Bashar Assad

Flashback: ABC's Diane Sawyer Dished With Assad Over His Love of Shania Twain and Ipods
By Scott Whitlock | September 3, 2013 | 12:34 PM EDT

 While covering Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, ABC's Martha Raddatz described the Syrian dictator as "looking poised and immaculately dressed." This light-hearted description is reminiscent of some of the softball questions asked by Diane Sawyer on February 5, 2007. The then-Good Morning America anchor dished with the man who, in August, allegedly used chemical weapons on his own people: "You like video games?...Do you have an iPod?"

After the dictator announced that he did, Sawyer sounded more like an Access Hollywood host: "And you're a country music fan. Faith Hill? Shania Twain?" She then moved on to the topics of what films Assad enjoyed. The fan of chemical weapons and gassing his own people touted The Pursuit of Happyness. He blurbed, "It tells you a story...Maybe there's many beneficial things to learn from, about real life." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Charlie Daniels Column: A Citizen's Take on Syria
By Charlie Daniels | September 3, 2013 | 11:27 AM EDT

In my soon to be 77 years as a citizen of the United States of America, having lived through Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the dark days of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Watergate, 9/11 and all the other serious and profound events our beloved nation has been involved in over the last three quarters of a century, I have to say with all sincerity that I have never seen a president as confused, befuddled, impotent, insincere and as out of his depth as Barack Obama has become in dealing with the Syrian issue.

When you're the leader of the free world, you don't make statements you can't back up and you don't draw lines in the sand, watch your enemies cross them with impunity and go off and play a round of golf.

Daily Beast: Obama Administration Refused to Send Gas Masks to Syrian Opposition, Despite Abundant Supply
By Ken Shepherd | August 29, 2013 | 7:05 PM EDT

"The Obama administration has refused to send gas masks and other chemical-weapons protection gear to Syrian opposition groups, despite numerous requests dating back more than a year and until the reported chemical-weapons attack that struck the Damascus suburbs August 21," Josh Rogin of The Daily Beast reported earlier today. What's more, it wasn't for lack of supply, as there are numerous gas masks lying about in the region in storage, surplus from the late Iraq War, Rogin reported.

It's completely understandable and arguably advisable to not ship weapons to Syrian opposition groups for fear of weapons falling into the wrong hands, but refusing life-saving gas masks when the Syrian government is known to have chemical weapons caches is quite another. It remains to be seen how much the Big Three networks and newspaper outlets pick up on this thread, but we'll be watching. Below is a critical excerpt from his post (emphasis mine):

Krauthammer on Attacking Syria: 'What's Russia Going to Do? Cancel Another Summit?'
By Noel Sheppard | August 28, 2013 | 10:08 AM EDT

With all eyes on Syria and what the Obama administration is going to do in response to alleged chemical weapons use by Bashar Assad, many are concerned with how Vladimir Putin will react if we attack.

On Fox News's O'Reilly Factor Tuesday, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer marvelously asked, "What's Russia going to do? Cancel another summit?"

Krauthammer: Pointless to Attack Syria Unless Goal Is Regime Change
By Noel Sheppard | August 27, 2013 | 7:11 PM EDT

With all eyes on Syria and what appears to be a looming United States strike, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said Tuesday that it’s a “pointless exercise” unless we’re going all in to remove Bashar Assad.

Appearing on Fox News’s Special Report Krauthammer said, “If we are going to have an attack, it should be aimed at that, and if it’s not, we shouldn't be doing anything."

Bozell, Cavuto Discuss Media WMD Double Standard: Iraq and Bush v. Syria and Obama
By Ken Shepherd | August 26, 2013 | 6:02 PM EDT

"With all the talk that took place" during the Bush administration "on Iraq about the need for congressional approval, before there was a military strike, have you heard anyone in the media question how unilaterally Barack Obama can decide to send us to war [in Syria] without congressional approval?" NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell asked Neil Cavuto on the August 26 edition of his Fox News Channel program Your World. Cavuto opened the segment by noting that many in the media were prodding Obama to use unilateral military action against Syria for having crossed a "red line" by deploying chemical weapons.

There's also the fact that "this administration, [and their] foreign policy is an incoherent mess, " Bozell added, noting that in 2011, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad as a "reformer," something the liberal media are not reminding the American public about now. "No one's asking the question, 'Do you folks in this administration have any idea what you're doing?!'" [watch the full segment below the page break]

Pat Buchanan: Sarin Gas in Syria 'Has Tonkin Gulf Written All Over It...False Flag'
By Noel Sheppard | June 15, 2013 | 6:53 PM EDT

Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan made a statement about Friday's announcement concerning Syria definitively having used chemical weapons on its people that is guaranteed to raise eyebrows on both sides of the aisle.

Appearing on PBS's McLaughlin Group, Buchanan said, "This has Tonkin Gulf written all over it...false flag."

Live Blog: May 16 Obama/Erdogan Joint Press Conference
By Ken Shepherd | May 16, 2013 | 12:09 PM EDT

Well, this should be fun. President Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will hold a joint press conference in a few minutes in the Rose Garden. The last joint press conference the president held -- on May 13 with British Prime Minister David Cameron -- was met with some tough questions by the AP's Julie Pace.

Below the page break I'll be live-blogging the questions from journalists. As usual, please give us the questions you would like answered in the comments section. Also, who do you think might ask the toughest questions and who might try to help the president out with a softball? Let us know your thoughts.

Krauthammer: We May Be Forced To Send Troops Into Syria Simply To Secure Chemical Weapons
By Noel Sheppard | December 3, 2012 | 7:31 PM EST

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer made a dire prediction Monday concerning declining conditions in Syria.

Appearing on Fox News's Special Report, Krauthammer said that if the "inevitable" regime change takes place, "we might be forced to send in our troops simply as a way to secure [Syria's vast supply of chemical weapons] because of the jihadists among the rebels."

Barbara Walters Apologizes for Trying to Help Syrian Dictator's Aide In America
By Tim Graham | June 7, 2012 | 2:03 PM EDT

ABC’s Barbara Walters will do most anything to score a big interview. Now, she’s been forced to apologize for trying to help a former aide to Syrian President Bashar Assad land a job or get into college in America in exchange for her Assad interview last December. Sheherazad Jaafari was a press aide to Assad and daughter of Bashar Jafaari, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations. Last October, UN Ambassdador Susan Rice and the U.S. delegation to the UN walked out on a Jafaari speech.

Walters said in a statement issued Tuesday she rejected Jaafari's later request for a job at ABC News, saying it was a conflict of interest. But she said she contacted people on Jaafari's behalf and "I regret that." London’s Daily Telegraph acquired some of the friendly e-mails of Walters, like this one to Jafaari: