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   lively relationship full of patriotic and human   
   meanings has developed between us.  Through this   
   relationship you have known me closely in different   
   stances and positions.  It has embodied a real case   
   of the people coming together with one of its own,   
   one who has carried the people's concerns,   
   expressed its desires and exchanged with it forms   
   of love and belonging.   
      
   I have worked during those years to enhance   
   constructive values in my relationship with the   
   people by rejecting the feeling of the man of   
   authority in favour of the feeling of the man of   
   responsibility, and by enhancing the image of the   
   citizen before the image of the president in order   
   to realize the concept of the responsible citizen   
   and the official who feels and behaves as a   
   citizen.  Any success in that regard should be   
   attributed to you, a vibrant and genuine people who   
   understood the relationship between citizenship and   
   responsibility.   
      
   Through this relationship, I have developed an   
   unshakable conviction that what protects Syria and   
   its stability is not its material capacities and   
   resources, important as they are, but the rich   
   moral heritage with its different aspects and   
   values, particularly those related to pan-Arab   
   aspects and the political stances inspired by these   
   values which achieve the largest degree of the   
   people's consensus.  For stances to be as such,   
   they have to originate from the people's ideas and   
   aspirations, its principles and convictions.  They   
   should express its concerns and interests.  All   
   this should be based on a correct reading of this   
   people, because such a successful reading means a   
   correct reading of reality and constitutes the way   
   for success in carrying out national tasks.   
      
   Our people has proven, at the historical junctures   
   which we have gone through, to have a genuine sense   
   and a sharp insight regarding the important events   
   we have faced, which enabled it to distinguish the   
   substantial from the contingent and what is genuine   
   from what is fake.   
      
   That is why it is no accident that this steadfast   
   country should continue to be safe and sound amidst   
   this turbulent ocean of a region.  Neither is it an   
   accident that it should continue to enjoy the   
   highest degree of harmony and stability amidst   
   these mighty waves of international conflicts which   
   threaten to submerge the region in a state of   
   absolute chaos.  This country continues to fight   
   its battles with great honour and dignity in order   
   to maintain the progress and independence of the   
   Arab nation at whatever cost.   
      
   Dear sisters and brothers,   
      
   We have faced, during the past few years, tough   
   challenges which have put pressure on our resources   
   and consumed a great part of our time and effort.   
   Those challenges came at the time that we have   
   embarked on a wide-scale multi-dimensional   
   development process which in its turn required the   
   mobilization of energies and resources and the most   
   efficient use of time.  However, in as much as   
   those challenges occupied us psychologically and   
   mentally and mobilized our capabilities and forces,   
   they made us tougher and more capable to confront.   
   This would not have happened with this degree of   
   confidence and steadfastness without the solidity   
   which our society has acquired during the past   
   decades and which added to its historical   
   characteristics deep national and pan-Arab   
   awareness and the far-sighted vision which was my   
   main stay of support and compass which has guided   
   me in every decision I have taken.   
      
   Our aim, in every step we have made or will make,   
   is to strengthen the state; for a strong state   
   means development ad stability.  And the state can   
   only be strong through the strength of its   
   citizens, a condition derived from their sense of   
   citizenship and based on their participation and   
   their shouldering responsibilities each from his or   
   her position.  Citizenship and participation are   
   not complete without knowing our duties in as much   
   as we know our rights and our responsibilities   
   towards others in as much as we know others'   
   responsibilities towards us.   
      
   Consequently, the principle I started from, in the   
   internal reform process which we have adopted, was   
   to engage every citizen as a major actor in the   
   process.  To that end, I made sure that my   
   relationship with the people was based on solid   
   grounds of clarity and transparency so that the   
   main elements we build our policies on are made   
   accessible to everyone.  The same applies to the   
   justifications of our decisions and the impediments   
   which obstruct their implementation.   
      
   I have always respected the people by being clear   
   and honest with them based on my conviction that   
   achieving anything depends on a composite of   
   factors and considerations, on top of which is   
   popular support for the intended decision.  Our   
   success in that regard depends on consistently   
   providing the citizens with correct information so   
   that they are aware of what is going on and is   
   conditional on continued frank dialogue with them   
   in order to reach common understandings which   
   constitute the basis of the development process.   
      
   An extensive dialogue coincided with the beginning   
   of the development process about the concepts and   
   foundations of this development, the speed required   
   for achieving it, the national priorities within   
   its framework and other elements of the discussion   
   guided by great aspirations by the people to make   
   great achievements in record time.   
      
   There were different views and diverging proposals.   
   That was natural because everyone of us thinks that   
   it is their responsibility to make a contribution   
   on this or that of our national issues when they   
   think they have the capacity to do so.  We   
   encouraged that process because we thought it would   
   enrich our development experience and would take it   
   to wider horizons.  Regardless of the realism or   
   idealism of certain ideas and whether other ideas   
   were logical or illogical; and regardless of the   
   fact that looking at things from the outside is   
   different from being at the centre of events, and   
   the fact that proposing an idea is not the same as   
   taking a decision or being responsible for   
   implementing it, I used to see in this discussion a   
   manifestation of the liveliness of our people and a   
   direct support for the reform process, so that the   
   social arena became a broad forum for dialogue and   
   for exchanging ideas on development.   
      
   But if development depended basically on the will   
   and vision of the state official, and on the performance   
   of decision makers in the state - individuals and   
   institutions - this means that the development process   
   cannot jump over the reality in which we live, or ignore   
   the facts which surround it, particularly in relation to   
   the context of our historical development and the social   
   and cultural condition, and the prevailing perceptions   
   in our society which constitute the foundations on which   
   any development is based. Here, talking about the   
   accomplishment of any reform or development becomes   
   dependent to a great extent on changing or maintaining   
   these foundations. Changing these foundations also depends   
   on the extent of our desire and capability to separate the   
   useful from the not so useful elements and to strengthen   
   the positive components which can push the development   
   process forward and at the same time preserve the stability   
   and internal security of our society. All of this, as it is   
   well known, comes within the framework of a difficult and   
   complicated process which requires a long time, a great   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)