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  • Assad speaks on TV

    Assad Outlines Plan for Syria
    January 6, 2013
    By Nour Malas

    BEIRUT-—Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his first address to the nation in six months, issued a defiant call to war to defend the country and rejected international peace efforts, proposing his own political plan that reforms the government but keeps him in power. Mr. Assad, whose family's four-decade rule of Syria sparked an uprising in 2011, told a cheering audience the country faced a total war against foreign interests and al Qaeda. He delivered the speech to the audience of hundreds at the Damascus Opera House, in a central district of the capital that has been sealed off by security for months as rebel fighters have encircled Damascus. The less than hour-long address, his shortest speech yet, was broadcast by Syrian state television.

    Mr. Assad appeared calm and confident as he delivered the speech—dressed in a black suit, grey tie, and looking slimmer—on Sunday. They were his first comments on the war ravaging Syria since a television interview last November, and his first public appearance in many months. Mr. Assad proposed a two-phase political process that would result in an elected parliament, a new government, and a national conference that would exclude much of the current opposition leading the battle against the government. He said regional and international countries should, first and foremost, cut off funds and weapons supplies to the rebels, before a cease-fire can come into effect and a political process started.

    As in a handful of previous speeches since the uprising began 22 months ago, the president portrayed the conflict as a battle against external terrorists, and denied it was a fight between the government and opposition. But in this speech, he singled out al Qaeda for infiltrating the country, said Syria faced an extremely difficult war, and snubbed international mediation on the crisis. "What is sure is that most of those we are battling are jihadis holding the ideology of al-Qaeda," he said, accusing rebels of cutting off electricity, communications, fuel lines and bread supplies across Syria. "The battle, ladies and gentlemen, is between the nation and its enemies…between the citizen and his bread, between the security we all wish for, and fear."

    The opposition immediately described the speech as arrogant and disconnected to the fighting raging across Syria. Many Syrians said any hope they had for a resolution of the conflict in coming months through a political deal faded after Mr. Assad's defiant comments. The United Nations last week said at least 60,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict. "The initiative proposed by President Bashar al-Assad takes us back to point zero," said Rima Fleihan, a member of the main National Opposition Coalition. "There can be no solution that leaves Bashar al-Assad in power," Ms. Fleihan told an Arabic television station after the speech.
    Source: WSJ.com

    This shit won't fly.

    <snip> he singled out al Qaeda for infiltrating the country </snip>

    Would this be the same Bashar Assad who provided beans, bullets, and benzine to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al-Qaeda elements during the Iraq War?
    sigpic

  • #2
    Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
    Source: WSJ.com

    This shit won't fly.

    <snip> he singled out al Qaeda for infiltrating the country </snip>

    Would this be the same Bashar Assad who provided beans, bullets, and benzine to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al-Qaeda elements during the Iraq War?
    Yup, but then they were blowing up shias and wayward baathist, not Syrian baathist...

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    • #3
      he's a dead man.
      “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

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      • #4
        How can he bomb his own people and expect to remain in power?....

        Cheers!...on the rocks!!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by lemontree View Post
          How can he bomb his own people and expect to remain in power?....
          by dropping more bombs, he is still widely popular with some groups.

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          • #6
            Actually, in my opinion, Assad observed quite closely how Gaddafi acted during the civil war there and is actively navigating to avoid being painted in the same vein. Unlike Gaddafi, he doesn't have the image of a drooling old man who doesn't know what he's talking about.

            Note that he's not directly painting Al Quaeda as the enemy though. The people painted by him as the enemy are religious zealots whose ideology is that of Al Quaeda (ie. raising the caliphate etc pp). He's trying to portray this struggle as a general one between his pseudo-laicist state and religious zealots. Which will find support among his population. Problem for Assad is mostly that this can not be turned into an "external enemy" concept that unites the nation behind him. He's trying it with the good old standard "rebels sponsored and guided by the West".

            When you really get down to it, he's rather successful in keeping this civil war contained though. 21 months, and counting.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
              Source: WSJ.com

              This shit won't fly.

              <snip> he singled out al Qaeda for infiltrating the country </snip>

              Would this be the same Bashar Assad who provided beans, bullets, and benzine to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al-Qaeda elements during the Iraq War?
              had he promised something like this & then backed it up with action at any point up to the outbreak of hostilities he might have saves 60,000 Syrian lives. The Assads had 40 years worth of chances to avoid this war & they failed to take them. Every single death in this war is on their heads.
              sigpic

              Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

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              • #8
                Originally posted by kato View Post
                Actually, in my opinion, Assad observed quite closely how Gaddafi acted during the civil war there and is actively navigating to avoid being painted in the same vein. Unlike Gaddafi, he doesn't have the image of a drooling old man who doesn't know what he's talking about.

                Note that he's not directly painting Al Quaeda as the enemy though. The people painted by him as the enemy are religious zealots whose ideology is that of Al Quaeda (ie. raising the caliphate etc pp). He's trying to portray this struggle as a general one between his pseudo-laicist state and religious zealots. Which will find support among his population. Problem for Assad is mostly that this can not be turned into an "external enemy" concept that unites the nation behind him. He's trying it with the good old standard "rebels sponsored and guided by the West".

                When you really get down to it, he's rather successful in keeping this civil war contained though. 21 months, and counting.
                He has done better than Qaddaffi, but under dramatically differnt circumstances. Don't forget that without significant outside help Qaddaffi was on his way to crushing the revolt until NATO & a few friends stepped in to change the tide of battle. Even then he held out for quite a while.

                Assad has had advantages Qaddaffi could only dream of: 1) a military that was not only lavishly enough equipped to make outside intervention painful, and an officer corps that has largely stayed loyal; 2) Several allies prepared to back him to the hilt; 3) The unwillingness of outside military forces to intervene and level things up (partly influenced by 1 & 2). Given those advantages he should have done quite a bit better. he really should have been able to end this wihting 6 months. As it is he is slowly losing his country to an enemy that has struggled to get anything heavier than a few anti-aircraft missiles from outside sources & which is almost as deepy divided as libya's forces were. All he has managed to do is draw this out & make it bloodier for his nation. It will probably make the postwar even more unpleasant than it would otherwise be.

                Assad is going down. it is just a question of when.
                sigpic

                Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

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                • #9
                  Don't forget the Russian silent support that lasted for a while.

                  Seems like they are backing out. If I may add add - as usual.
                  No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

                  To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Doktor View Post
                    Don't forget the Russian silent support that lasted for a while.

                    Seems like they are backing out. If I may add add - as usual.
                    The Russians may back out, but will the Iranians put in the towel too. Syria has been their front door at hitting at Israel and turning Lebanon into a war zone.

                    If Assad falls and a non-mullah regime come to power in Syria, then Lebanon can become the Paris of the (middle) east once again.

                    Cheers!...on the rocks!!

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                    • #11
                      Worse hes also a Dr., can you imagine that.
                      Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

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                      • #12
                        To me it is very clear that Assad is going down it is what has happened in Libya and Egypt and it is what will happen in Syria as well. Who knows if Assad has chemical weapons or if he will use them it as it will not change the outcome of this war. If he does have WMDs this is still a very serious problem regardless of if he uses them or not because once he is gone there will be a bundle of unused weapons and a lot of groups like Hezbollah, al-Qaida and many others who want them is not a good thing. I only hope that Syria has no WMDs and that Assad was trying to be a big shot.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by lemontree View Post

                          If Assad falls and a non-mullah regime come to power in Syria, then Lebanon can become the Paris of the (middle) east once again.
                          pretty much clear what will happen to Syria after Assad falls, just look at Egypt and Libya.
                          "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

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