ABOVE: In an exclusive interview with Charlie Rose, Syrian President Bashar Assad warned to “expect everything” in terms of retaliation if the U.S. should strike Syria
VANCOUVER – Syrian leader Bashar Assad has given his only interview with a U.S. news outlet to veteran American journalist Charlie Rose. The interview aired in part on CBS This Morning Monday morning and in full on PBS’ The Charlie Rose Show the same evening.
During the interview, conducted on Sunday in Damascus, Assad said he was against weapons of mass destruction and that the U.S. should “expect everything” if an American military strike is launched against his regime.
READ MORE: Assad warns of retaliation for U.S. strike on Syria
John Measor is a Middle East expert at the Centre for Contemporary Middle East Studies. He spoke with Global News in a phone interview about his take on Bashar Assad’s TV interview.
Global News: What were your first impressions of the Assad-Charlie Rose interview?
When Bashar took over from his father, he started that kind of outreach, in a sense of modernizing the country — bringing the Internet and more liberal economic policies into the country. There are huge debates about the success or failure of those.
He is very soft-spoken when he speaks and that can often come across as duplicitous or as non-decisive. You know, that he’s not really sure what he’s saying. In this interview it came off very calm and measured and probably, even though I oppose his regime, that’s something that made him come across better in this instance.
Global News: The line that sticks out from the interview is “You should expect everything.” That was in response to the question, “Will there be attacks against American bases in the Middle East if there is an airstrike.” Do you think he has the capabilities to launch a full-on counter attack or does he have the support in the region any more to live up to that?
JM: I don’t think there is any chance the Syrian regime has the willingness to act.
There is an implied threat there… He wants people to read that into it.
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Global News: He is kind of painted as… being this ruthless leader who gassed his people. So, by coming across calm and measured, is he making himself seem human?
There are two debates going on. The American discussion is “should we go or should we not,” which has an implicit assumption within it that is “what America does is good for the world.”
What the rest of the world is debating is the opposite of that. The implicit assumption is that this hasn’t worked out very well — very often, if ever — where the United States has gotten involved… The rest of the world doesn’t accept without question that the United States is necessarily a force for good.
They’re leaning towards, “We don’t want the United States to do this, even if the regime used chemical weapons.” So, if he can raise even the smallest amounts of doubt, in the American argument in favour, then he has done as much as he can.
No one is questioning that they’re the bad guys. The debate is a matter over “we have to be 100 per cent sure before we go.”
No one there is defending the Syrian regime. They’re just saying: “You don’t have enough evidence.”
JM: I think the Russian suggestion today is just throwing it out there, without any actual belief that the Syrians are going to hand over their weapons.
They’re trying to get across to the Europeans, to the Chinese, to other people around the world that “Look, the Syrians are even willing to do this and it won’t be enough for the Americans.” It again just muddies the waters and makes things unclear. The debate in the world is whether the United States should be allowed to do this or not. And, no one can stop them. But, if no one supports them they’re doing it all alone.
*Portions of this interview have been condensed.
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