New Interview with Bashar al-Assad Paris Match interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Nov. 28 and published the interview in French and English. Some excerpts: Paris Match: Mr. President, three years into this war, and considering how things have turned out, do you regret that you havent managed things differently at the beginning, with the appearance of the first signs of the revolution in March 2011? Do you feel that you are responsible for what happened? Bashar al-Assad: Even in the first days of the events, there were martyrs from the army and the police; so, since the first days of this crisis we have been facing terrorism. It is true that there were demonstrations, but they were not large in number. In such a case, there is no choice but to defend your people against terrorists. Theres no other choice. We cannot say that we regret fighting terrorism since the early days of this crisis. However, this doesnt mean that there werent mistakes made in practice. There are always mistakes. Lets be honest: had Qatar not paid money to those terrorists at that time, and had Turkey not supported them logistically, and had not the West supported them politically, things would have been different. If we in Syria had problems and mistakes before the crisis, which is normal, this doesnt necessarily mean that the events had internal causes. Paris Match: Many people say that the solution lies in your departure. Do you believe that your departure is the solution? Bashar al-Assad: The President of any state in the world takes office through constitutional measures and leaves office through constitutional measures as well. No President can be installed or deposed through chaos. The tangible evidence for this is the outcome of the French policy when they attacked Gaddafi. What was the result? Chaos ensued after Gaddafis departure. So, was his departure the solution? Have things improved, and has Libya become a democracy? The state is like a ship; and when there is a storm, the captain doesnt run away and leave his ship to sink. If passengers on that ship decided to leave, the captain should be the last one to leave, not the first. Paris Match: Lets talk about ISIS. Some people say that the Syrian regime encouraged the rise of Islamic extremists in order to divide the opposition. How do you respond to that? Bashar al-Assad: In Syria we have a state, not a regime. Lets agree on the terms first. Second, assuming that what you are saying is true, that we supported ISIS, this means that we have asked this organization to attack us, attack military airports, kill hundreds of soldiers, and occupy cities and villages. Where is the logic in that? What do we gain from it? Dividing and weakening the opposition, as you are saying? We do not need to undermine those elements of the opposition. The West itself is saying that it was a fake opposition. This is what Obama himself said. So, this supposition is wrong, but what is the truth? The truth is that ISIS was created in Iraq in 2006. It was the United States which occupied Iraq, not Syria. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was in American prisons, not in Syrian prisons. So, who created ISIS, Syria or the United States? larouchepac/20141206/new-interview-bashar-al-assad
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 11:40:27 +0000
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