In a TV interview, former Iraqi MP Ayad Jamal Al-Din expressed his support of Syrian President Al-Assad, saying that "Bashar Al-Assad deserves a thousand Nobel Prizes" and that "If there was one man left on this planet supporting Bashar Al-Assad, it would be me." Jamal Al-din explained that it was necessary to support "political and security stability in the region" in order to prevent the collapse of the Sykes-Picot agreement, which would lead to "oceans of blood." The interview aired on the Syrian opposition's Orient News TV channel on September 1, 2015.
Following are excerpts:
Ayad Jamal Al-Din: To the best of my knowledge, there is a country called Syria, and its army should have control over all the land of Syria, and they may seek help from whoever they want – from Russia, North Korea, Iran, or anyone – just like the legitimate Yemeni President Hadi, who is a virtual president, sought the help of Saudi Arabia, of the UAE, and so on and so forth, in order to impose the rule of his state. Similarly, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Syrian leadership have the right to seek the help of whoever they want, in order to impose their rule over all Syrian land.
Interviewer: But this has been against the Syrian people. It was done in order to kill the Syrian people, and not in order to fight a presumed enemy.
Ayad Jamal Al-Din: These are lies of the Saudi-Qatari-Turkish propaganda, which is in accord with the Muslim Brotherhood.
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For the Alawites, the Druze, and the Maronite Christians, secularism is a matter of life and death, and not a political joke. Their lives depend upon a secular regime, which will treat them as human beings, rather than as a sect in a Sunni Muslim state.
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Interviewer: Who is sowing sectarianism [in Iraq]? Iran?
Ayad Jamal Al-Din: Iran has played a role, Saudi Arabia with its Wahhabi rhetoric has played a role, and so has Qatar. They invest in religious discourse. Iran invests in Shiite rhetoric. Iran is a cat trying to look like a lion. Iran does not care about the Shiites of Iraq. I know Iran because I lived there for over 16 years. I know Iranian culture and the approach of the Iranian regime inside out. Iran has been sending messages to America. It doesn’t care about the Iraqi people or the Syrian people…
Interviewer: But who serves as fuel for…
Ayad Jamal Al-Din: We are the fuel, for sure. What is the Iranian message to America? The Iranian message is: Oh America, I have control over the Shiites. There are Shiites in the Middle East, in Iraq, in Bahrain, in Pakistan, and in Lebanon, and I, Iran, am the official spokesperson for the Shiites, and you should negotiate with me under this assumption. Who helped Iran make this claim? Saudi Arabia, in its stupidity.
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The rulers of Iraq are not Iraqi leaders. They are collaborators with and mercenaries of Iran. They have no roots among the Shiite Iraqi people.
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Interviewer: The Sunnis and the Gulf states do not have an expansionist plan. Iran has an expansionist plan.
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Ayad Jamal Al-Din: Iran has an expansionist plan, and so does Saudi Arabia, According to U.S. research centers, Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on the spreading of Wahhabism all over the world. This is exactly the same as Khomeini's global Shiitization. All the [Shiite] mosques and seminaries are spy agencies for Iran, just like the Wahhabi mosques around the world are spy centers for Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
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There is a Syrian regime, headed by Dr. Bashar Al-Assad, and I am proud to be among the shabiha [militia] supporting Bashar Al-Assad. If there was just one man left on this planet supporting Al-Assad, it would be me. If all humanity stood against Bashar Al-Assad, I would not stop supporting him.
Interviewer: On what basis? He is the killer of children, who perpetrated massacres with chemical weapons, brought mercenaries to Syria, displaced 12 million Syrians…
Ayad Jamal Al-Din: Regardless of all he did. Let me explain. I support political and security stability in the region, and the preservation of the sacred Sykes-Picot agreement. If the Sykes-Picot agreement collapses, you will long for what we have today. It will lead to oceans of blood. There will be no Saudi Arabia, no Kuwait, no Qatar, no UAE…
Interviewer: It all depends on Bashar Al-Assad personally? There could be regular elections, and someone else will emerge.
Ayad Jamal Al-Din: Bashar Al-Assad deserves a thousand Nobel Prizes. He has been defending world peace and security.
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Interviewer: Israel has been his neighbor for 40 years. They have been greeting one another every morning. Why not shoot a bullet? But against the children of Daraa he sent his tanks…
Ayad Jamal Al-Din: This shows the smartness of the Syrian regime. They were not like Saddam the idiot, who got us into an eight-year war with Iran, and the result was that the U.N. declared Iraq to be the aggressor, and we are supposed to pay one trillion dollars to Iran. Saddam the idiot invaded Kuwait, and to this day, we pay reparations. The Syrian regime didn't get you into wars.
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