Word: baathist
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Enlightened leadership seemed a possibility when Bashar Assad inherited office in 2000. He promised a more open society. He brought intellectuals and free-market economists into the government, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the Baathist old guard. Soon the multiple, overlapping Syrian police and intelligence agencies-a Byzantine web that entangles both Syria and Lebanon-seemed to regain control of the President as well. Dozens of "Damascus Spring" democracy advocates were tossed in jail. "Reform is not like pushing a button," Assad told me. "When there's trouble externally, it will affect Syria ... If you don't have peace...
...Bush Administration to turn up the heat in its campaign of pressure against a regime it has long considered a festering sore in the region. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials last week ticked off a list of grievances against the Baathist regime of President Bashar Assad, from Syria's destabilizing presence in Lebanon to its alleged support of insurgents in Iraq to its funding and protection of terrorist groups like Hizballah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Bush said Syria "is out of step" with U.S. policy in the region, while members of Congress...
...negotiator. He says two such meetings have taken place. While U.S. officials would not confirm the details of any specific meetings, sources in Washington told TIME that for the first time the U.S. is in direct contact with members of the Sunni insurgency, including former members of Saddam's Baathist regime. Pentagon officials say the secret contacts with insurgent leaders are being conducted mainly by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers. A Western observer close to the discussions says that "there is no authorized dialogue with the insurgents" but that the U.S. has joined "back-channel" communications with rebels. Says...
...money to insurgents in Iraq, and demands an end to Syria's backing for Hezbollah and the Palestinian militants of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Domestically, its stagnant economy raises the pressure on a regime dominated by a small ethnic minority (the Allawites) trading on a long bankrupted Baathist ideology. Its international economic and diplomatic isolation, combined with the strategic blow of losing its hold on Lebanon while Israel and the Palestinians restart their peace process could leave the regime dangerously vulnerable to gradual internal collapse...
...have been assembled, trained and deployed under ultimate U.S. command and according to U.S. plans. But the new government will likely seek far greater control over what would be, essentially, its own security forces. The Shiites, for example, are unhappy at the return to command positions of many former Baathist officers. UIA leader Mowfaik al-Rubaie has made clear that "the new government wants to have radical changes in the leadership of the Iraqi security forces...