Syrian “rebels” set plans for military dictatorship in “new Syrian government” – US backed Al Qaeda figures prominently in power grab

Syrian rebels seek power in transition
30 July, 2012 – AL Akhbar

Syrian rebels on Monday distributed a “national salvation draft” proposal for a political transition in the country that would controversially include military figures in any transition should President Bashar al-Assad fall.

The joint command of the Free Syrian army (FSA) said in a statement the draft “meets all the requirements of the revolution.”

The document demands “the establishment of a supreme higher defense council whose first mission will be creating a presidential council of six military and civil leaders to run the state in the next transitional stage,” the statement said.

The council would include all leaders of military councils in Syrian cities and provinces as well as defected military officers who contributed to the revolution, it said.

The call has raised concerns that Syria’s armed rebels will seek to consolidate power in the event of Assad’s fall, and undermine any attempt to a transition to civilian rule, akin to Egypt’s ruling military.

Among the proposed presidential council’s responsibilities would be “to put forward draft laws for referendum and (…) to restructure the security and military apparatus,” the statement said.

The draft, which was the result of extensive deliberations, also proposed “the establishment of the Supreme National Council for the Protection of the Syrian Revolution…as a parliamentary institution to monitor the work of executive agencies.”

The statement called on the Syrian National Council council as well as all other political forces to participate in the “making of the new institutions” after Assad’s fall.

The statement declared that “any government that emerges from unreliable sources will not see the light of day and will not have any national or revolutionary legitimacy, if it does not adopt the revolution’s full demands untouched.”

Human Rights Watch has previously said that Syrian rebels, many of whom operate outside of a central command, have been carrying out human rights abuses in the armed uprising against President Assad. …more