Is the American media fortunate in conducting press and televised interviews with the Arab leaders? Is it not the only media capable of interrogating Arab rulers and getting exclusive interviews and statements whenever the pressures increase on their governments, and whenever they feel that their chairs are being shaken by the crowds whose ambitions, aspirations and demands they always managed to suppress? Fortunate is this Western media, only because it does not know the reality of the ruler and how he addresses his people from its ivory towers and from behind iron walls. The Arab ruler ignores his country's newspapers because he does not want to address his people or because he does not trust these outlets which will say whatever he dictates to them and knows what they will write in advance. The Arab ruler talks to his people via American or European media outlets because he knows they are “free,” and does not address his people through his own country's outlets because he knows they are not independent. The Arab ruler does not directly talk to his people, even in times of crises, except through the speakers of oppression and the language of threats. He thinks about the reaction of the White House first, then the reaction of the American and European streets, while his own people may not come in third, fourth or even fifth place on his list of priorities. The tyrannical Arab leader fears conspiracies because he came to power through such conspiracies. Moreover, he fears he will be deposed or asked to immediately step down by the West, thus staging a masquerade of justifications by saying that the West does not want him because he advocates “resistance” or “rejectionism,” without ever stating that his people – which he does not recognize to begin with – do not want him. In his interviews, the tyrannical Arab leader makes sure to appear “innocent as a lamb,” opposed to killing, sorry over the fall of martyrs and concerned for the wounded. He avoids saying that his policies were behind these incidents, and is untruthful and misleading. He only seeks his stay and acquittal by the Western capitals while trying to appear innocent, knowing he does not hesitate to oppress and kill his people and sanction torture in his prisons. He is forgetting that his immunity stems from his relationship with his people, not from the repetition of statements to the West and the nepotism of the hypocrites, the cheerers and the vampires. The Arab ruler does not draw the lessons from the “fall of presidents” and is only certain when he hears the roar of the people and their insistence on his departure. Only then can he become aware of the siege imposed by the crowds and the slogan “death to the tyrant,” and learn, without the shadow of a doubt, that the immunization of the domestic arena comes ahead of the boasting of cardboard reforms to the external sphere. The readers can recall Bashar al-Assad's interview given to the American Wall Street Journal in January, when he was asked about the situation in his country and refused to compare what was happening in Egypt to Syria. Since the start of his reply, Al-Assad fell in the trap of arrogance, as he should have launched a package of palpable reforms at the time, instead of procrastinating, issuing weak promises and giving only crumbs to people starving for food and out of frustration. In that same interview, Al-Assad tried to cover the truth – or maybe it was intentionally kept from him by his regime – as he said to the paper there was no chance of seeing the protests in Tunisia and Egypt reaching his country, saying there is no disgruntlement towards his regime. But only a few days later, demonstrations were staged in the streets of the Syrian cities to demand reform. However, he refused to ideally deal with these demands in order to improve his ties with his people, and came out afterwards to deliver a crude and defiant speech before the People's Assembly, announcing that his security apparatuses will use force to eliminate all the infiltrators, armed elements and conspirers. The demonstrations continued throughout nine months. Then last week, Al-Assad made an appearance once again on an American television channel to elude reality and repeat that “every brute action” by the army and security elements was “by an individual, not by an institution,” as though he did not previously say in his interview with the paper that his regime will handle the “infiltrating and armed” demonstrators by use of force. He even stated during the interview with ABC: “What you should know is that there is a difference between having policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. No orders were issued to kill or brutally deal with the situation.” He added: “We don't kill our people. No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person.” He indicated that the military forces belonged to the government and not to him personally, continuing: “I don't own them. I am the president. I don't own the country, so they are not my forces.” The full transcript of the interview would only be believed by his hypocrites, cheerers, those disregarding the facts or who are in a deep sleep. How can he deny what is happening in Homs, Hama and Daraa among others, in terms of daily massacres and slaughters? Every time, the Arab citizens discover that the tyrants do not learn their lessons. However, they do get scared, lie and say to the people “we are one of you,” as Gaddafi was doing while begging the Libyan revolutionaries following his arrest to spare his life, after he killed thousands of innocent civilians and turned Libya into a living hell. Al-Assad's recent interview with the American channel revealed the confusion of the regime, although it is trying to conceal its flaws. This shows that the end is nearing and that the era of the Baath rule is in its final stages.
