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Assad denies ordering crackdown

Dunya News

Assad has said that he never ordered the brutal suppression of the uprising in Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad says that he never ordered the brutal suppression of the uprising in his country, and insisted only a crazy person would kill his own people.Apparently trying to distance himself from violence that the U.N. says has killed 4,000 people since March, Assad laughed off a question in a rare interview broadcast Wednesday about whether he feels any guilt.I did my best to protect the people, he told ABCs Barbara Walters during an interview at the presidential palace in the Syrian capital, Damascus. You feel sorry for the life that has been lost, but you dont feel guilty when you dont kill people.No government in the world (kills) its people unless it is led by a crazy person, Assad added in the interview, which was conducted in English. Assad, who trained as an opthamologist in Britain, speaks the language fluently.The interview offered a rare glimpse into the character of the 46-year-old Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000. His brother widely regarded as the chosen heir had died in a car crash years earlier.Assad, who commands Syrias armed forces, has sealed off the country to most outsiders while clinging to the allegation that the uprising is the work of foreign extremists, not true reform-seekers aiming to open the authoritarian political system.The United Nations and others dismiss that entirely, blaming the regime for widespread killings, rape and torture.Witnesses and activists inside Syria describe brutal repression, with government forces firing on unarmed protesters and conducting terrifying, house-to-house raids in which families are dragged from their homes in the night.Were talking about false allegations and accusations, he said.When asked if Syrian troops had cracked down too hard on protesters, Assad said there had been no command to kill or to be brutal.Theyre not my forces, he said. They are military forces (who) belong to the government. I dont own them. Im president. I dont own the country.Assad said some Syrian troops may have behaved badly, but they faced punishment if so. He also said most of the people who died in the unrest were his own supporters and troops, slain by terrorists and gangsters an allegation disputed by most outside observers.The comment that Syrian troops are not my forces raised flags in Syria and abroad because it suggests Assad might ultimately try to lay the blame on his inferiors, analysts said.Those around him got the message, which is he could abandon them at any moment, said Muhieddine Lathkani, a Syrian opposition figure based in Britain. After the interview aired, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said Assad wanted Walters to understand the military was not his personal militia.Murhaf Jouejati, a Syria expert at George Washington University, said Assads interview was both defiant and delusional.He is the commander in chief of the armed forces, Jouejati said. To say that the security forces do not have orders to kill or to brutalize the people that its maybe the mistake of some bad apples is not a response. But he said stonewalling was not a surprise, given the regimes actions in the past. Jouejati pointed to Assads uncle, Rifaat, believed to be a driving force in the 1982 massacre of thousands in Hama, one of the darkest moments in the modern Middle East.Bashar Assad said he is not responsible, and we heard his uncle, Rifaat Assad, say he was not responsible for Hama.So after 41 years the Assad family is not responsible for anything, Jouejati said. If he is not responsible then we dont know what he is doing in the presidency.White House spokesman Jay Carney strongly disputed Assads claim that he had not ordered the crackdown.Its just not credible, Carney said. 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 whats happening and who is responsible.Since March, Assad has offered a few promises of reform, while at the same time unleashing the military to crush the protests with tanks and snipers.Sanctions from the European Union, the Arab League, and the emerging regional power Turkey are squeezing Syrias ailing economy.On Wednesday, the central bank said the exchange rate was 54 Syrian pounds to the dollar, a 17 percent drop since the uprising began and the lowest level in years. Residents in Damascus said the price reached 58 pounds to the dollar in the black market.If the economy crumbles, it could spell doom for the regime.Assad has spent years shifting the country away from the socialism espoused by his father, which helped boost a new and vibrant merchant class that transformed Syrias economic landscape even as the regimes political trappings remained unchanged.
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