In the Lion's Den_ An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle With Syria - Andrew Tabler [51]
Around 2:30 PM, I switched on the TV and tuned into the Syrian satellite channel. The transmission quickly cut to reporters greeting Shaaban as she sat down at the head table. She’s on the short side, so the forty or so microphones positioned in front of her nearly eclipsed her face. Speaking in Arabic, Shaaban outlined some of the points from the president’s speech the previous day. She also informed the audience that the president had ordered that some of the proceedings of the working committees would be broadcast on national TV stations. When one Syrian journalist asked which committees would be broadcast and when, Shaaban simply replied, “It will be announced.”
Shaaban went on to announce in a loud voice, “The conference will discuss everything of importance to the Syrian citizen. The slogan of this conference is flexibility and steadfastness.” Foreign journalists attending the press conference were already lost, due largely to the fact that no simultaneous translation services were available. Those from major media relied on their “fixers,” or local helpers, to translate all questions and answers. After a few more questions, a foreign journalist asked if translation services could be made available for the press conference, given the number of non-Arabic speakers.
“Today, if the question is in English, I will answer in English,” Shaaban said. “In the next press conference, translations services will be available.”
Shaaban was then asked about Khaddam’s resignation and if it was indeed permanent. Laughing, Shaaban replied, “Well, yesterday at the conference, Khaddam spoke for one hour. When he was asked why his speech took so long, while each person was only allotted five minutes, he replied, ‘Because I am a member in the regional command of the Baath Party.’ So I believe he is still in the party.”
With that strange answer, the ten-minute press conference was over. What did her answer about Khaddam mean? We might have something at 9:30 PM, I guessed. About thirty minutes later, Othaina called me to his desk, excited.
“The all4syria.com news service says there was a fight between Khaddam and Foreign Minister Shara yesterday,” Othaina said. Sure enough, on the screen in front of us were details of the “hour-long speech” Shaaban spoke of. Apparently, Khaddam declared that what Syria needs now is “democracy” and went on for some length about how opening the political system was the best way to confront the country’s problems. Shara, openly miffed at Khaddam’s out-of-turn statements, asked the vice president to submit his criticisms to the political committee for consideration.
But that was not all. After Khaddam’s speech, a member of the political committee, journalist Ali Jamalo, stood up and asked Khaddam some tough questions. “You are calling for democracy,” Jamalo reportedly said. “You were in power for almost forty years…. What did you do for democracy when you were in power? You complain about Syria’s handling of the Lebanon crisis. But you were the one who established Syria’s presence in Lebanon. We want this free market for the economy. Why didn’t you do anything about it? When you call for democracy, it is we, the young blood, that demand democracy. What did you do for forty years? Don’t bring us your faults and frustrations.”
That afternoon, calls continued to come in from foreign correspondents wanting to know about the possibility of meeting or having dinner. Most added the caveat that they would need either to attend or monitor the press conference at 9:30 PM. So I left most appointments open and made plans to be at home to tune into the press conference myself.
In the meantime, I turned on the TV to see which committee proceedings were being broadcast. None was featured; Channel One was running a segment on pets.
At 9:30 PM, Syria satellite TV cut its transmission to cover the press conference. Shaaban began by giving small briefs about the workings of each committee. The economic committee, for example, discussed tourism projects, how to better deal