Il y a quelques jours, le Washington Post a présenté, au monde émerveillé, le nouveau leader de l’opposition syrienne, Ammar Abdulhamid :
Syrian rebels don’t want U.S. aid, at least for now - Washington Times
►http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/27/syrian-rebels-dont-want-us-aid-at-least-for-now
Ammar Abdulhamid, who has emerged as an unofficial spokesman in the West for the activists organizing the Syrian protests...
Angry Arab n’a pas tardé à faire remarquer à quel point cette prétention était ridicule :
►http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/03/this-is-hilarious-when-western.html
This is hilarious: when Western countries select leaders for the region
They decided that a Syrian living in Washington, DC is the leader of the protests. I wonder how many Syrians actually know who he is. (thanks Ahmet)
Joshua Landis (Syria Comment), dans un article apparemment neutre, rappelle des infos bien gênantes :
►http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=8864
Déjà présenté par le WaPo en juillet 2004, l’homme a trouvé l’équation idéale (ancien super-musulman donc légitime, mais plus musulman du tout donc rassurant pour le lecteur du WaPo) :
Ammar Abdulhamid is no Islamist. He did flirt with Islam and the notion of going to Afghanistan during a difficult period of introspection after dropping out of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, but pulled away from the lures of fundamentalism. “It gave my life structure, but it enslaved the hell out of me,” he told the Washington Post’s Nora Boustany. Eventually he abandoned Islam for atheism and ultimately became an “agnostic.”
Notez bien : il pense aller en Afghanistan en... 1988. Contre les russes, donc. Pas contre les américains. (Ouf.)
Mais, dès 2005, il rejoint le Saban Center, think tank fondé par Haim Saban, dirigé par Martin Indyk, et décrit par John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt comme un élément du lobby pro-israélien.
He was appointed a visiting fellow at the Saban Center of the Brookings Institute in Washington DC, shortly after he had established the Tharwa Project [...] in June 2004.
À l’instar d’une Joumana Haddad, c’est un auteur écrivant sur un passionnant sujet à la con, mais totalement dans l’air du temps (ce qui en fait, je suppose, le Carrie Bradshaw de Damas) :
He is the author of a prize winning novel, Menstruation: A Novel, that depicts how the culture of Islam in Syria is sexually and morally repressive.
En novembre 2005, le gars soutient le rapport Mehlis avec ferveur dans le quotidien libanais Daily Star (il se présente comme « Visiting Fellow » pour le Saban Center for Middle East Policy). Aujourd’hui, plus personne ne se réfère au rapport Mehlis, sauf pour le désavouer.
►http://www.mafhoum.com/press9/256P5.htm
In making up his mind on the next steps, Assad needs to consider that the Mehlis report was only a preliminary document prepared for the sake of getting an extension of the UN probe and securing Syrian cooperation. Mehlis did not put everything he had in the report and did not divulge all the pieces of evidence. This includes more taped conversations with Syrian officials, both alive and recently dead, as well as testimony by more credible witnesses whose identity still needs to be protected.
En 2005, il rejoint le Front de salut national en Syrie d’Abdel Halim Khaddam et Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni.
Following the 2005 defection of Syria’s long time Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, who founded the National Salvation Front in cooperation with the long-time leader of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, Bayanuni, Ammar decided to join opposition politics directly. Abdulhamid worked to gain the NSF a place in Washington and recognition from the Bush administration. It was successful in opening an office in Washington DC, largely thanks to Ammar’s connections and support, despite considerable reluctance on the part of US lawmakers to support any organization associated to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Selon Landis, il quitte cet attelage trop ouvertement associé à l’administration Bush (en 2007 ?) :
Ammar quite the National Salvation Front in 2007 shortly before it was dissolved at the time the Obama administration took office.
Avec un curriculum pareil, il semble impossible de ne pas être proclamé représentant d’un truc arabe quelconque par le Washington Post.
