For numerous valid reasons, we find it necessary to welcome the Syrian Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam. Among these reasons, the following are noteworthy:
Firstly, those who signed the Damascus Declaration were the ones who called on Mr. Khaddam and others to join the opposition and become part of it. They stated:
“Here, we call on the sons of our Ba’athist nation, and our brothers from various political, cultural, religious, and sectarian backgrounds to join us, without hesitation or caution. Because the desired change is for the benefit of everyone, and only those involved in crimes and corruption have reason to fear.”
We have no objection if Bashar al-Assad also joins the declaration and contributes with his entire state to this change. Mr. Khaddam’s move to the opposition is the realization of our goal, and we wanted it. The declaration is not directed against anyone.
Secondly, the arrival of Mr. Khaddam and his announcement of separation from the regime, choosing the nation against the regime, is practically more significant than the arrival of any figure from the regime, even if it were Bashar al-Assad himself. When the regime’s crimes were committed against the people, Bashar was still playing with his toys. Khaddam, on the other hand, is well aware of all the regime’s atrocities, crimes, secrets, and figures. The opposition benefits more from the joining of Khaddam than any other regime figure.
It is true that Khaddam did not speak in detail about the regime’s massacres and mistakes until Bashar’s era. However, he officially acknowledged that the regime had its mistakes during Hafez al-Assad’s era. He stated that the president and his security apparatus shaped domestic policy, and more precisely, he referred to the state as a security state since the corrective movement. He did not defend any state position except in foreign policy.
The importance of Khaddam’s defection from the current regime means that the entire Syrian regime has come to us since the Ba’ath revolution to expose the practices it carried out against its people. In other words, he admitted to all the wrong practices against the people on the principle: “From your mouth, I condemn you.” What greater gift could the opposition seeking change receive?
He came to declare to the world that the Syrian opposition is the right path, and the call for change is the right path. There is no solution except confronting the regime with a peaceful popular revolution. Do we want a greater condemnation, and do we want a larger gift than this?
Thirdly, Mr. Khaddam’s defection from the regime at this decisive moment is something the opposition has been unable to do for years. Most people and the majority still live under the influence of the Syrian official propaganda that the war against the regime is for its patriotism and support for resistance in Palestine and Iraq. The regime mobilized millions of supporters to prove this theory, that the battle is all about humbling Syria, the resistant, and Bashar will not bow except to God. The regime and the nation became indistinguishable to people as if they were two sides of the same coin.
Khaddam came to turn the theory upside down from within the Syrian regime itself, confirming to the nation the falsehood of this fantasy. He affirmed that the battle is because a handful of criminals representing the Syrian regime assassinated Prime Minister Hariri, insisting on Lebanon’s colonization. The world did not intervene against Syria until Syria insisted on imposing a president on Lebanon not accepted by the Lebanese people.
Mr. Khaddam, as an eyewitness to the regime’s foolishness and criminality, confirmed that Assad’s misreading, his arrogance towards the international and global map, and the erroneous conclusions drawn from this reading, along with the wrong positions based on these conclusions, brought Syria to the brink of the abyss in the battle with the international community. Bashar’s submission to his security apparatus and the arrogant criminals around him is what brought Syria to confront the entire world. The battle began three years ago between Syria and the United States under the pretext of supporting the resistance. If the world were concerned about this battle, it was the European Union, especially France, who defended Bashar and his regime, embracing this regime. After Syria’s disastrous foreign policy in Lebanon, the Syrian regime lost all its friends, turning them into hostile combatants, leading to two Security Council resolutions, 1559 and 1636, expressing this hostility. The opposition and the enlightened class of the nation were saying this. Khaddam came as a witness from within the regime to declare this truth and confirm that Assad ordered the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri. Do we reject his testimony and dismiss it as a stain, or do we receive it, welcome it, and consider it an indictment from the regime against itself, spoken by the deputy president of the regime?
