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Is Bashar Assad in Control?

(Los Angeles Times) Robin Wright - Bashar Assad may not have enough control over his own government to prevent Iraqi officials from crossing the border into his country, U.S. officials said Tuesday. In the past, Syria has provided refuge to a range of extremists - Palestinians, Turks, Lebanese, even former Nazis and a renegade U.S. intelligence agent - and denied doing so, according to Henri J. Barkey, a former member of the State Department policy planning staff. Washington has concluded that Assad does not have total control of his government in Damascus, so the U.S.'s public warnings are designed to target a wide swath of Syrian society, including military and intelligence officials as well as political and commercial interests engaged in rogue activities.
2003-04-15 00:00:00
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