President Assad Tries to Wash his Hands off the Murders

Bashar el Assad, in a rare interview with an American TV network denies responsibility for the more than 4,000 killings by his security forces:

I’m president. I don’t own the country, so they’re not my forces. […] There’s a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference

Hogwash! What kind of self-respecting dictator can’t control his own troops?

But let’s for the sake of argument take him at his words and ask: Why didn’t he ever come forcefully against the killing of his own people? Why didn’t he publicly punish the supposed renegades of the Syrian security forces? Why does his regime prevent journalists and observers from keeping an eye on the situation and providing accountability for his wayward underlings?

I’m not buying the explanation that Assad is a good guy who’s overpowered by a clique of ruthless cousins and old guards. In fact, I believe that Bashar’s strategic bonhomie — once again being deployed onto the American media — is at the heart of the deception of a regime which clings to power by pretending to have a president who’s constantly trying to reform. This is a carefully choreographed game of good-cop bad-cop that the world has gotten sick of.

Don’t fall for the lies. Bashar is just as bad as the people pulling the trigger.

Related: Interviewing Dictators