The response to the response to the response

If the above title is startling or confusing, or does not appear consistent in any way, this means that you are aware, and have a good understanding of, the Arab League’s position towards what is happening in Syria. For ever since the Arab League put forward its initiative [on Syria], Arab League Secretary-General [Nabil Elaraby] has been talking about the need for the al-Assad regime to sign this Arab initiative, and the response to the response to the response. Syrians are being killed every day, including more than 50 in one day, whilst the Arab League Secretary General speaks about the response to the response, and the need for the al-Assad regime to sign the protocol allowing observers to be sent to Syria. Is there anything more absurd than this? If Bashar al-Assad, through his Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad al-Maqdisi, or let us say his own personal al-Sahhaf [in reference to former Iraqi Information Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf], has denied – for a second time – the statement he made during a televised interview; then how can the Arabs trust the promises of the al-Assad regime? How could the Arabs trust al-Assad even if he signed the Arab protocol? How can the Arabs trust the al-Assad regime and its killing machine that has not stopped to this day? What is the point of sending observers to Syria when the killing machine has not stopped even for one day? Worse than this, al-Assad himself, in an interview with ABC, said that these forces are not his forces, and that he did not give orders to kill or use violence. This is utter nonsense and a waste of time when the blood of innocent Syrians is being spilled, especially in Homs. If the Americans tell al-Assad that he will be responsible and held accountable for every Syrian death in Homs, which the regime is besieging in preparation for an armed attack, then we, as Arabs, can tell the Secretary General of the Arab League and its distinguished members, that each drop of Syrian blood is their responsibility. This not only applies to what is expected to happen in Homs, but it applies [to all the bloodshed] since the announcement of the Arab initiative, through all the deadlines that were granted to al-Assad [to sign this]. We can say to the Arab League that we cannot take any more, and that waiting for the al-Assad regime to sign the Arab protocol is nothing more than procrastination, and granting an opportunity for the tyrant in Damascus to continue the killing in the hope of suppressing the Syrian revolution. All the facts suggest that al-Assad and his regime are not credible. Both the Arab crime of silence, with regards to the daily murder of the Syrian people, and the Arab passiveness or delay, only further complicate matters in Syria and increase the Syrian people’s suffering. Therefore, the course of events in Syria today has passed the stage of considering the al-Assad regime’s promises, and responding to its response of the response. Likewise, the events have exceeded all Arab League stances, and even the demand to take matters to the UN Security Council. It is imperative today that we form a front for those who want to defend the unarmed Syrian people, and mobilize to impose a buffer zone and no-fly zone [in Syria]. This means providing Arab, international and even financial cover to Turkey. This would protect the Syrians and force al-Assad into issuing his first audio statement [from hiding], sooner than some may imagine. Bashar al-Assad is Muammar Gaddafi, and the international community must mobilize to stop his killing machine, as it did with the insane Colonel. It must take action today, and not in the middle of the month, as the Secretary General of the Arab League – the organization of responding to responses – himself said. from Asharq al-Awsat