I have been blessed to have two sons: a Seven and an Eight year old. Like all little ones they are still learning lessons on life and still are learning that when getting caught doing something wrong they should own up. However, they have not learned this lesson quite yet. Little did I expect they have something in common with one of the worlds most brutal dictators (who so far has killed over 4,000 of his own countrymen) Bashar al-Assad.
But like my little ones who sometimes do something wrong and even when they get caught in the act say: "Who Me? I didn't do anything wrong"... President Assad does the same thing.
In an interview with ABC News Assad had this to say:
They are not my forces," al-Assad contended in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters, aired on Wednesday and posted on the network's website. He had been asked if he thought his forces cracked down too hard on protesters over the past nine months.
"They are forces for the government. I don't own them. I'm president. I don't own the country. So they are not my forces."
Wouldn't al-Assad, the commander in chief, have had to give the order for any military actions? "No, no no," he said.
Not by your command? "No," he said, "on no one's command. There was no command to kill or to be brutal."
and here:
During the interview, the beleaguered Syrian ruler said that although he is president he does not “own the country, so they're not my forces"
who knew... you are President for life of a highly controlled society yet... you have no control over your own armed forces. WOW... and I thought the Republican candidates here were clowns but this really "takes the cake". What does one call this response?
But it just gets "better":
Assad referred to the many images emerging from Syria and depicting abuse and security forces' brutality, saying:"How did you verify those pictures. That's why you are talking about false allegations and distortions of reality. We don't kill our people, no government in the world kills its people. This is led by crazy persons
."
One might reasonably ask, in what reality is President Assad living???
Needless to say American officials heartily rejected Assad's claims:
"It is just not credible," White House spokesman Jay Carney said, asked about an ABC television interview Assad gave where he said only a "crazy" leader kills his own people.
"The world has witnessed what has happened in Syria. The United States and many, many other nations around the world who have come together to condemn the atrocious violence in Syria perpetrated by the Assad regime know exactly what's happening and who is responsible," he said. "I don't think anybody who watched that interview would find Mr. Assad's answers credible."
The U.S. (along with everyone else but Iran and Hizbollah) is not the only one finding fault with the Assad regime. The U.N. too, has found:
Late last month, a UN commission of inquiry on Syria said that Syrian military and security forces had committed crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape and that Assad's government of bore responsibility.
Syria is "responsible for wrongful acts, including crimes against humanity, committed by members of its military and security forces as documented in the present report," the three-member panel said in a 39-page report to the UN Human Rights Council.
Later, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay reporters that the UN was placing the death toll in Syrian unrest "at 4,000, but really the reliable information coming to us is that it is much more than that."
Yet Assad manages to brush this one off with:
However, in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters on Tuesday, Assad denied there was any evidence of wrongdoing on his part, saying: "I say send out the documents and the concrete evidence that you have and we will see if it's true or not."
Asked whether the UN sent the report, Assad said "Nothing at all. As long as you don't see the documents and the evidence we cannot say yes. That's normal…. Who said the United Nations is a credible institution?"
All of Assads answers show just how divorced from reality the Syrian dictator is.
So what can be done here? Well that is a question that many are asking. I have no answers other than sanctions to try to deprive the regime of treasure and weapons. That said, many Syrians would also be hurt by global sanctions and that all that would do would be to turn the Syrian population against those that want them to be free. On the other hand - Syria's government must be stopped in their quest for even more brutality.
Please discuss.