Bar to truth and reconciliation  After the conclusion of the war in Syria, there will have to be a period of nation building – either Assad will have destroyed his enemies and have an alienated nation to deal with, or the Syrian National Congress will have to take effective control over the country.  Syria will need a process of truth and reconciliation [1] - a collective understanding of events that happened on the past, such as that which occurred after the end of Apartheid in South Africa - in order to move forward: this may be hampered by reopening old wounds by prosecuting large numbers of people for offences in the civil war.  [1] For more information see the Debatabase debate ‘ This House supports the use of truth and reconciliation commissions ’