Khaddam promotes collapse of the Syrian regime
Syria, Politics, 5/2/2006

In an interview with Spiegel German magazine, Syria's former Vice President said that ever since the death of Former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, he has distanced himself from the Syrian policies, and now has completely different views on policies than that of the Syrian regime.

He said after the death of President Hafez al-Assad "I presented (Bashar al-Assad) with a memorandum calling for internal liberalization. But the president wanted to reform the economy first and only then introduce political reforms. So I developed a reform program for the economy," adding his proposals were completely ignored and he lost hoped of reform and resigned.

He told Spiegel that he is opposed to the current regime, and that he is likely in danger for his life because of this, but nonetheless, he is intent to "do everything in my power to save my country from this regime."

About the killing of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic al-Hariri, Khaddam reiterated accusations of Bashar al-Assad's involvement in the killing.

Khaddam said the Syria is run by al-Assad family saying "The family is completely in control, in the style of a mob family. Forget the parliament, forget the Baath Party and forget the government. The Assad clan bears full responsibility for everything." Khaddam compared al-Asaad to Sadddam Hussein saying "Assad himself behaves like Saddam, his family behaves like Saddam's family and Syria's security agencies act in precisely the same way as Saddam's thugs. But there is one difference: The collapse of the Syrian regime will be brought about peacefully, without an American invasion and without civil war. This is because the Syrians see their nation as a single entity. We Syrians are shocked by the situation in Iraq. We do not wish to divide our country into various ethnic groups, denominations and regions."

Khaddam predicted that the regime would collapse this year and said he is forming a government in exile and would work with all sides for this, including the Islamists whose influence is overstated he said, and Baath members saying "One shouldn't make the same mistake with the Syrian Baath Party that the Americans made with the Iraqi Baath Party. The majority of Syria's Baathists have long since become opponents of the regime. They see the mistakes of their government every day."

Previous Stories:
  Syrian president meets Hariri assassination investigators   (4/25/2006)
  Khaddam's company shut down in Syria   (4/11/2006)
  Bayanouni says Khaddam planned defection since 2003   (3/27/2006)

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