stop. The fourth Geneva Convention, Mr. Bush, says in Article 53 that an occupying force cannot destroy private property, and Article 147 adds that the mass destruction of private property will be considered a war crime. Both were breached by Israel, and both were ignored by the USA. At Rafah, Mr. Bush, 200 Palestinians were slaughtered, most being civilians, mainly women and children, and according to the UN, around 400 homes were demolished. Sources in Palestine claim that the number was closer to 600. It doesn't really matter Mr. Bush, 400 or 600! In the past, we used to hear, on the news, the names of every single person killed, and the location of every home demolished. Now, everything has been resorted to a number: 200 killed. No names! Is this the new Middle East the USA is creating? This is a Middle East where citizens have been resorted to three-digit numbers! Names don't really matter any more, especially in mass killings. In the USA, if one man dies in a car accident, his name gets mentioned on the evening news. In the Middle East, all we hear is "200 killed!" Some of the killed, Mr. Bush, have been placed in refrigerators originally made for fruits and vegetables, because the refrigerators for corpses have all been occupied! As the names of those killed Arabs vanish into obscurity, the families of the victims who died in the Lockerbie bombing have been paid $2.7 billion by Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi. It was the USA that pressured Qaddafi to pay such a staggering amount. Meaning, to you, the 270 victims are worth $10 million each, while the Palestinian citizen is worth nothing! Had such a hefty compensation been paid to the Palestinians in Rafah, then every citizen would have been worth $12 million! How do you expect us to believe the credibility of the USA in democratizing the Middle East when we hear such horrendous stories. How do you expect us to believe promises of democracy, when the fund for democratization of the region, as declared by Mr Collin Powell, has been set at $29 million while the US military aid for Israel, in 2004, has been set at $300 million, to help Tel Aviv "combat terrorism."   

Heritage, customs, religion, and traditions between Syria and Iraq are great. They all existed before Saddam Hussein, and will continue after Saddam Hussein. Yes, some volunteers did cross the border to fight against your army in Iraq, to preserve the independence of Iraq, not simply to fight the Americans. This same independence Mr. Bush, which you have promised to give the Iraqis later this summer, was dear to Syria. You did not find Syrian volunteers going to fight the Americans in Afghanistan did you? Those who crossed the borders were not Baathists, nor were they stalwarts of the regime, but desperate people who found an outlet for their frustration in war—and death! Can you imagine how desperate and frustrated they had been, to leave behind their families and venture into a jungle, with amateur weapons, to combat the unexpected, not knowing whether they would ever return. Many of them didn't Sir, they died in Iraq! Are they martyrs, you may ask, or did they commit suicide? Are they no different from the 3,000 Syrian volunteers who fought the French in 1920, with rusty and outdated weapons, knowing that they would die, but not wanting history to say that Syria got occupied by a foreign power, without putting up a brave resistance? The Syrian government did not stop them, in 1920 and 2003, because simply, it couldn't. This was a mass popular movement imposed by the people on the government, and not vice-versa. Since you believe in the will of the people, you know how difficult it is to say "no" to a frustrated, angry, and defeated people. If prevented them from going to Iraq, they might as well have unleashed their anger on Syria, against us, their fellow Syrians. And this did happen, in the latest fundamentalist attacks in Damascus that took place in April 2004. Those who attacked Damascus on the terrible night of April 27 had been to Iraq. The government cannot control its 605 km border with Iraq, or should I say, the United States. They are too big to be policed properly, and even your mighty US Army is having a hard time in keeping them orderly. It cannot even monitor its borders with Mexico. So, do not blame our government for the chaos that took place on the Syrian-US border in March-April 2003. Chaos is part of war!

