Thomas Friedman's "They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?": Nice Try, Tom, But the Revolt in Syria Is Not About Democracy

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/opinion/22friedman.html?ref=opinion), Thomas Friedman, writing from Beirut, would have us believe that the protestors being gunned down by Assad's monstrous regime are seeking "democracy":

"More than in any other Arab country today, the democracy protestors in Syria know that when they walk out the door to peacefully demand freedom they are facing a regime that has no hesitancy about gunning them down."

"Democracy prostestors"? This is a facile depiction of a rebellion having its roots elsewhere.

Notwithstanding demands by demonstrators for greater political freedom, the Assad regime is being brought down by the failure of its economy. Syria's agricultural sector employs some 30 percent of its labor force, and much emphasis has been placed in recent years on achieving food self-sufficiency and stemming rural migration. However, Syria's most important cash crop is cotton, which demands much water, and a five-year drought has had catastrophic consequences.

Syria's limited oil reserves are also dwindling.

Add to this volatile mixture the fact that Assad is an Alawite. Alawites, who comprise 10% of Syria's population, are considered by many to be a Shiite sect; however, there are those Sunnis who say that Alawites are not even Muslims. Syria's population of some 22 million is 70% Sunni, and there is much pent up hostility toward Assad, who, like his father, has sought to preserve power by populating the military and secret service leadership with fellow Alawites.

Syria's Sunnis have not forgotten how in 1982 Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, destroyed much of the town of Hama and killed up to 40,000 of their coreligionists in order to suppress a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood against his regime.

Also no mention by Mr. Friedman of the savage persecution of Syria's Kurds, who also comprise some 10% of the population, and whose villages have been particularly hard hit by the regional drought.

Mr. Friedman inquires:

"Of course, the million-dollar question hanging over the Syrian rebellion, and all the Arab rebellions, is: Can the people really come together and write a social contract to live together as equal citizens — not as rival sects — once the iron fist of the regimes is removed?"

Answer: No way, but keep asking those tough questions, Tom.