New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | May 5, 2005

When life takes you at the age of 19, throws you into a Syrian prison, tortures the bejeezus out of you, keeps you in a series of jails until you're middle-aged, and then puts you under lifetime police surveillance, make lemonade! Michael Young talks with still-standing Syrian dissident Yassin al-Haj Saleh.

Comments

|5.5.05 @ 4:05PM|#

Like I always say,

When life gives you poop.......





.......make poop juice.

|5.5.05 @ 9:13PM|#

"We felt that the Lebanese struggle for independence and the Syrian struggle for democracy were deeply related, and that the regime's hegemony over both Syria and Lebanon were deeply interrelated."

I feel the same way about the supression of freedom here in America; it seems to be deeply related to what the Administration wants to do abroad.

"The worst scenario is either of two alternatives: the Iraqi model of regime change, or what happened in Libya, where the international community eased pressure on, and even praised one of the cruelest dictators in the Arab world."

I have little trouble digesting the idea that the Iraqi model of regime change would be a bad scenario for Syria and a bad scenario for America too. When he mentioned the Libyan model, however, I found myself struck again by the difficult fact that what is best for American civilians isn't always what is best for freedom loving people everywhere.

...Libya's surrender of its weapons programs was good news for American civilians. If Syria followed suit and was embraced by the world community, wouldn't that be good news for American civilians as well?

"The greatest single step that will help promote democracy in Syria is to compel Israel to withdraw from the occupied Golan Heights."

Doesn't anyone like living under occupation anymore?