Paris Slams Assad Remarks: He Will Not Escape Justice
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Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “will not escape justice,” the French foreign ministry stressed Thursday.
“France does not give any credibility to Bashar al-Assad’s provocative statements, which totally contradict with the fact that acts of repression and violence against the Syrian people have continued unabated,” ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters, referring to Assad’s recent interview with ABC News.
“His people and the international community have put him on trial, and like all those responsible for the repression he must be held accountable for the crimes being committed in Syria since months,” Valero added, slamming Damascus’ “rejection” to respond to the demands of the Arab League and the international community.
In a rare interview with Western media, Assad said that he was not responsible for the nine months of bloodshed and drew a distinction between himself and the military -- an assertion that the United States called "ludicrous."
"We don't kill our people," Assad told U.S. network ABC. "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."
"There was no command to kill or be brutal," Assad told veteran ABC News interviewer Barbara Walters.
Assad said that security forces belonged to "the government" and not him personally.
"I don't own them. I'm president. I don't own the country. So they are not my forces," Assad said.
Assad's family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for four decades. Assad's brother, Lieutenant Colonel Maher al-Assad, heads the army's Fourth Division, which oversees the capital as well as the elite Republican Guard.
The United Nations estimates that more than 4,000 people have died as Syria cracks down on protesters, who have emerged as the greatest challenge yet to Assad amid a wave of uprisings in the Arab world that have toppled authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
Assad dismissed the death toll, saying: "Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?"
"Most of the people that have been killed are supporters of the government, not the vice versa," Assad said in English, giving a figure of 1,100 dead soldiers and police.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner dared Assad to back up his assertions by letting in international observers and media, saying that there was a "clear campaign against peaceful protesters."
"It either says that he's completely lost any power that he had within Syria, that he's simply a tool or that he's completely disconnected with reality," Toner told reporters Wednesday.
"It's either disconnection, disregard or, as he said, crazy. I don't know," Toner said.
Toner, reacting a day earlier to excerpts of the interview, called Assad's denial of responsibility "ludicrous," triggering a rebuke from Syria's foreign ministry which accused him of distorting the remarks.
Syria has come under growing international pressure, with Arab nations and Turkey joining Western powers in pursuing sanctions against Assad.
The Arab League has suspended Syria and has threatened new sanctions if Assad does not allow in observers. Syria initially refused but at the last minute offered to let in monitors in return for an end to sanctions.
The United States and France on Tuesday sent their ambassadors back to Syria in hopes that they can shine light on the violence and show solidarity with protesters, weeks after the envoys were pulled out due to safety concerns.
08 December 2011, 18:35
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After I heard Assad on ABC news and his reasoning along with his 2 times laughing I really changed my mind as to whether he's guilty of killing his people. Earlier I said that he might have been unaware of the killing and that the military were holding him hostage to their end which appears to be rather unfoiunded. Assad was totally unconvincing in the interview and his reasonings were very weak, save at all credible. If Assad trhinks that he still could govern Syria even if he was able to exterminate all those who revolt against him, he is very mistaken. Syria will never be the same after all these killings. What amazes me is the fact that this guy whom I considered educated and rational has not learnt anything from the situation in Lebanon. What desturbs me though is the fact that he doesn't have any exit which means that he will fight to the end which will entail many more innocent lives being shed by the Syrian people for attaining freedom.
God bless the Syrian people.
08 December 2011, 19:14
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Bashar Assad, during his interview with Barbra Walters, finally exposed himself as the habitual liar he is and always been. He blamed the "government" for killing the Syrians which in effect saying that his brother, his brother-in-law and the Alawite generals are doing the killing. The level of cowardness he showed in remarkable. Perhaps knowing that his end in near, he is blaming his "government" for murdering the Syrian nationals. He should change his name the Bashar the poodle.
08 December 2011, 19:16
16
Gadhafi, Mubarak, Saddam, Saleh, and others LOL'd themselves to oblivion. So, will the butcher of Damascus. He will face justice, or justice will be "inserted" in him.
08 December 2011, 21:04
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The justice for the murdered is who's justice he will not escape. By the way why did he choose to follow the path of Saddam and Qaddafi and do an interview with the west just before their fall? Why did he allow a Zionist to question him? If he is so innocent why doesn't he allow the world media in to see how innocent he is?
Inchallah I can tie the rope his giraffe neck gets put in.
08 December 2011, 22:46
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after what they did in lebanon, justice is already working, but it's just the beginning.. another ten years minimum and around 150/ 200 thousand casualties.....assad or no assad the regime of antan is finished, the syrians are already experiencing their own medicine.
08 December 2011, 23:21
51
France playing and talking tough but cannot do anything without US. Nice to see that you prefer musilm brotherhood and salafis over Assad. I hope they come to haunt you next.
09 December 2011, 04:35
01
The only reason of the US/France reluctance IDIOTS is israel, that is the truth. If Assad was such a threat to the US they can take him down in 24 hours idiots. Some idiots here amaze me.. they talk of Assad like he is the USSR or something when he has a piece of shit army only good to kill civilans. The real reason idiots behind the change in the US position is the SYRIAN PEOPLE who are not gona back off and the US and the WORLD can not ignore the massacres in 2011 because yes the people of the west and civilized world do not tolerate such atrocities. The delay in ousting Assad is to ensure a favorable outcome thats all.. in other words he is finished.. what you really ought to do is ask israel to protect him.
09 December 2011, 11:55
01
@realist : i guess you are right. you see in this case that israel is only a pretext for those extermist to justify their existence.
as you pointed out, assad is the best protector of the peace with israel, as a "resistant" he never shot a bullet to free the golan heights! he prefers to preserve his country and let lebanon support all the consequences!
