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Source: http://afr.com/articles/2004/11/22/1100972323448.html
EU Support for Assad Bolsters Syrian Dictatorship
(Dow Jones/Australian Financial Review) Nir Boms and Erick Stakelbeck - With Arafat's death, Europe has lost its oldest and dearest Arab despot. But the race to replace him as the EU's favored Middle East tyrant has already begun. On October 19, the European Commission and Syria signed an "association agreement" that strengthened Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's iron grip on power. The EU cited Syria's supposedly newfound commitment to fight terrorism and promote human rights to justify the deal. However, Syria's record in these two areas is abysmal. American troops stationed along Iraq's border with Syria have complained of mortar attacks from within Syrian territory, presumably by Islamist terrorists. These attacks certainly could not take place without the tacit support of the Syrian military. Syria is a tightly controlled police state based on the same Ba'ath ideology of Saddam Hussein's Iraq - nothing happens there without approval from Damascus. On the human rights front, despite the rhetoric, Syria remains a bastion of repression. The EU - in its push to become a global counterweight to the U.S. - has proved more than willing to embrace tyrants and terrorists. In helping to revitalize the Assad regime, the EU has not only let down all the courageous pro-democracy activists who are risking their lives in Syria - it has also made the world less safe.