I’ve already complained about David Ignatius’s glowing puff piece about the chinless ophthalmologist of Damascus, but there was one point I missed:
A relaxed Assad clearly believes that Syria is emerging from its pariah status. An international tribunal is still scheduled to meet in The Hague to weigh Syria’s alleged role in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. But in the meantime, Assad is receiving a stream of visiting diplomats. He looks like a ready partner for Obama’s diplomacy, but a cautious one — waiting to see what’s on offer before he shows more of his hand.
(emphasis mine) Alleged?!
Here’s Benny Avni:
The UN named an investigation team soon after the killing. Its first head investigator, tough German cop Detlev Mehlis, shocked the region by conducting the closest thing to a perp walk ever attempted by a UN official.
Mehlis wrote a report that implicated the innermost circles around Syrian President Bashar Assad in Hariri’s assassination. In the report it released to the Security Council, the UN Secretariat redacted names like Assad’s brother Maher and brother-in-law Assef Shawkat. But the full text was leaked to the public, and to this day it remains the most solid indictment of the Assad clan.
I think that Assad’s role in the assassination is more like “confirmed.” The question is to what degree the UN will cower before him instead of confronting him. Ignatius apparently decided that the proper course of action is to provide cover for Assad.
Another point worth emphasizing is this. Ignatius wrote:
Assad’s easy demeanor suggested that he’s more firmly in charge now. The Bush administration’s attempt to isolate Syria has failed, even in the judgment of senior White House officials. That leaves Assad in the catbird seat, courted by European and Arab nations and conducting back-channel talks through Turkey with his erstwhile enemy Israel.
(emphasis mine)
Danielle Pletka:
Nor does Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, seem cut out for the role of a 21st-century Anwar Sadat. Insecure in his own palace, erratic in his statements and crude in his stewardship, Mr. Assad seems more likely to be the victim of a coup than a champion of peace.
…
Mr. Assad — broadly disliked at home, a member of a mistrusted Alawite minority, comically inept at managing his country’s resources — can maintain his grip on power only as long as he is seen as a vital instrument of Israel’s defeat.
May I suggest that the reason Ignatius observed Assad’s “easy demeanor” is because the interview took place in Damascus. Assad knew that Ignatius wouldn’t dare write anything critical, having been granted an exclusive audience. I suspect he also realized that Ignatius’s purpose was to score cheap points against the outgoing administration and that he’d benefit from some free PR. That “easy demeanor” was probably despite Assad’s standing in his own country.
In writing about the interview Powerline concludes:
But even if Assad could be trusted to do so (a huge leap of faith), what does he have to offer when it comes to limiting Iran’s influence? It is Iran, not Syria, that influences/directs Hezbollah. More generally, Iran’s power and influence are a function of ithe inspiration supplied by its ideology, the wealth (now diminished) produced by its oil industry, and its military strength, soon to be bolstered in all likelihood by nuclear weapons. Syria doesn’t add (or potentially subtract) much from this equation.
Obama may be naive, but we can reasonably hope that he is not naive enough to enter into any sort of partnership with the likes of Bashar al-Assad. Making concessions to evil tyrants is bad enough. Making them to evil tyrants of no major importance is senseless.
But that naivete is manifest in the Ignatius column. Ignatius represents foreign policy sophistication of the type that will appeal to President-elect Obama.
(via memeorandum)
There will, no doubt, be plenty of wise men and women advising Obama who will tell him that Assad is the key to peace in the Middle East. And clearing the way for them is David Ignatius who whitewashes the dictator.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
