US, Syria Using Baker Think-Tank as Back Channel

by Michael Freund The Jerusalem Post, September 26, 2002

At the urging of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Washington and Damascus have
quietly opened a back channel for periodic bilateral dialogue between senior
officials of the two countries, the Beirut Daily Star reported Wednesday.

According to former State Department official Edward P. Dejerejian, who
served as US ambassador to Syria from 1988 to 1991, the venue for the
back-channel dialogue is the James A. Baker III Institute at Houston's Rice
University, where deliberations were held last May between current and
former officials from the two sides.

Dejerejian, who is the founding director of the Baker Institute, said
another off-the-record session between the two sides is slated to be held
this winter in Damascus.

The initiative behind the opening of the channel came in a meeting
Dejerejian held with the Syrian leader earlier this year, at which Assad
"raised the idea of the need for what he called 'a cultural dialogue.'"
Dejerejian told Assad the Baker Institute "could be the forum for such a
dialogue if he thought that was of interest, and [Assad] immediately agreed
and thought that was a good idea."

While noting that the sessions are "not strictly an official channel between
governments," he did say both Washington and Damascus supported the idea "as
something that would be helpful."

In sessions held in May, participants included former US secretary of state
James Baker, current Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, and
powerful Republican Senator Arlen Specter. The Syrian side was led by Deputy
Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem, who previously served as his country's
ambassador in Washington.

The primary purpose of the undertaking, Dejerejian said, is to create "a
channel for the Syrians to be able to express their views in very full,
candid, and off-the-record sessions.... This is a good step forward in
getting their voice better understood in the United States."