Text of speech introducing President Bush at Freedom Collection launch in D.C.

Good morning. My name is Ammar Abdulhamid. I am a Syrian dissident. In September 2005, I was forced to leave my country for criticizing President Bashar Al-Assad.

In exile I have lived in Washington with my loving family: my wife, Khawla, our daughter, Oula, and our son, Mouhanad. Together, with help from our friends here and in Syria, and with funding from the Middle East Partnership Initiative, a program established by President George W. Bush, we launched a foundation dedicated to supporting pro-democracy activists in Syria and across the Middle East. Continue reading “Text of speech introducing President Bush at Freedom Collection launch in D.C.” →

Why Arab leaders are largely silent on Syria’s brutal crackdown

The silence of Arab leaders in the face of the brutal crackdown taking place in Syria is examined by Nicholas Blandford of the Christian Science Monitor I am quoted at the end:

“The important thing is to remain committed to the peaceful nature of the movement, despite ongoing provocation by the regime and the moral cowardice of the international leaders,” says Ammar Abdulhamid, a leading Syrian activist based in Washington. “Admittedly, this will get more difficult from now onward.”

Smug Ignorance!

Comment 1: Ours is a case of righteous indignation run amuck, of principled stands without any vision, a plan of action or goal, of nihilistic determination to get everything we ever really wanted at the cost of settling continuously for everything we never really needed… The bleeding continues.

Comment 2: The Innocent are riddled with guilt. The Guilty are smug. Continue reading “Smug Ignorance!” →

A Tragicomedy of Errors!

Voices are being raised on a daily basis tying progress in resolving the current situation in Iraq and the standoff with Iran to a peaceful conclusion of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The most recent such call came from none other than Graham Fuller writing in the Winter issue of the Washington Quarterly (not available on the Internet). But, and while Fuller makes many excellent arguments with regard to the current dynamics in the region, his perspective, albeit far more nuanced and inclusive than most, is still too narrow. Continue reading →