Is Al-Assad showing weakness in US interview?

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Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has denied ordering a deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters, claiming he is not in charge of the troops behind the assault.

“We don’t kill our people. No government in the world kills its people, unless it’s led by a crazy person,” Al Assad told ABC’s Barbara Walters in an interview released yesterday.

“There is a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials.There was no command to kill or be brutal,” he said.

In a telephone interview from Geneva, Haitham Al Maleh, head of the National Salvation Conference told Gulf News that Al Assad’s remarks are a sign of weakness and an indication that the regime is close to collapse.

“It reminds me of Saddam Hussain’s interview with Dan Rather of the US channel CBS News on February 21, 2003, less than a month before the war was launched to topple him and end his regime,” he said.

Al Maleh added that dictators act very much the same when their people revolt against them. They kill protesters to intimidate the rest of the nation and speak shamelessly to international media to promote the image of their regimes. “Saddam did it once and Bashar is doing it now. This is, hopefully, the sign of the end,” he said.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab British Understanding, said: “If Al Assad doesn’t control the Syrian Army, who does?

He added: “Syrians must be very confused. On the one hand he is the icon of the regime, the man in charge, with huge portraits of him being shown everywhere, but then he is telling American viewers that he is not responsible for anything.

“If he doesn’t run the security services and the armed forces, who does?

By Duraid Al Baik

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17 responses to “Is Al-Assad showing weakness in US interview?”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar

    We can see where the weakness is …. I sure wouldn’t let him work on my eyes.

    1. beyondreason1022 Avatar
      beyondreason1022

      you mean EYeS!

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar

        sorry … corrected … (blush)

  2.  Avatar

    We can see where the weakness is …. I sure wouldn’t let him work on my teeth.

    1.  Avatar

      you mean EYeS!

      1.  Avatar

        sorry … corrected … (blush)

  3. josephphdman Avatar
    josephphdman

    no leaders kills its people unless he was crazy? are you deniying the massacre of hamma ,when your father hafez el assad massacred 40,000 syrians people ? are you  denying  your uncle  rafaat ordering the killing of 1000,s of syrian people ? and then you are denying that your forces had killed more than  8,000 people in syria since 8 months .
    so . according to your theory leaders who kill there own people must be crazy , then your entire family are crazy because that is all they,ve done for years ; that means you should  resign, you do not qualify to be a president

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Yes … it’s in the genes …. hmmm … beware … 

      1. josephphdman Avatar
        josephphdman

        yes indeed there are one milion syrian working in lebano and 1/2 of them spying on the lebaneese people for the syrian regeme . lebaneese people beaware !!!!!

  4.  Avatar

    no leaders kills its people unless he was crazy? are you deniying the massacre of hamma ,when your father hafez el assad massacred 40,000 syrians people ? are you  denying  your uncle  rafaat ordering the killing of 1000,s of syrian people ? and then you are denying that your forces had killed more than  8,000 people in syria since 8 months .
    so . according to your theory leaders who kill there own people must be crazy , then your entire family are crazy because that is all they,ve done for years ; that means you should  resign, you do not qualify to be a president

    1.  Avatar

      Yes … it’s in the genes …. hmmm … beware … 

      1.  Avatar

        yes indeed there are one milion syrian working in lebano and 1/2 of them spying on the lebaneese people for the syrian regeme . lebaneese people beaware !!!!!

  5. I wonder how would these “loyal forces” now feel given that he is willing to distance himself from them now that things are starting to unravel around him? Not a smart move and certainly one of desperation. One can certainly see from Assad’s perspective that things are going from bad to worse with the end in sight…and not a pretty one either.

  6. I wonder how would these “loyal forces” now feel given that he is willing to distance himself from them now that things are starting to unravel around him? Not a smart move and certainly one of desperation. One can certainly see from Assad’s perspective that things are going from bad to worse with the end in sight…and not a pretty one either.

  7.  Avatar

    I wonder how would these “loyal forces” now feel given that he is willing to distance himself from them now that things are starting to unravel around him? Not a smart move and certainly one of desperation. One can certainly see from Assad’s perspective that things are going from bad to worse with the end in sight…and not a pretty one either.

  8. The reason Pres. Assad denying that he is not in charge of ordering his army to put the uprising down by killing his own people,when time comes for him to step down ,he is exonerating himself so UN criminal court will not indict him, but at the same time he is sending the wrong message to his Armed Forces that he does not order them nor he encourages them to kill cause only crazy leaders do that also there is a vacuum in the leadership, so that translates to the Generals why you are putting yourself on the line cause he will deny that he send the orders and the Armed forces acted on their own so the Generals are committing crimes not him.

  9.  Avatar

    The reason Pres. Assad denying that he is not in charge of ordering his army to put the uprising down by killing his own people,when time comes for him to step down ,he is exonerating himself so UN criminal court will not indict him, but at the same time he is sending the wrong message to his Armed Forces that he does not order them nor he encourages them to kill cause only crazy leaders do that also there is a vacuum in the leadership, so that translates to the Generals why you are putting yourself on the line cause he will deny that he send the orders and the Armed forces acted on their own so the Generals are committing crimes not him.

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