Sawyer's Interview With Assad, Part II

We finally get to some meat and potato issues with the second part of this interview between Diane Sawyer of ABC News and Bashar Assad, the dictator of Syria. We finally get a question or two about Syria's role in destabilizing Lebanon, though it's of such limited scope and avoids the mention of Hizbullah entirely:

Sawyer: A quick question about Lebanon. As you know the United Nations has a tribunal and they are investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and they have said they have forensic, they have financial, they have witness evidence that it leads to Syria.

Assad: Yeah.

Sawyer: If indeed, they have evidence and they present it, would you turn over to them, any Syrian official who is implicated?

Assad: I said that publicly, if anyone that could have been involved in such a crime is a traitor. So before turning him over, he will be tried under our laws and our constitution.

Sawyer: Before turning him over?

Assad: Of course in our tribunal, yes, because it's a matter of sovereignty.

Sawyer: Because you know the implication is they have evidence about your brother-in-law?

Assad: If they have any evidence, any concrete evidence, they have to show it off. We haven't had any such evidence. We only have accusations. No evidence at all.

Sawyer: And the report that PM Hariri came here, met with you, and I think the quote they gave, that the tribunal gave -- "You said that you would break Lebanon over his head" -- and he left so angry that he had to [take] blood pressure medication.

Assad: [I have] heard this story many times, but this is just a political accusation. We only heard these stories after the assassination. Why didn't we hear these stories before the assassination? [These are] only false pretenses.

You have gone through all the trouble of setting up an interview with Assad, and no mention of Hizbullah and what they're doing to Lebanon? What were the rules of this interview that you couldn't address those issues, which are certainly more pressing than knowing what the heck Assad has on his iPod.

Meanwhile, there's a softball question about Israel, and what Syria intends to do on that front (besides the provision of Hamas and Hizbullah with material support):

Sawyer: You have said to Israel, "Call my bluff." Call my bluff. … What did you mean? What do they not know about what you're prepared to do?

Assad: The basics is the peace process, which depends on a land for peace. Are they willing to give back our land and withdraw completely? I asked for negotiations many times, especially the last few years and their Prime Minister [Ehud] Olmert said we are not going to talk to Syria.

Sawyer: Of course the reason they say is Hamas. And that not only does the leader of Hamas live here, has a base here, but gets financial support and political support from you. When you hear that buses of children or marketplaces or restaurants have been bombed by members of Hamas … do you denounce it? Is it terrorism?

Assad: First of all, we are against violence in general. We don't believe in violence. But it's not enough to like or not or to dislike. The most important thing is to deal with the events. If we don't like it, it won't stop it. You have people who kill Israelis, but you have people that kill civilians, Palestinian civilians every day in the Palestinian territory.

Sawyer: But the Israelis say you can stop it and you can withdraw financial support and you can withdraw political support.

Assad: First of all, they don't have any financial support. Their base and their grass roots are in Palestine, they are not in Syria. There are only few, less than 10, in Syria.

Sawyer: Is there something new in the peace process?

Assad: No, nothing new, because as I said earlier this administration doesn't have the will, and it's really difficult to move on the peace track without the United States.

Sawyer: And chance Hamas will volunteer recognition of Israel's right to exist?

Assad: It's a matter of dialogue. If you want them to do so, to be involved in peace, you better talk to them. Convince them.

Convince them to give up their religious views? The Palestinians have spent the last 60 years believing both politically and religiously that the solution to the conflict is to eliminate Israel from the map. Syria tried that tact a couple of times before - and failed each time.

Israel has shown itself to be willing to give up land for peace, and the most recent efforts - in 2000 withdrawing in toto from Lebanon - resulted in Hizbullah turning South Lebanon into Hizbullahland primed for a conflict that blew over in August 2006. Gaza was turned over to the Palestinians in 2005, who promptly turned it into an armed camp and rocket launching facility to be used against Israeli cities. Those examples aren't exactly confidence building measures to show that the Palestinians are willing to peacefully coexist.

Once again, Assad manages to get back to the media talking points of how it is up to the US to get Israel to cave into the demands of the Islamists. The Bush Administration doesn't want to deal with Islamists and terrorist groups, and doesn't want to elevate them to equals with nation-states, so that's seen as obstructionist. That figures given that Assad has no problem supporting Hizbullah in its efforts to take over in Lebanon and is doing its best to destabilize efforts inside Iraq as well.

UPDATE:
The Moderate Voice weighs in on Assad's claim that Syria has nothing to do with the insurgency and yet somehow thinks that leverage is to be had. Others commenting on the Sawyer spectacle: Dan Riehl, and Hot Air.