In the Lion's Den_ An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle With Syria - Andrew Tabler [34]
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Rola said.
I cobbled together a proposal as best I could. I had some experiences with websites in terms of content and design, but I had never managed one.
Over the next few weeks, Rola and I played a bit of proposal badminton. I would send Rola a proposal, and she would quickly hit it back to me, claiming the costs were too low. Finally, after five revisions, I submitted the proposal for one hundred eighteen thousand dollars. I made it conditional on confirmation of subject matter, deadlines, and so on. Rola thanked me with a warm, motherly smile, and asked me to provide her with the computer file containing the proposal as well. I complied.
I knew that if Dunya, who was on MAWRED’s board, was asking Leila directly about the website project on the telephone, something was amiss. Since it was clear Dunya was not afraid that the conversation might be recorded, that meant she believed she had the country’s mukhabarat (security agencies) backing her up. Dunya was an old friend of Leila’s and mine, but she was also a friend of Mrs. Assad. There were also many rumors of competing political factions in Syria, each with their own agencies. Whatever Syria’s true power distribution, and for whatever personal or political reason, Dunya was demanding quick answers.
“Andrew, I don’t like the game Rola is playing with us,” Leila said bluntly. “Everyone knows Syria is corrupt, but I will have no part of it.”
Neither would I. Through my years of work in Syria, I knew that the biggest factor retarding the country’s pace of development was its vast web of corruption. This rotten system was tolerated for a simple reason: it bound together members of the country’s ethnic and religious sects around a state that, while often loathed, stabilized what was once one of the world’s most politically volatile countries. This was perhaps the main reason why Syria’s reform efforts were slow and made little sense. As long as the “commissions” kept coming, things went quietly, smoothly—and slowly.
With the president now talking about “reform” and “activation” of Syria, suddenly talk of instability echoed like never before, particularly among the old guard, those resisting Assad’s reforms. Since the United States had allowed Israel to bomb a Palestinian “training camp” in Syria in October 2003 and Bush had signed the SAA into law the following December, internal tensions were rumored to be high, and whispers of old-guard resistance had increased.
Leila and I knew that the only way to clarify things was to confront Rola directly but civilly. After all, we had very little information—Dunya had simply said that during a MAWRED board meeting, Rola had reported that the website project was awarded and the money had already been disbursed to Leila.
Leila and I found Rola perched on a rolling chair in her office. After the usual formalities, I asked her about the website and the fact that we had heard the money was allocated to Leila.
“I want to know who told you that,” said Rola. “The money has been allocated; it’s right here on my desk.”
Rola patted a large tan duffel bag sitting to her right. In one smooth motion, she unzipped the bag, showing us a mound of stacked Syrian banknotes. After repeating her question several times, we told her that it was Dunya. Rola’s eyes lit up instantly in anger.
“Perhaps it’s time we started dealing on paper,” Rola said unexpectedly. She handed me a stack of invoices and a bank receipt showing a large transaction in Syrian pounds from the UNFPA. Attached to the top of the stack was a copy of a receipt in the name of Rola’s driver—it was roughly the equivalent of one hundred twenty-five thousand US dollars.
Rola seemed to have submitted the project, collected the money from the account without our knowledge, and was now holding the full amount for “safekeeping” in Leila’s name, without a term of reference or contract governing and conditioning