Peter Ford (diplomat)

Peter Ford (born June 27, 1947 ) is a former British diplomat who was Ambassador to Bahrain from 1999 to 2003 and Ambassador to Syria from 2003 to 2006 . He became known to a wider audience since 2010 for his criticism of British policy on Syria.

Life

Ford attended Weston Point Community Primary School, Helsby Grammar School and Queen's College , Oxford. He studied Oriental Studies and was employed in the diplomatic service in Beirut, Riyadh, Paris and Cairo before becoming ambassador to Bahrain and then to Damascus.

After his retirement in 2006, he became the representative of the Commissioner General of the United Nations Aid Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA ).

Positions

In 2003 Ford, as ambassador to Bahrain, sent critical memoranda to London prior to the Iraq war , but later regretted not having been even more critical. During his time in Damascus (2003–2006) he had increasingly distanced himself from British foreign policy.

In the aftermath of his retirement he became known as a defender of the regime of Bashar al-Assad during the civil war in Syria . He criticized Britain's policy towards Syria and considered it a mistake to cut off diplomatic ties and demand regime change.

Looking back on British policy on Syria, he accused the government of lying and the persistent mistakes that made the situation worse. The government misunderstood and misrepresented the situation in Syria from the beginning of the conflict. The initial prognosis of Assad's early resignation was wrong, followed by a misjudgment of the strength of the moderate opposition. Instead of actually intervening, big words were used to incite the opposition to take an unrealistic action. The result was predictable for everyone "who was not fogged by wishful thinking".

He criticized David Cameron for opening the Pandora's box with the fall of Assad, for a victory for the Islamists, as in the case of Libya and Iraq. Massacres of Christians, Shiites, Alawites, Druzen and other minorities are to be expected.

He blamed opposition forces for the attack on a UN humanitarian mission in October 2016, although a UN commission of inquiry found the attack to have come from the air, where only the Syrian and Russian air forces were operating in the region. The commission did not reach a final judgment on whether the attack, which resulted in the death of 10 people, was mistaken or deliberate.

Following the April 4, 2017, poison gas attack by Khan Shaykhun , Ford told the BBC that there was "no evidence" that the Syrian government was involved. It would make no sense to accuse Assad of this, as he would do massive harm to himself with such an attack. Ford recalled false testimony during the Iraq war. Ford presented exactly the same reasoning a year later after the poison attack on Douma .

Ford participated in the EuroCSE Syria Conference on April 5 and 6, 2017, which was criticized by Assad opponents for the participation of Syrian politicians and supporters of the Assad regime. At the conference, Ford described Britain's policies as incoherent and grotesque, and accused the government of being at the forefront of those who destroyed Syria. The government is fooling people by withholding information on financial and military support. This is possible because there is no opposition in parliament and the media are gullible. Britain should stop supporting armed groups and stop spreading the illusion that Assad can be persuaded to give up. “That is indecent also towards the Syrian opposition. Any fool can see that this is not going to happen, especially after Aleppo. ”(“ This is unkind to the Syrian opposition themselves. ”)

Web links

• Interview on Syria with Sky News from September 22, 2016
• Interview on the poison gas attacks with BBC News April 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Who's Who )
2. ^ Ian Black: Former ambassador attacks Cameron's 'arrogant' Syria policy . In: The Guardian . April 7, 2015 (English, theguardian.com [accessed on April 9, 2017]): “Ford, 67, trained as an Arabist and served in Beirut, Riyadh, Paris and Cairo and was British ambassador to Bahrain as well as Syria from 2003-06. "
3. ↑ منصور الجمري Mansoor Al-Jamri: بيتر فورد لـ « الوسط »: التدخلالروسي في سورية غيّر المعادلة في الشرق الأوسط. In:صحيفة الوسط البحرينية. ( alwasatnews.com [accessed April 9, 2017]).
4. ↑ unrwa.org (PDF).
5. ↑ ^{a b} 'Assad not mad' enough to use chemical weapons: Former UK ambassador . In: Middle East Eye . ( middleeasteye.net [accessed April 9, 2017]).
6. ↑ Patrick Wintour: British policy has made situation in Syria worse, says former ambassador . In: The Guardian . December 23, 2016 (English, theguardian.com [accessed April 9, 2017]): "It was eminently foreseeable to anyone who was not intoxicated with wishful thinking."
7. ↑ David Cameron will have Christian 'blood on his hands' if he topples Assad, warns former Ambassador to Syria. The Diocese of Shrewsbury, accessed April 9, 2017 (British English): "The fall of the regime will be opening a Pandora's Box such as we saw with the fall of Gaddafi in Libya and when Saddam Hussein fell." He said: “Is this what David Cameron really wants, to open another Pandora's Box? Does he not realize that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to the massacres of Christians, Shias, Alawites, Druze and other minorities? " 
8. ↑ Patrick Wintour: British policy has made situation in Syria worse, says former ambassador . In: The Guardian . December 23, 2016 ( theguardian.com [accessed April 9, 2017]).
9. ^ Ex-UK ambassador to Syria: 'No proof' of chemical attack, Today. BBC Radio 4, accessed April 9, 2017 . 
10. ↑ Manfred Kleber: It would be stupid of Assad to use poison gas . In: Berlin Journal . April 7, 2017 ( berlinjournal.biz [accessed April 9, 2017] What kind of publication is this? Imprint is given by a Ltd. in Delaware).
11. ^ Controversial Syria conference is held a day after chemical attack . In: Mail Online . (English, dailymail.co.uk [accessed April 9, 2017]).