partial text: “Chairman Casey, Ranking Member Risch, Distinguished Members of the Committee: thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to discuss our goals with regard to Syria and the strategy we are implementing to achieve them. Much has changed both within Syria and in the international response to what is happening inside Syria since the unrest began eight months ago. Protests that started in the provincial village of Dara’a have spread to every city and every major town in the country. The Syrian people have demonstrated an irrepressible hunger for a change in the way their country is governed. They are no longer willing to tolerate the blatant denial of their universal rights and trampling of their dignity. They are no longer willing to remain quiet about the rampant corruption, brutality, and ineptitude of the mafia-like Assad clique that has hijacked the Syrian state and transformed it into an instrument whose sole purpose is to retain power in the hands of a small group of self-interested elites. The protestors in Syria have overcome the barrier of fear. They are out on the streets of cities and towns all over Syria every single day despite the relentless and indiscriminate violence that the regime has deployed against them. According to the estimates of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, over 3500 Syrians have been killed since the protests began. Tens of thousands have been detained, and many of those have been tortured. In a report of her …

The protest last night was massive but had a vibe of peace and solidarity to it. Just before I left, a couple of people smashed a window with rocks, but I suspect they were provocateurs based on a witness’ description of the culprits’ garb and MO Moreover, Eric Bouthillette, who was on the front lines the whole night, reported that there were people dressed in provocateur-style gear at the head of the protest trying all night to start confrontations and being stopped by the rest of the protesters. At about 2:00 am the next morning, about 30 arrests were made. According to Eric, the protest ended with a conflict between the vandals/ provocateurs and the rest of the protesters. Some people were breaking windows and the mass of protesters were trying to stop them, which resulted in a conflict among the marchers themselves and not between the marchers and the police. Essentially, provocateurs or hooligans were trying to start trouble and the legitimate protesters tried to stop them, and people were arrested as a result of this scuffle. Is this a divide-and-conquer tactic being implemented? Isn’t this easier than trying to contain thousands of people or bring on martial law? The protests continue and so far they have been taking place largely at night. The police seem to be concerned above all with protecting commercial establishments and preventing the protest from interfering with commerce. They would hate for the protesters to start marching during the day, but if this …
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