Before I move on to the final country I visited in the Middle East, let me say a few words about Syria. A typical conversation in the street would invariably start with something like this:
Syrian: Welcome to Syria.
Me: Thank you.
Syrian: Where are you from?
Me: For the past nine years I´ve been living in the Czech Republic, but originally I´m from America.
Syrian: Oh. Well, when you get back home, please tell them that we´re not all terrorists.
So, there it is, I´m conveying their wishes. I found Syria to be an interesting, beautiful and hospitable place. We should not judge the people of a nation by the highly publicized acts of a radical few. Nor should we assume that the opinion and beliefs of an entire people reflect the misguided ambitions of their political leaders. I would hate to think that someone would stereotype me as an American by the images they may have seen from Abu Ghraib. May I add that I spoke with several Syrians who have lived or studied in either Britain, America or Canada and was impressed with their command of not only the English language, but also western culture. Most Syrian children study English in their schools and can see American programs on their satellite television. I feel confident in saying that they understand us much better than we understand them. Do you know many of your friends, acquaintances or family members that have studied in a Syrian madrassa, lived in Damascus or Aleppo or speak fluent Arabic?
On another note, I saw a program on CNN the other day about how the U.S. government continues to complain about the lax security along the Syrian-Iraqi border. They accuse Syria of not doing enough to stem either the flow of jihadists into Iraq or the insurgents seeking temporary shelter in Syria. The fact that we have serious problems controlling the flow of human traffic across our own borders is totally discounted. To add to the problem, current U.S. sanctions against Syria forbid the import of night vision equipment because of its potential military application. I wonder how our own border patrol would do if we severely restricted their capabilities by removing their night vision devices. Along a 300 mile stretch of desert border I guess the best a Syrian soldier could hope for is a full moon. Finally, the Syrian government makes a valid point that the current problems along the border did not start until the U.S. invaded Iraq, yet now Syria is supposed to shift strategic military forces and equipment at their cost to satisfy the demands of a country who caused the situation to occur in the first place. How ironic!