The rematch: this time it was personable
Assad visits Downing Street for talks, but who will be at the Prime Minister's conference?
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Your support makes all the difference.Blair V Assad: The rematch. This time it was personal.
For any fight fan, the advance billing had been mouth-watering. Last year Tony Blair had been humiliated at a press conference with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. In front of a worldwide television audience, the Syrian leader had lectured the British Prime Minister about American bombing of civilians in Afghanistan. Israel's treatment of the Palestinians was no different to international terrorism, he added.
Now, 13 months later, President Assad was in London for his first official visit. Prior to touching down, he had flexed his diplomatic muscles, warning that an attack on Iraq would generate more terrorism. Another punch-up looked definite.
Except that it wasn't personal. It was personable. Courteous and polite, the Syrian President's joint press briefing with Mr Blair in the refined surroundings of Downing Street's pillared room was as civilised as taking tea with the Queen.
As an opthalmologist who trained for two years in London, he said how much he had a "mutual respect" for British citizens. For President Assad is trying hard not to be like his dad, one of the most brutal dictators the Middle East has ever seen. The 36-year-old leader has even tried to modernise, allowing two internet cafés to open in Damascus. So they are state-controlled andthe authorities decide which sites can be accessed, but Rome wasn't built in a day.
Although he refrained from another lecture for the PM, President Assad did offer an unusual definition of terrorist when asked why he allowed Islamic militants such as Hamas to have offices in Damascus. "Of course, we don't have in Syria what is called organisations supporting terrorism; we have press offices," he said, to some bafflement among the press corps. "These offices express the opinions of Palestinians ... and the Palestinians have the right to have someone to express their opinion.
"We could agree with you or we could disagree with you regarding many idioms. In the region they are called press offices and they are not called terrorist organisations."
It is a novel concept, the press officer as terrorist. Alastair Campbell, a man used to political guerrilla tactics against an intractable enemy, may not have relished the implication. But he wasn't about to repeat the mistake of the Damascus press conference when "just one more question" asked by a journalist led to the pummelling of his boss. Just four brief questions were allowed. The big fight had ended level on points and like all rematches, the reality had not matched the hype. Shame.
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