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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303812104576441782721071822.html
Life Among Syria's Not-So-Secret Police
(Wall Street Journal) Jonathan G. Panter - In Bashar Assad's Syria, the Mukhabarat are a professional bureaucracy specializing in the production and dissemination of fear. The Mukhabarat do not enforce laws, they simply enforce the will of the state, using any means necessary or expedient. Mukhabarat agents are everywhere, easily recognizable in their black leather jackets. To describe them as "secret police" is misleading: Much of their power lies not in their secrecy, but in their visibility. Aleppo's main square is dominated by a massive billboard depicting Assad surrounded by adoring crowds. On every lamppost hangs a banner, its slogan screaming "God, Syria, and Bashar alone!" Amidst this cult of personality stroll the Mukhabarat. Observation is only half their job; the rest is sheer intimidation. Citizens glance up at the billboards of their dictator, glance down at his men in black leather, and understand there is no room for debate.