In the Lion's Den

July 11, 2011
Tabler, a fellow in the Arab politics program at the Washington Institute, offers a firsthand account of U.S. relations with Syria during the Bush administration in this timely and objective memoir. A journalist and fluent Arabist, the author resided in Damascus from 2001 to 2008, where he cofoundedâwith the support and encouragement of Asma al-Assad, the wife of Syrian dictator Bashar al-AssadâSyria Today, a quarterly magazine on Syrian affairs. From his unique perch, the author watched as U.S.-Syrian relations that historically "oscillated between isolation and engagement" took a decided turn for the worse, with the U.S. imposing sanctions on Syria in 2004. The ensuing cold war between Washington and Damascus was exacerbated by Syria's implication in the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, the spreading Iranian influence in Syria, and revelations about Syria's secret nuclear aspirations. Despite his language skills, long residency in Syria, and insider connections, Tabler has limited success penetrating the opaque Syrian regime and remains a frustrated witness to the end, able to eloquently describe what happened, but unable to explain why with any confidence. But with the Assad dictatorship now facing widespread internal protests and reliable information scarce, Tabler's frontline report offers readers a chilling glimpse of an enigmatic regime.

June 15, 2011

An American journalist working in Syria provides an up-close, somewhat incomplete portrait of a tense country struggling to extricate itself from Lebanon amid U.S. sanctions during the mid 2000s.

In this look into a highly censored, autocratic, secular society bedeviled by Islamist fundamentalists, Tabler chronicles his attempt to keep running an English-language startup journal, Syria Today, begun in early 2004 under the auspices of the young new Syrian president's wife as part of a host of promised reforms when President Bashar al-Assad took office after the death of his longtime dictator father, in 2000. However, over the course of the decade, the NGOs patronized by Mrs. Assad were threatened continually when politics heated up as Syrian relations with Israel and the U.S. deteriorated, and Syria was forced to withdraw from Lebanon, which had essentially provided its economic mainstay. Tabler's unique position as an American working to promote Syrian culture allowed him a keen perch from which to observe unfolding events. The American invasion of Iraq changed dynamics utterly in the region as Syria, sharing a border with Iraq, resisted American influence, even supporting "terrorist groups and the dying regime of Saddam Hussein." Syria has flirted with Islamist terrorist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas, and openly supported Hezbollah, a thorn in the Israelis' side; the Bush administration responded by imposing harsh economic sanctions. The suspicious bombing murder of Lebanese opposition leader Rafik al-Hariri was followed by the "battle of the protests" (the so-called Cedar Revolution) that eventually forced Syria out of the country in April 2005. Moreover, Syrian's rapprochement with Iran caused enormous animosity with the U.S., when Iran was moving into the vacuum left by Washington.

A singular, critical look inside this compelling Arab nation.

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