The Dark Nature of American-Syrian Relations
By: Nicolas Carteron
Tags: Torture, History, Syria, CIA, USA

Resuming with Henry Kissinger’s visit to Damascus in 1973, relations between the two nations oscillated between anxiety that any misstep would overturn the fragile balance of power in the region and a “grudging respect for Mr Assad,” as the New York Times (NYT) put it in Assad’s obituary.

The main point of discussion until Assad’s death in 2000 was the many peace initiatives for the region, of which all US Presidents hoped Assad would be an important part of. Other than this, Syria maintained a carefully distant stance from all major powers.

After his son Bashar took over and following 9/11, Syria had to toe a fine line while the US was deciding who would end up on its axis of evil. Syrian intelligence cooperated on a few occasions with American agencies to foil terrorist plots.

Bashar al-Assad’s opposition to the Iraq War was the first step in a deterioration of the relation. Syria’s continued support for terrorist groups in the region, its interference in Middle Eastern affairs, its terrible human rights record and its production and use of weapons of mass destruction precipitated the end of the American-Syrian diplomatic ties in 2005.

A grim expertise

Photo credit Amnesty International

Extraordinary rendition is a process by which a government outsources the “interrogation” of a person to another country in order to evade due process and the rule of law.

According to the ACLU, the CIA and other US government agencies started using them as early as the 90s to interrogate, torture, and possible disappear people suspected of illicit activities.

The number and frequency of renditions surged following 9/11 and the beginnings of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The ACLU estimates that “at least hundreds of people” were rendered to be tortured in foreign countries by the Bush administration, “both in facilities run by foreign intelligence agencies or in CIA-run ‘black sites.’”

Robert Baer, a former CIA agent quoted in the report, states chillingly that “If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear — never to see them again — you send them to Egypt.”

If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria.

According to a report by the Open Society Justice Initiative cited in a Guardian article, “Syria is said to have been one of the ‘most common destinations for rendered suspects.’”

Why Syria?

As hinted by Mr Baer, it turns out Syria and its secret police, the Mukhabarat, are world-renowned experts in “enhanced interrogation techniques.” A trade skill they learnt from the very best: Alois Brunner.

The Nazi torture consultant

Alois Brunner — By Source, Fair use, Wikimedia

The name might not be familiar to you, but Alois Brunner is one of the worst war criminals of the Third Reich. An assistant to Adolf Eichmann, Brunner orchestrated the deportation and massacre of over 100,000 European Jews. He commandeered the Drancy internment camp in France, from where over 23,000 people were deported.

Brunner escaped capture at the end of WWII by sheer luck. His last name was confused with that of another SS officer, and it turned out he didn’t have his blood type tattooed on his arm like all other SS.

He fled to Egypt in 1954, and then to Syria where he worked as a government consultant, teaching local law enforcements the interrogation and torture techniques of the SS.

Hafez al-Assad was due to extradite him to West Germany in 1989, when, lucky once again, the fall of the Berlin Wall prevented the extradition.

Brunner reportedly died in Syria in 2010, unrepentant and still a Nazi at heart.