The Washington Post is asking panelists from around the world how they think history will label Tony Blair 25 years from now. Writing from Damascus, I can speak for how the Syrians will remember him. The man was first regarded as a friend, and welcomed by the Syrians when he came to office in 1997. He reportedly was “personally involved” in the reforms taking place in Syria after 2000, following up with great interest through media reports, and those of the Foreign Office. Relations deteriorated during the Anglo-American war on Afghanistan in October 2001, hit rock bottom during the Iraq War, and have been strained -- to say the least -- since the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Harriri in February 2005. The world remembers the Blair-Assad Summit in London. I would rather recall the Blair-Assad Summit in Damascus in 2001. I happened to be in London when Tony Blair was in Syria and can still remember reading “Syria Scorns Blair” at newsstands scattered all over Oxford Street.

Continue »