Bashar al-Assad

Bashar a-Assad

So we didn’t really hear the name much until the past couple of years but now Bashar al Assad is now in the news every day. When we see his picture in the news, he looks like a successful business man in a two piece suite and clean shaven. This appearance throws off most people because unlike the images of most crazy looking bearded rope wearing dictators that scream their hate speeches and chant “death to America”, Assad kind of looks like us!

So does this appearance make us less likely to hate him? Why should we hate him and who is this guy? Well to get a true understanding of whom he is, we need to look at how he came to power.

Assad was born on September 11^th 1965. Yes it is interesting that he was born 9/11. His father led Syria for thirty years before him and he took power in 2000. He is an educated man who graduated medical school at Damascus University in 1988 and worked as a physician in the army. He also attended postgraduate school at the Western Eye Hospital in London. He specialized in ophthalmology but after his elder brother Bassel was killed in a car crash; he was recalled to Syria to take over Bassel’s role as heir to his father. In 2000 and 2007 he was confirmed and reconfirmed by the national electorate as president of Syria.

When he first entered office he was seen as a potential reformer but these hopes were squashed when he ordered a crackdown and military sieges on pro-rebel protesters amid a civil war that many saw related to the “Arab spring”. Since these occurrences, The United States, The Syrian opposition, the European Union and the members of the Arab League have called for his resignation. Additionally, 137 different nations have voted in the UN to condemn his government and him and called his power a secular power.

Although his run for government was on a platform of a war on corruptions it seems he fell into the intoxicating drug of power and money. So should we fear him?,  you bet we should but should we  be fighting side by  side with terrorist that chant “death to America”? Ahhh, probably not. So now you know the man. He is intelligent, educated and yes crazy like most people with too much power. I do think its funny that we feel we will solve problems and fighting that has gone on for thousands of years in the middle east. Maybe we need to stay home instead of joining this party? Yup I think so!