The Samiramis Opposition gathering

I was rather skeptical, if not outright opposed, about the Syrian opposition conference in Samiramis Hotel in Damascus.   I thought that the event would be used to attain legitimacy by the regime, and that the very convening of the conference would be exploited to prove the democratic impulse of the lousy regime.  But I must say that I was impressed with the statement and speeches and that they really tried to not compromise on the goals although I felt that they should have stated categorically that they aim at the overthrow of the regime.  I am sure that a large numbers of the attendees were working for the mukhabrat but the final statement indicated that that they resisted pressures from regime.  Syrian opposition on the outside (read, Muslim Brotherhood) rejected the conference but not for the same reasons that I rejected it: they want to control everything, before and after the overthrow of the regime.  The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood would replace the Ba`thist monopoly of power with a Saudi monopoly of power.  But if I was asked my opinion by the opposition inside Syria, I would have advised that the meeting should not have taken place unless key important conditions have been met by the regime.  Thus far, the regime has only gave promises and typical Ba`thist style committees to study the feasibility of forming committees to study whether the formation of committees is desirable at this stage.  This is Ba`thist reform.