This op-ed was originally published by the Washington Times.
Only months after the crumbling of Bashar Assad’s dictatorship in December, Syria’s 14-year civil war has been set alight again by sectarian hatreds fueled by Iran and Russia.
Despite forming a transitional government with broader ethnic representation, the Syrian state has struggled to control extremist militias that want vengeance on the Alawite minority group, to which the exiled dictator belongs, while loyalists of the former regime are being rearmed by Iran to further destabilize the country and prolong the war. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in a matter of weeks.
Syrians overthrew the Assad tyranny and declared their independence from the foreign dictatorships that supported him, but the country now faces the arduous task of forging peace and toleration among its many ethnic and religious groups, just as those outside dictatorships work to reignite conflict.
After decades of Soviet influence, occupation by Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, and dictatorial cronyism, Syria is ranked near the bottom in virtually every measurement of personal and economic freedom. The country’s new leaders cannot meaningfully reverse course unless they can reopen their shattered economy to the world. The Assad regime and the authoritarian socialist Baath Party it led had hollowed out Syria’s wealth. It seized businesses and property, inflated the currency to a small fraction of its former worth, used kidnapping and torture for ransom, and engaged massively in the drug trade to maintain its wealth and power. Their sheer criminality and cruelty caused the largest refugee crisis of the 21st century.
The new government can win relief from U.S. and European economic sanctions only by demonstrating that Syria will be pluralistic and will not seek to impose radical Islamism.
Recent weeks have given us all reasons for uncertainty, but I am still hopeful for the Syrian people. I saw firsthand their optimism and their willingness to shut the door on the horrors of the past and to welcome an open and free society.
When Mr. Assad fled on Dec. 8, Syrians openly celebrated freedom in streets that were previously controlled by military checkpoints. During this brief honeymoon period, I caught a glimpse of what a renewed country could offer to its people and the world.
To film a documentary about this profound event in world history, I traveled to Damascus with Tom G. Palmer, a political scientist and executive vice president of Atlas Network, which supports the development of nonprofit organizations that advocate for freedom throughout the world, and with Arab freedom champions from Morocco and Lebanon.
In the days after the regime fell, local leaders in touch with Mr. Palmer shared their goals to establish the Free Syria Center, a nonprofit think tank that includes representatives from the ethnic and religious groups that make up the country’s population. Our entry into the country to visit with these leaders was eased when a local entrepreneur, now a founder of the Free Syria Center, provided us with a formal invitation to meet at the Damascus Chamber of Commerce to discuss the importance of free enterprise, pluralism and limited government for Syria’s development.
Besides having friends on the ground, Syria’s transitional government sent encouraging signals for our visit: It removed the requirement for foreigners to acquire visas before arriving in Syria (excluding two countries, Iran and Israel) and accepted an invitation for one of the country’s economic ministers to speak and answer questions at the meeting.
I observed two sentiments and actions from Syrians that convinced me there is a real chance to hold the new government accountable to its stated aims of a unified and open Syria. I went to Damascus International Airport three times, and every arriving flight I saw was greeted by families that had been separated for more than a decade. Once international air service was restored, large numbers of Syrians were flying from places such as Germany, Australia and Canada to return to their homes.
When we arrived, Qatar Airways scheduled only three weekly flights from Doha to Damascus. Today, the carrier plans 14 weekly flights, which it says are operating with 90% of the seats booked. In other words, Syrians who live in free countries now think they have a compelling reason to return.
My second observation was how quickly civil society norms were being reestablished. During our meeting at the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Palmer and my think tank colleagues from Lebanon and Morocco fielded questions and dispelled many myths about free markets to a town-hall-style audience of academics, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders. This was also the event where Syria’s interim minister of internal trade and consumer protection spoke on his work to unwind the many destructive price controls and subsidies that caused shortages and fueled corruption.
My Arabic is poor, but I didn’t need a translator to notice the Syrians were directing pointed questions at their new minister, who welcomed the spirited and forward-looking policy dialogue. Everyone in the room knew this conversation would have been regarded as treason only weeks earlier.
If Syria embraces the rule of law and secures equal liberties for all its people, it will mobilize the talents and resources of Syrians inside and outside the country, and a currently poor nation may flourish.
Those benefits would extend to Syria’s neighbors and trading partners, as Syrians would be freed to create wealth and engage in mutually advantageous trade. Free exchange creates win-win interactions and general prosperity on both sides of borders and among different nations, groups, religions and ethnicities. Despite the recent bloodshed, the fall of Mr. Assad’s violent tyranny also offers the chance to improve regional security in the years ahead as the new Syria seeks to escape the domination of Iran, Russia and Hezbollah.
Syria stands on the cusp. There are difficult days and decisions ahead, but there is also a deep longing for peace, liberty and dignity. I saw it myself.
Today’s horrible conflict can subside only if the voices that cherish freedom are heard over those that demand vengeance. It may be easiest to assume that any such effort in the Middle East will surely fail, but courageous people are risking everything to secure a peaceful and free country for themselves and their children.
We should do what we can to help those people by lifting sanctions on the private sector, the world’s most powerful driving force for tolerance, peace and freedom.