Fourthly: We welcome Mr. Khaddam warmly because he provided us with a vivid picture of the largest institutions of the regime, including the People’s Council that convened on the second day of Mr. Khaddam’s testimony.
This treacherous council, which has remained silent since its establishment about Khaddam’s alleged crimes and the corruption of Khaddam and others for three years, suddenly spoke out against Khaddam and his crimes when he spoke from outside Syria against Bashar al-Assad and his mistakes. It never uttered a single word against its homeland and nation.
This council, not the People’s Council as Khaddam sarcastically referred to it, according to Professor Ihsan Talib: “Isn’t there anyone, two, three… capable of talking about the tragedy of the people? The second man in its leadership, as you claim, is a coward, a liar, despicable, opportunistic, shameless, hypocritical, the most treacherous donkey, the oldest male donkey, the fallen, the enemy, devoid of reason, the father of ugliness, and not worthy of being called ‘Mr.’ He is the father of the age, as the eloquent Imran al-Zu’bi said: the apostate.”
If there are a hundred corrupt individuals in Syria with these qualities attributed to the second man in the state, and from the first to the third, fourth, up to the hundredth, you remain silent about the ninety-nine, whose names you fear mentioning, and speak only about the one you no longer fear. Who are you? Are you the People’s Council or a council of parrots echoing orders:
Say what is taught, like a parrot says.
If it were not for Khaddam’s revelation, we would have been spared a reason to welcome him.
Fifthly: The economic tragedy of our Syrian people, which the regime obscures under broad claims of economic reform, has become the chief concern of the Syrian president. Khaddam came to present us with the result of five years of economic reform and admitted to us by saying, “Half of the Syrian people are below the poverty line, and many of them search for their livelihood in garbage bins, while the handful of corrupt rulers and the sultan’s lackeys plunder Syria’s wealth and dance on its ruins. The one with a salary of two hundred Syrian pounds becomes the owner of four billion dollars, and the one with a meager income of a few hundred becomes the owner of an eight-billion-dollar fortune. The close relative of the president and his friend monopolized the mobile phone license equivalent to one-third of the Syrian budget every year.”
If the Syrian regime, represented by Mr. Abdul-Halim Khaddam, comes to offer us these confessions about the condition of the people and their poverty in the face of the sharks devouring their wealth, shouldn’t we welcome him? Even if he did not speak about himself, he calls for a change that exposes all the corrupt in Syrian land, and the people are the ones who have the decision in their trial. He calls for the sovereignty of the people. Do we dream of a greater confession from the regime and welcome it as stated by Mr. Khaddam?
Sixth and finally: The Damascus Declaration has become the axis on which the opposition converges, both internally and externally. Mr. Khaddam came and expressed his opinion on it frankly without equivocation, saying, “This declaration is a good expression of the aspirations of the Syrians. I support this declaration, and its content aligns completely with my viewpoint.”
Today, we are in a joint alliance formula between all factions of the Syrian people to overthrow the regime, and we are not in the process of evaluating individuals, parties, and institutions that converge on this position. When the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, wanted to neutralize the enemy who fought him in the Battle of the Confederates, he said: “I have seen the Arabs have abandoned you from a single bow, so I wanted to alleviate your burden.” He then contacted the leaders of the Ghatfan tribe, appointed ‘Uyaynah ibn Hisn and Al-Harith ibn ‘Auf and others, and offered them one-third of the fruits of Medina in exchange for their withdrawal from the war against the Muslims. He did not ask them about their beliefs or investigate their history. He accepted these concessions from them not from the enemy in exchange for neutrality, not fighting with the Muslims. Political alliances in Islamic jurisprudence are based on interests regardless of beliefs and the identity of individuals. We say this to remind our zealous brothers about the safety of the opposition in dealing with the pillars of the regime.
For these reasons, among others, we believe it is our duty to welcome Mr. Abdul-Halim Khaddam, who came departing from the regime to join the people, dedicating all his energies to bring about change.
So, welcome, and greetings to Mr. Abdul-Halim Khaddam, who chose the nation and the people over the regime.