Khaddam interview excerpts
Former vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam said Bashar was often the victim of his elder brother’s cruelty. “His brother Basil bullied him as a child. His father never gave him as much attention as Basil,” Khaddam said.
Abdel Halim Khaddam, vice-president under both Bashar and his father, says the younger al-Assad is both brutal and indecisive.
“Bashar’s problem is that he listens to everything but denies and forgets quickly. You discuss an issue with him in the morning and another person comes along and changes his mind.
“Politically, Bashar does not have a consistent ideology; he changes his opinion according to his interests and that of the regime’s.”
And the regime is a family affair. Al-Assad’s younger brother Maher commands an elite division of the army, and is accused of widespread human rights abuses. His cousin Rami Makhlouf is the richest man in Syria.
Despite the brutal crackdown over the last year in Syria, in which thousands have died, al-Assad maintains he is not in charge of Syria’s military. He told ABC’s Barbara Walters: “They are not my forces. They are forces for the government. I don’t own them. I’m president. I don’t own the country. So they are not my forces.”
former vice-president Khaddam said there is no doubt who does give the orders to kill: “Bashar Al-Assad and no one else. He gives out orders to use all means of force to crush the revolution. He is surrounded by close aides and a security apparatus that advise him, but he decides.”
