Kucinich in Syria: Media Has 'Wrong Picture' of Uprising

[Recursion]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/06/kucinich-syria-president-assad-visit/39378/

Dennis Kucinich has scolded the international media for exaggerating the violent protests in Syria, reports the Syrian Arab News Agency. Spotted unexpectedly in a Damascus hotel by a CNN journalist on Monday morning, the Ohio congressman has now said the press is "jumping to conclusions without talking to people and listening to what they want."

...

"There are some who want to give a wrong picture about what is going on in Syria," Kucinich said in a press conference held on Tuesday at the Four Seasons Hotel, adding that things should be left to the Syrian people, government and leadership to decide for themselves the direction and the way to go for democratic changes.

The U.S. Congressman described what is taking place in terms of the meetings of opposition and independent figures who are expressing themselves and their views openly and freely as "a largely positive progress", saying "President Bashar al-Assad cares so much about what is taking place in Syria, which is evident in his effort towards a new Syria and everybody who meets him can be certain of this."

"President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians," said Kucinich, voicing his belief that people in Syria are seeking a real change which is up to them.

Oy. Kucinich says his comments were "mistranslated", but I'm not sure what that means, since he made them in English in the first place.

[still_one]

1. Dennis, don't we have enough issues here? /nt

[Erose999]

2. Kudos to Dennis for getting on top of this situation before it becomes another illegal war.

[RZM]

3. There's no indication whatsoever that war is on the horizon

He's pre-empting something that has little to no chance of happening.

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. He should move on to Tripoli...

...and stand side-by-side in solidarity with Col. Qadaffi in his heroic, lonely stand against NATO/EU-petro-capitalist agggression.

[Recursion]

16. I'm just surprised he's sticking up for a hero of the Syrian bourgeoisie

There's a reason the richer parts of the country aren't rebelling: they like the status quo because it benefits them. The Alawites and educated Sunni Arabs are doing fine; it's the Druze and Kurdish populations that are most interested in breaking away (an eternal rule of all countries' foreign policy: the Kurds will get screwed, one way or another).

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Maybe Syria should let foreign journalists into the country, then

Nearly all of them are banned. The CNN journalist who spotted Kucinich is a rare exception - she has Syrian parents.

It's hard to "talk to people and listen to what they want" when an authoritarian regime has banned you from doing that. The refugees they can interview are clear they hate and fear Assad. Kucinich should be criticising Assad, not the media.

[aquart]

6. He knows al-Assad is loved, how?

[RZM]

7. I'm sure the regime handlers who shepherded him around made it clear that Assad is loved n/t

[robcon]

8. Dennis Kucinich is the only Democrat I would NEVER vote for.

His Dept. of Peace proposal is the single stupidest political proposal made by any politician in my lifetime.

And his support for Assad is consistent with that stupidity.

Like Farrakhan by Qaddafi, I think Kucinich has been bought by Assad.

[classysassy]

9. " Blessed are the peace makers"

It seem the war lovers out number the peace makers.Kucinich is one of the few in congress that favor the people over money,the congress critters that enable the M.I.C. are a danger and should be voted out of office before they help destroy our planet for the love of money.

[robcon]

10. I'm probably more of a peacemaker than Kucinich. But he's a war monger in Syria.

A Dept. of Peace is an aggressively stupid proposal.

Like Farrakhan in Libya, Kucinich appears to have been bought off in Syria.

[kiranon]

11. Taken in by a staged visit complements of Assad. Once journalists

are allowed in, then we may get a better picture of what is really happening. Sometimes ideology blinds Democrats as much as it does Republicans. Would also prefer no wars but prefer the truth first before decisions are made and the truth does not come from Congress members escorted around the country by handlers of the existing government when the people are daily giving up their lives for a different way.

[RZM]

14. Who's a 'war lover' on the Syria issue?

How many congressmen and congresswomen are beating the war drums to deal with the Assad regime? Not very many, methinks. Again, Kucinich is warning against an extremely unlikely outcome. All he's doing here is hurting his own image - this makes him look like he's shilling for the despot.

I don't hold Kucinich's views about war against him. He's an antiwar guy and I respect that 100 percent. But being antiwar and going to Syria to make comments that could be construed as supportive of the nasty regime there are very different things.

[Recursion]

15. Who is a "war lover"?

I'm upset that he said this, in Syria, about Assad. I'm not trying to get the US to do air strikes in Syria, and for that matter neither is Bill Kristol, even. If anything, the neocons are pro-Assad because he makes Netanyahu's position a lot easier.

[Renew Deal]

12. Kucinich is well on his way to Cynthia McKinney land.

[robcon]

13. Getting used by a totalitarian dictatorship is awful. His words are all over Syrian "media."

He's become a tool of Assad.

[Scurrilous]

17. "President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians.."

:rofl:

[Recursion]

18. Well, among the Alawites and middle-class Sunni Arabs, he probably is

Syria doesn't have the near-total lack of support for the regime that, say, Egypt or Tunisia did: there are enough people benefiting from the status quo that only parts of the country are interested in rebelling.