larry johnson speaks about syria and assad; 

Boy, there are some supersensitive folks inhabiting the blogosphere. I made an offhand remark while talking with Nima this morning, where I said that Assad had a bigger luxury car collection than Jay Leno. For those born without a funny bone, that was a joke. My serious point — Assad put himself first and his country second. If you read the comments at Nima’s YouTube channel, you would conclude that I committed a sin akin to calling the Pope a pedophile. Lots of defenders of Bashir Al Assad complained about my comment.

So, I will make this simple. I think Assad conducted himself as a craven politician and helped bring this entire mess on himself and his country. What could he have done? For starters, he could have accepted offers of material assistance, training and advice proffered by Russia and Iran. He could have swallowed some pride and met with Erdogan, who wanted to negotiate. Instead, Assad rejected it all. I am deeply saddened by the unnecessary suffering the Syrian people have endured after more than a decade of war and sanctions. Assad’s choices made it worse. Yes, he and his countrymen were beset with onerous sanctions. But he did very little to seek help from China, Russia and the Saudis to alleviate the suffering those sanctions inflicted on his citizens.

The most galling action of Assad, in my view, was his decision to abandon some members of his extended family. At least two of his cousins reportedly were rounded up by Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) and executed. Assad was too busying saving his own ass to worry about anyone else. That is not a Profile in Courage..........more.........