The difference between Asad the father & Asad the son...

Submitted by M.D. (United States), Jun 20, 2010 at 15:25

Hafiz al-Asad ruled with a clenched iron fist. Bashar al-Asad is ready to open his fist and shake hands.

The idea of a Greater Syria, perhaps infused by Iran, has made the younger Asad ambitious to join the alliance with Turkey, Hizbullah, Palestinian Arabs and Iran, so that he could be the future ruler of the Levant -- Lebanon and Israel in the west. By destabilizing the nascent Iraqi democracy, he can expand his Greater Syria to the east that will include Iraq.

Perhaps Dr.Pipes can tell us whether these were the ambitions of Hafiz al-Asad as well.

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