Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks in Damascus in this still image taken from video June 20, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Syrian TV via Reuters TV
Bashar Al Assad: An Intimate Profile Of A Mass Murderer -- Annia Ciezadlo, New Republic
In 1982, not long after his father's military pulverized a town called Hama, Bashar Al Assad got a jet ski.
It was the tail end of one of the bloodiest periods in Syrian history—what one intellectual called “the hunting time.” In Damascus, a white Peugeot 504 idled on every other corner with mukhabarat, or secret police, inside. Corruption and smuggling were ubiquitous; at least 30 percent of the country’s GDP, and probably much more, came from the black market. Everyday goods like bananas and paper tissues were hard to find; jet skis were practically unknown.
Bashar was 16 years old, a pudgy, frizzy-haired kid with chipmunk cheeks and a double chin he would never grow out of. He had his own bodyguards but was so shy about his appearance that he would cover his teeth with his hands when he smiled.
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My Comment: A captivating read that summarizes who is Bashar Assad.
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