After the war, you accused Syria of supporting terrorism and harboring Saddam Hussein's cronies. You later realized how wrong that statement was, since all of Saddam's henchmen were hunted like rabbits inside Iraq. Why would we stick our neck out for Saddam Hussein? Why would we support a deposed dictator who enslaved his people and funded terrorist activities in Syria? Had a revolution toppled Fidel Castro, would the USA offer him sanctuary on its territory? I think not! Then, you asked us to end our arms program and we accepted, provided that Israel relinquish its arms program as well. We are not putting sticks in your chariot Mr. Bush, we also, want an arms-free Middle East. We cannot accept double-standards, however, to have an arms-free Middle East, yet tolerate Israel's weapons program. You accused us of harboring the resistance in Palestine, and supporting the resistance in South Lebanon. This, I believe, is the fundamental gap in dialogue and understanding between Syria and the USA. I once asked a senior US diplomat in Damascus what you want us to do with the Palestinians; "throw them in the ocean?!" He replied, "No, in the Jordanian Desert where they belong!" We lived our life for the Palestinian Cause, Mr. Bush. And it looks like we will grow old with age and die, while supporting it. So much unites us with the Palestinians and so little divides us. We share a common religion, race, language, family, roots, culture, and traditions. Intermarriage is colossal between us, and our history is not similar, it is identical. Palestine is part of our national consciousness. It cannot be abandoned that easily. Can we ask the American public to forget the greatness of the American Revolution? The guerillas of Palestine are the "Minute Men" of this part of the world, similar to the "Minute Men" of the American Revolution. If I remember by American history correctly, and I am sure that I do, the minute men were a small hand-picked elite required to be highly mobile and able to assemble "in a minute." Their average age was 25 and younger, and they were selected for their patriotism, enthusiasm, reliability, and physical strength. The minutemen were the first armed militia to arrive or await a battle. They were also, among the first to die, and American history would not have been the same without them. Hamas, Fateh, and other unites of the resistance are the "Minute Men" of this part of the world, Mr. Bush. Yasser Arafat is the George Washington of the Middle East—the leader of a just cause for freedom and emancipation. To the British monarchy in 1775, wasn't George Washington a terrorist? The midnight ride of Paul Revere, who announced "the British are coming" and warned Samuel Adams, at midnight, is similar to Arafat's globe-trotting campaign, marketing the Palestinian Cause around the world. How did the Americans feel when the British arrested Paul Revere?  How do the Arabs feel today with Arafat, arrested at his office in Ramallah, since December 2001?

When Israel attacked Syria in October 2003, you issued a very provocative remark, saying that Israel should not feel constraint in defending itself. How did you feel, Mr. Bush, when Saddam Hussein issued a provocative remark on 9-11, saying that America deserves the terrorist attacks and that attackers, regardless of their identity, were justified in their action? Where you not angry, frustrated, and humiliated by the attacks and the remarks, which added insult to injury? Israel is our al-Qaeda Mr. Bush, and Ayn al-Saheb, the town air raided by Sharon, is our World Trade Center. You should realize that we are fighting the same battle, and that we have the same enemy in Islamic fundamentalism. You know, however, as well as I do, that it was the USA that fueled Islamic fundamentalism, to fight off the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. When I said that to the American diplomat, he laughed and asked, "Next thing you'll say is that we created the Muslim Brotherhood!" It wasn't you, I replied, but the British! I live in Damascus Mr. Bush, and I see the Islamic threat every Friday, as masses pour out of mosques, dazzled by the inflammatory speeches of clerics, willing to go to war against anyone and anything, if ordered to do so. They are transformed into cattle—or, to quote Charlie Chaplin in his classic The Great Dictator, "machine men, with machine minds, and machine hearts." These people are not representative of Islam, and they represent no one but themselves. In the 1980s, fundamentalism was attractive to the lower-middle class, the poor and the underprivileged. Today, the fundamentalists have infiltrated the upper class of Damascus, and they can create trouble for both Syria, the USA, and the entire Middle East if they are not contained. Rather than try to destabilize Syria, you should help Syria remain strong, to fight off the Islamic threat. If there is one good thing about Saddam Hussein, it is that he kept the fundamentalists at bay. Give Syria the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Bush, and have faith in our President Asad, because like all of us, he wants a stable and just Middle East. We still support his reform program, and believe that given different international and regional circumstances, he could have created a much better Syria. Also, like all of us, he has been raised believing in Palestine, and will grow old with age, and die, for its cause. You know from inside that Ariel Sharon is a terrible man, although you are unable to say it. Break away from his influence, and you've got 200 million Arabs who are willing to support the USA, as well as 3 million Arab-Americans living inside America. These 3 million Arab-Americans can do wonders for your presidential campaign, Mr. Bush. Give Syria a chance to have the future it deserves. Create a stable Iraq, as you had promised, based on "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and the world will be a little better, and safer, for all of us. You hold this region's future in your hands Mr. Bush. Don't destroy it, protect it!

Damascus, Syria.
June 4, 2004.