It seems to be Roger L. Simon Day, but his post re: Syrian blogger Ammar Abdulhamid blogging about his interrogation forced my hand. Ammar:
"This was the first round of investigation by this particular apparatus, Branch 235 as it is known, but it will not be the last, that’s for sure. I will have now to submit a report on my “dubious” activities and contacts during my fellowship at the Saban Center for Middle Eastern Study at the Brookings Institution, and then I will be interrogated again.
So be it. So be it."
There's more. Read it. If you're curious about Syrian practices, Human Rights Watch has a page devoted to the topic.
Good post Joe. Thanks for noticing this. It would also help if the United States doesn't use the Syria government in the practice of extraordinary rendition, don't you think?
It would help if America's cutting of ties with Syria kept going beyond that step. But that would be a start, yes.
Especially when we hear stuff like this:
Not to be a wet blanket, but I would take that fellow's weblog with a grain of salt. He's the son of Syria's most famous actress, and kind of a free spirit rather than a nascent opposition leader. He's also leaving.
Hmmm... I'd wondered how he got away with what he gets away with.
But he reminds me a bit of Salam Pax (before we went into Iraq), so I like reading him.
JC -- Syria for decades has played the "useful" card particularly in intelligence. They have collaborated or worked with Hezbollah (#2 in Americans killed by terrorist organizations) and at the same time avoided our full wrath by supplying some useful intelligence, and of course positioning themselves as the only alternative to hordes of bloodthirsty theocrats ala Iran.
I agree it's about time we stopped playing that game, it always blows up in our face.
I really don't see what this poor devil's mother or his relocation plans have to do with his plight, or with the practices of the Syrian Government. Are we supposed to support only nascent opposition leaders?
I've written the Syrian Embassy, hope everyone else does as well.
Thank you for linking to Amarji. I've known about this blog for about two weeks, after Michael Totten gave it a nod, and I've told others about it but I think he deserves wider coverage. (And I can't image why wanting to protect ones family makes somebody's opinion less authentic.)
A poem by Ammar Abdulhamid that I like.
I wasn't implying that I don't sympathize with the fellow ... but rather that he's probably going to be A-OK.