November 13th, 2009 by Jason

In the November issue of National Geographic, Don Belt delves into the history of the Assad family’s rule over Syria. Belt likens Bashar Assad to Michael Corleone of the Godfather, who assumed power only after the violent death of an older brother. Bashar inherited from his father Hafez Assad a Syria wracked by the fear of the secret police, paralyzed by bureaucratic red tape and plagued by pervasive corruption and nepotism. After assuming power, Bashar took on these problems by seeking to instill a “new mentality” into Syria, releasing political prisoners during the so-called Damascus Spring and privatizing the Syrian economy.

However, Belt argues September 11th changed the tone of Assad’s rule, especially in the face of American saber rattling, as he “diverted the widespread rage in Syria away from his vulnerable regime toward the Americans across the border in Iraq.” He also began to reverse political reform and freedom of expression and his fight against corruption faltered. Last year, the government censored a multitude of websites, an ironic decision given that it was Assad who had originally convinced his father to connect Syria to the World Wide Web in 1998. Now, analysts debate whether this regression reflects Assad’s own ambitions or whether he cannot control the conservative forces within his regime. Regardless, opposition figures view any differences between father and son as “cosmetic.”

As a result of this history, Syria is rife with odd juxtapositions of freedom and repression. As Belt explains, Syria is a “place where you can dine out with friends at a trendy cafe, and then, while waiting for the night bus, hear blood-chilling screams coming from a second-floor window of the Bab Touma police station. In the street, Syrians cast each other knowing glances, but no one says a word. Someone might be listening.”  In the words of one freedom activist quoted by Belt, “Living here is something like a phobia. You always feel like someone’s watching.”

In response, the Syrian Ambassador to the U.S., Imad Mustafa, wrote a lengthy letter (posted at Syria Comment) in an attempt to discredit Belt’s article. According to Mustafa, “this piece, laden with inaccuracies and disinformation, was a misrepresentation” of Syria. He accuses Belt of drawing an “unfairly bleak and intentionally inaccurate picture of Syria, reminiscent of the neoconservative literature that was prevalent during President Bush’s era.” He therefore dismisses the Belt article as “Borat-style” reporting.

Lee Smith in the Weekly Standard has in return responded to Mustafa, calling the Godfather comparison right on the mark: “But of course it is a mob-like ruling family.” Coincidentally, the director of the Godfather series, Francis Ford Coppola, recently visited Syria and said of Assad: “he has a vision for the country which is positive.” Whether the statement represents Coppola’s honest opinion or a tongue-in-cheek remark, Smith reminds Coppola to not forget the “dozens of dissidents, human rights activists and intellectuals warehoused and tortured in Syrian prisons.”

Posted in Freedom, Human Rights, Iraq, Military, Muslim Brotherhood, Neocons, Reform, Syria, US foreign policy |