I have known since my youth many courageous and wonderful Syrian dissidents (mostly communists and many from the Syrian Action Party--even before the name was changed). And I can say that it was quite a visual insult to watch a thug--literally--like Ahmad Jarba speak on behalf of the Syrian opposition. Haytham Al-Manna` was banned from the conference by order of Saudi Arabia and Qatar while this thuggish tool of House of Saud was addressed by Saud Al-Faysal as "your excellency, the president". The Syrian people and its legitimate opposition (not those shops set up by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the US) deserve much better.