London, president of Hudson until 2011, said the State Department
has ignored non-Brotherhood opposition groups. In July, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton invited Brotherhood operatives and urged them to work with
Turkey to help oust Assad.
"Missing from the invitations are Kurdish leaders, Sunni liberals,
Assyrians and Christian spokesmen," the report said. "According to various
reports the State Department made a deal with Turkey
and Muslim Brotherhood representatives either to share power with Assad to
stabilize the government, or replace him if this effort fails."
Hudson cited the Syrian Democracy Council, which contains a range of
ethnic and religious minorities, including Alawites and Christians. SDC was
not invited to the State Department.
"From the standpoint of Foggy Bottom [State Department] it is far better
to promote stability even if this means aligning oneself with the goals of
presumptive enemies," the report said. "This, however, is a dangerous game
that not only holds U.S. interests hostage to the Muslim Brotherhood, but
also suggests that the withdrawal of American forces from the region affords
the U.S. very few policy options."
Officials confirmed the State Department invitation to
Brotherhood-aligned opposition
groups. They said the Brotherhood has often boycotted U.S.-sponsored
sessions that included organizations opposed by the Islamist movement.
London said the U.S. ban on SDC represented an insult to pro-democracy
forces in Syria. He cited reports that the Brotherhood was playing a major
role in
attacks on Syrian security forces in a campaign supported by Iran, Jordan
and Turkey.
"At the very least Secretary Clinton should hear the SDC argument," the
report said. "Leaving this body out of the Syrian conversation is an insult
to what America purports to care about. Assad should see that his opponents
are not merely those complicit in stabilizing a murderous regime, but those
with genuine democratic impulses and who represent a significant portion of
the Syrian people."