Syrian defectors hand themselves in at their former workplaces as new masters enforce DDR policy to deliver justice and harness much-needed skills.
“People come here as they fear revenge killings, but a lot of the officers will say they were working in the kitchen or driving,” Abu Sariyeh al-Shami explains, watching former regime members attempt to minimize their roles when surrendering to the new authorities at what once was Syria’s feared intelligence headquarters.
Yes, I know I can control myself still I do have the necessary experience. Perhaps some of the friends here saw people being killed or people who they knew in the areas that were attacked.
Some officers said they were ordered to bomb my town, Jabal Zawiya, and that they had raped people. I handled them well,” Shami also stresses the fact that it is not easy to stay professional when going through personal loss from the war.
The new administration shows pragmatism in their approach to valuable former officials: For instance, yesterday we received a Syrian officer who used to work as an Interpol contact officer into our office. That man will retain his home and his car, and we want him to because he is useful to us. It is like this because you need to get benefits from such kinds of people in running the new Syria.
“It was just a job,” claims an unnamed former mechanic/driver, while another former intelligence officer named Tony insists: My role was only to participate in the identification of foreigners arriving to Syria… I didn’t do anything… we didn’t take part in any military operations.”
Even regime insiders felt trapped within the system they served: The Syrian, however, was so ugly – it was the Assad regime which was always corrupt. We couldn’t complain or we would be abused like the others.”
The uncertainty is a burden to those who used to be in charge. As Tony reflects on his future prospects: ‘What job am I going to get after this, to do with my experience.’ Drive a taxi?… The employer refused to employ me instead there are thousands like me who worked here.
These attitudes –- the fear, the justification, the uncertainty — show a society trying to come to terms with decades of authoritarian rule and trying to articulate a new political system where such practices have no place, yet where the human vestiges of the old regime still demand attention.
Most of the former regime employees who were once notorious in the establishment now face an uncertain future in the new Syria as they demand to surrender in the once hostile complex.
