Tom Barrack’s statements at the Doha Forum:

“Look, everything is in process, and let’s begin from America’s point of view. America fought in one of the fiercest battles in history, called the Civil War. Now, all of us in the Western world don’t like to talk about minorities, but the Civil War was a majority in the Union against a minority of Confederates. And we spent a hundred years trying to define what the Union is. Is it a federal union? Is it a republic? Is it a union? How do you integrate communities that have different cultural aspects, different desires, different religions, different educational systems, and hundreds of years of their own history?

In a country like America that started anew, how do you do that in a civilization with thousands of years of history, where survival depended first on the tribe, then the family, then evolved into community, from community to religion, from religion to sectors, and finally we invented nation-states. There was no such thing until the beginning of the 20th century.

So, in integrating these very difficult issues, America took the view of untangling problems that lead to solutions. And we are trying to do the same with Lebanon. We have wonderful new leadership everywhere. Wonderful new leadership in Syria. Wonderful new leadership with the new Prime Minister and President Aoun in Lebanon. Wonderful new leadership here, and thank you for hosting us. I think what we all feel is that this is one of the most important forums where we can have these discussions in Qatar with Sheikh Tamim, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. We have a new set of opportunities.

The first thing that must happen is to allow Syria to define itself without Western expectations saying ‘we want democracy within 12 months.’ We have never seen democracy here before, and I see that Israel can claim it is a democracy, but in this region, what has really worked—whether you like it or not—is benevolent monarchy. That is the style that has succeeded.

So we are inventing something different. And every time the West intervenes and says ‘well, this is the kind of parliamentary dialogue we want,’ every time we intervene—whether in Libya or Iraq or anywhere we tried to impose a colonial mandate—it has not been successful. We end up in paralysis. So our view is: provide guidance. We all need to contribute, not criticize, not say we need more foreign fighters released faster, not say we need to find more missing people faster, not say communities are being punished unfairly until they take their small steps to get there. They have just taken over leadership and control. They first need stability. We must give them the chance to integrate all viewpoints. But ultimately, all viewpoints do not create a state. They must define what creates a state. Is it centralization? Is it federalism? Is it a mixed system? What will it be?

From America’s point of view, what we have learned is that we are not good at imposing those expectations, especially in the Middle East, on others. Israel is a confusing case. What I think this President, Jared Kushner, and Steve Wit did together with Qatar—and by the way, I am here to tell you as a soldier on the ground—none of this would have happened without Qatar’s intervention. Whatever our view of what happened in Israel, the greatest thing that happened is that we got a ceasefire and hostages returned, and it simply would not have happened without Qatar’s intervention. One of the most frustrating things—and I heard it was a great discussion between Tucker Carlson and Sheikh Mohammed—I tell you, as someone at the heart of it, Sheikh Mohammed under the Emir’s supervision was the most important person to maintain dialogue with Hamas. Whatever the West’s view, they were wrong. If we did not have that, and if Turkey had not intervened alongside him—Turkey was also criticized for holding dialogue with Hamas—we would not be where we are today.

So we must look at that as we look at Syria and Israel. These are small steps, it is a process, not a single event.

We will face bumps, we will face ongoing atrocities, we will face dilemmas. We need to bring Lebanon and Syria together and align two of the oldest and most beautiful civilizations. faces the same dilemma through paralysis and its parliamentary process. We do not want to interfere in those political discussions.

My hope and belief is that we will move from the payphone to satellites. We will not have a gradual process, and the young leadership we have in Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are holding hands. I have great hope, but it requires all of us to ease the pressure we put on these places regarding our Western expectations, and give them the resources they need.”