Conflict Resolution in Syria

Starting in 2023,

uh, a British non-government organization, uh,

which specializes in conflict resolution,

invited me to help them

bring this guy

out of the terrorist world and into regular politics.

Um, and at first, I have to tell you, I was very leery of going.

I sort of had images of me in an orange jumpsuit with a knife to my throat.

Um, but after talking to several people who

had gone

in, and one of whom had met him,

um, I decided to take the chance.

And

so the first time I met him, this guy's name, um, is known to Geir, was

Abdqadar, uh, Jolani, um, but his actual name

is Ahmed Shara, which he only revealed to the world after

he captured Damascus in the blitzkrieg of December

2024, about five months ago.

Um, first time I met him, I sat down next to him, and I'm literally

as close as I am to Roy, and I said, this is all in Arabic,

I said, "Never in a million years could I imagine

that I would be sitting next to you." Long beard, thin

fatigues. And he looked at me, he speaks very softly,

and he said, "Wa la ana, me neither."

And

we went on and actually had a pretty civil conversation.

I, I share this because he said something

which really piqued my

interest. He never apologized, never

apologized for the terrorist attacks in Iraq or in

Syria, although there were many fewer in Syria.

Never apologized.

But he also said, "You know, now I am

governing an opposition-held area of northwest Syria,

and I am learning that the tactics

and the principles that I was following in Iraq

do not apply when you actually have to govern four

million people." And they had two million

residents of that area of Syria, and then another two million

refugees who had come there from other parts of Syria,

so they had a population of

four million. He said, "I am learning

that to govern, you have to make compromises." I was very

struck by that.

So that was in March 2023, just over two

years ago. Um,

we went back a second time in September.