Syria's Odd Mar OUT

摘要

ASHAR AL-ASSAD WAS NEVER cut out to be a dictator. A week after his Army completed its abrupt retreat from Lebanon, I the introverted Syrian leader summoned about two dozen minority-party politicians to a gathering at the People's Palace, the privatefortress erected by his father, Hafez al-Assad, on a moun-taintop above Damascus. The meeting's purpose wasn't to defend the pullout or to intimidate anyone who dared to criticize it. Instead, the 39-year-old Assad focused on the agenda for next week's congress of the ruling Baath Party. As his guests sipped tea and lemonade, he listened to their thoughts on political and economic liberalization and pledged himself to the cause of reform. Only once did he sound like an old-fashioned president for life,launching into a grim warning about secret Islamist plots to take down his regime.