When Tyrant Bashar Meets Lover Boy Sam

As embarrassing as it must have been for Syria’s First Family to have their personal e-mails spilled all over the world for everyone to see, mock, dissect and criticize mercilessly, there are definitely worse things that can happen to the modern-looking couple.

They can be coming out of a hiding hole and be checked for lice, or dragged in the streets, unrecognizable through their bloodied faces, or they could be flying aimlessly asking permission to land from nations and leaders they still called friends not long ago without receiving a single welcoming response.

The personal e-mail’s released by the Guardian newspaper have revealed a lot about habits of Asma and Bashar al-Assad; from their shopping and music styles to their dependence on each other for support and strength. Underneath the superficiality of the couple lies an embarrassing extravagance at a time when the country they lead is going through one of its most difficult times in recent history. The e-mail’s which the Guardian believes to be authentic although it admits it cannot vouch to the veracity of each and every message, reveal a dangerous disconnect and unforgivable nonchalance towards the people the Assad couple are in charge of protecting and safeguarding.

And perhaps, the lightest moment in those e-mails could carry the deepest thought of all. At one point, Bashar, who calls himself Sam, shares with his wife an American Country song and highlights its lyrics.


Usually a rebel, a tyrant or a revolutionary resides inside people and can’t wait to get out. It’s not always that we run into situations where a simple Ophthalmologist is imprisoned inside a tyrant. But then again, not every one is the son of a shrewd dictator named Hafez al Assad who’s heir apparent to the Syrian “throne” had died in a car crash; and since he absolutely must crown a descendent to carry on his legacy, the simple ophthalmologist gets outfitted with the special dynasty uniform and equipped with sticks and strings for full control by the true oppressors.

For a split second I wanted to feel sorry for the man entrapped inside. But that second quickly faded, and was replaced by the graphic pictures and wailing pains we’ve been seeing and hearing out of Syria for the past year. Massacres this guy Sam is watching and approving while the tyrant Bashar shares a song with his wife, hoping against hope that all the hurt he inflicted will be erased this way.

An insightful quote by blogger Hani Naim caught my attention recently. He wrote, “Inside every Syrian security forces bully, there is a little Assad.” As true as that statement is, now we know that inside the murderous scary Assad, there is nothing but a little lover boy!