Interview with a Dictator: the Assad edition

To many observers, Bashar Assad increasingly looks like a deer in the headlights. A UN-probe appears to be drawing ever nearer in definitively linking his regime to Rafik Hariri's assassination. The US military is brashly conducting bombing raids along the Syrian-Iraqi border. And Assad is still waffling on whether to risk a trip to New York for a celebration of the UN's 60th anniversary.

But for all of Assad's apparently misplayed hands, he remains particularly adept at working the press. A few years back, before he was really in the hotseat, Assad would occasionally receive delegations of American journalists, who would leave the encounters regurgitating Assad's key lines. Take for instance the 2004 Daily Star article "US Journalists Impressed by Visit with Assad":

"This place is far more complex than it has been portrayed," said John Yearwood, world editor of the Miami Herald, who said that Syria is viewed as a dictatorship that has been largely obstructing US goals in the region. "It has been portrayed as one-dimensional ... But after listening to his side, one understands that it's not as easy as it seems to solve these problems."

A little interview time with Assad in the People's Palace (closed to the Syrian public) and top American foreign editors start sounding almost like Syrian p.r. flacks. Aside from offering insight into the mindset of American journalists (who rarely give it to dictators they way they do to democratically-elected leaders), the episodes speak to Assad's mastery of the one-on-one media interview.

So it's of little surprise that Assad agreed to sit down with Der Speigel magazine just as German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis ramps up his UN investigation of the Hariri assassination. Joshua Landis has posted an English version of the interview, which reveals Assad at his best. He deftly parries tough questions and has the Der Speigel correspondent struggling to poke holes in his armor.

Nonetheless, Assad drops several civil rights whoppers, which unfortunately go unchallenged by the reporter:

Der Spiegel: For example, there is the case of the parliamentarian Riyad Sayf, a businessman and self-made man. He criticized the omnipotence of the monopolies and was sentenced to five years in jail.

Assad: He called into question the unity of the nation and we have a law now that punishes anyone who encroaches on the mosaic of the various ethnic and religious groups.

Der Spiegel: Did not Sayf simply question the balance of power?

Assad: No, no-one is called to account who personally attacks me. But infringing on the composition of the Syrian society is simply too explosive.

Der Spiegel: Journalists too are still hampered in their work or even jailed. When will there be genuine freedom of the press?

Assad: We have never locked up anyone because of his personal opinion.

Der Spiegel: The correspondent of the leading Arab paper al-Hayat had to spend several months in jail.

Assad: That is something different. Under Syrian law, a journalist may not report on military affairs. That may be right or wrong, but that is the way it is now.

So there you have it. In Syria, "encroaching on the country's mosaic" and "reporting on military affairs" will land you a nice stint in one of Damascus' fine jails. If only the West had similar high standards... (all the American and European reporters who like to interview Assad would be in the clink).

The Middle East's dictators are adept at playing a game, using a mix of brute power and subterfuge to maintain their rule. All too often, foreign journalists play into the dictators' game. But far worse is the fate of millions of people who must live under Assad's rule, trapped in his crazy game. In this game, there are no guaranteed civil rights. Question the country's "mosaic" and it's off to the slammer.

The challenge is: How can we call Assad on his game? And how can civil rights advocates get the last word?