OKLAHOMA CITY —
A student of the Middle East recently observed that when rebel forces reach a nation’s commercial capital it usually indicates that the ruling government’s days are numbered.
Recent reports of what is called the “Free Syrian Army” fighting government forces in the mercantile center of Aleppo may indicate that the Assad government that has ruled Syria for more than 40 years will soon be gone.
The Oklahoma City-Edmond area is home to more than 30 physicians from Syria, as well as many other immigrants from that nation who operate businesses in the area. Most of them still have family there, and deplore the violence that the Assad government has visited upon the Syrian citizenry and beleive that regime change in Syria is warranted as a result. Several of them have expressed fears that if the conflict in Syria is not ended soon it could spill over into the neighboring states of Turkey and Lebanon.
What type of government that the Syrian rebels will seek to impose on their nation remains to be seen. But in recent days there have been reports that may be indicative of how they would like to rule Syria.
The BBC reported that in an area under the control of the rebels, a governing council was set up that included Sunni Muslim clerics, and that that body ordered that a young man who had had sexual relations outside of marriage recieve 100 lashes. Under the Assads, who are members of the Alawite Shia minority, Syrians were not subject to the strict Muslim law that governs other Middle Eastern state, alcohol was freely available, and women were not required to wear headscarves in public.
Christian Science Monitor correspondent Kurt Shillinger, who formerly covered the Middle East for that publication, has recently written about what is needed to insure a prosperous and peaceful post- Assad Syria. He believes that Syria’s neighbors and other interested parties should work to form a coalition government for that nation that would include representatives of all of its religous and ethnic groups.
Shillinger also thinks that a commission should be set up in Syria that would be similar to the Truth and Reconcilation Commission that was convened in South Africa to investigate the crimes that had been committed under Apartheid. Such an undertaking, Shillinger asserts, would foster healing and reconcilation among those who have suffered under the Assad government and in the struggle to oust it.
The Assad government has been allied with Iraq and has supported the Lebanese organization Hezbullah that is committed to the destruction of Israel. The Golan Heights are part of Syria but have been been ruled by Israel since it was seized during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Shillinger maintains that if the Israeli government were to display some flexibility on the issue of returning that territory to Syria would encourage a post Assad government to repudiate its predecessor’s alliance with Iran and Hezbullah and seek a partnership with the U.S.
WILLIAM F. O’BRIEN is an Oklahoma City attorney.
Opinion
Syrian situation still in flux
- Opinion
-
-
ROCK DOC: Japanese find a new source of natural gas
The name “natural gas” might be a puzzle. After all, how could there be such a thing as unnatural gas? The reason we call natural gas what we do has to do with history. There was a day that people made burnable gas by heating coal. The gases that came off the coal were piped around cities where they did things like light street lamps and even power cook stoves in homes.
Coal gas had its down side. For one thing, it often contained carbon monoxide. And it took energy to make the gas, so it never could be truly cheap. -
Witnesses missing; Behenna case could be heard at Supreme Court
The film “Breaker Morant” was nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay in 1980. It told the story of Harry “Breaker” Morant, an Australian who served in the British Army and was court-martialed for alleged war crimes during the Boer War in Southern Africa in the early years of the last century.
That conflict pitted the British Army against the descendants of the Dutch settlers who had migrated to what is now South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. The majority of them were farmers and in their language of Afrikaans were known as “Boers.” -
Don’t leave Oklahoma!
May is graduation season. As I have done every year as lieutenant governor, I have given multiple commencement speeches. Advice flows freely during this time and it usually runs the gamut. What to do, what not to do, how to do ‘x’, be sure not to do ‘y.’ Too often commencement speakers speak in big generalities. So general, the message is frequently lost or forgotten.
-
Last-minute funding proposals not in state’s best interest
All indications point to this being the last week of this year’s legislative session. The Legislature will go home a week early. This is good news for Oklahomans as not only will there be cost savings but all Oklahomans should breathe a sigh of relief when the Legislature stops making new laws a week ahead of schedule.
As usual, the Legislature will take a number of important votes during the last week. Some will be forced due to attempts to introduce and pass far-reaching, new policies that should have been introduced much earlier in the year. -
BY THE NUMBERS: Oklahoma still needs to invest in its economy
After six months of stagnation, the Oklahoma economy finally appears to be expanding again albeit still weakly. Unfortunately, our leaders aren’t making the investments we need to give our economic prospects a boost.
Last week the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported that in April state General Revenue fund collections were 5.2 percent above the estimate and 14.7 percent higher than last year’s collections. Under normal circumstances, such a report would indicate that the Oklahoma economy was very strong. But this isn’t a normal circumstance, and April isn’t a normal month. -
Americans deserve the truth on Benghazi
Lately, the media has been consumed by the controversies surrounding the White House. Among these controversies is the horrific terrorist attack on the United States’ diplomatic compound in Benghazi that took place Sept. 11, 2012. As more people come forward with additional information regarding the attack on the consulate, many Americans, including myself, are still asking for the truth.
The Obama Administration and the State Department have been less than forthcoming with key information on Benghazi and recent information points toward a major cover-up. -
Seizure of AP phone records insult to independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
HEY HINK: Some people just are not cut out for command
Recent headlines cause me to remember an incident that occurred on an army base some years ago. Warning here: I’m taking some liberties with names and details, but the basic outline of events is accurate.
A certain company commander, let’s call him Captain Duntz, had command of a motor pool on a large army base in the continental U.S. -
We’ve become our own worst enemies
The past couple months have been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
You don’t want to dwell too long on the negative, but we do have to take notice of horrific human events and we owe it to ourselves to respond to them in some way. We don’t always agree on those responses, however, and that usually exacerbates the problem. -
Let’s reimburse higher ed for remediation costs
The good news: Oklahoma schools are teaching phonics. The bad news: It’s in college.
Students at Tulsa Community College, for example, can take a college English course called “Spelling and Phonics,” which “helps students master basic spelling literacy, principles of phonics and decoding skills.”
This sort of higher education brings to mind former Boston University president John Silber’s quip: “Higher than what?” - More Opinion Headlines
-
ROCK DOC: Japanese find a new source of natural gas
