ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Sunday Morning News

What Lies Ahead For Syria After Death of President Assad?

Aired June 11, 2000 - 8:35 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The world is waiting to see what's ahead for Syria and wondering about the legacy of Hafez Al-Assad. For some answers we're joined by Patrick Clawson, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Thanks for being with us, Patrick.

PATRICK CLAWSON, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Glad to be here this morning.

O'BRIEN: All right, a little while ago we were talking to former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and he suggested that Hafez Al- Assad was a bit of an anachronism, sort of an artifact from cold war days, and that his passing really represents an opening for the peace process in the Middle East. Would you go along with that?

CLAWSON: Certainly Assad is an anachronism. This is a guy who runs a very severely controlled society. The last time he was so- called elected president he won 99.95 percent of the vote. He keeps the economy closed to outside influences. Syria is not a modern state these days. Whether or not Assad's passing is going to be good for the peace process, that's going to be a lot harder to tell because it's likely that Syria now is going to be involved in a lot of infighting and not thinking about the peace process right away.

O'BRIEN: I guess the road toward becoming a modern state is a perilous one for whoever his successor will be. Let's assume for a moment it is his son Bashar. What are the key obstacles that he faces, assuming you have a leader here who represents a small minority, a religious minority within this country? Can he hold that coalition together?

CLAWSON: Well, you put your finger on the key problem, which is that Bashar, like his father, comes from a small religious minority that the great majority of Syrians regards as pretty close to heretical. And if things are opened up, then it may not go well for that minority. A lot of people in Syria resent the rather repressive rule that we've seen by Mr. Assad over the last 30 years.

So that's one of the biggest problems. Another big problem is that Syria's fallen so far behind. Just in the last few years its economy has contracted by 20 to 25 percent and Syrian industry is just not competitive on a world scale.

O'BRIEN: So putting all of what you've said together, I'm gathering you're suggesting any sort of agreement with Israel, land for peace or otherwise, is -- may be fairly remote right at the moment?

CLAWSON: Right at the moment it's likely to be way down on the agenda. Even when it comes to foreign affairs, the Syrians are much more concerned about what to do with Lebanon. Now that the Israelis have pulled out of Lebanon, it's going to be harder for the Syrians to explain why they keep thousands of troops in that country and why they keep running Lebanon, effectively.

And so I think that peace with Syria, peace between Syria and Israel may come more quickly now that Assad is gone, I don't think Assad was interested at all in peace, but it's still going to be a number of years off.

O'BRIEN: Patrick Clawson is with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Thanks for being with us on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

CLAWSON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.