英语新闻:Al-Assad denies responsibility for Syria crackdown
2011-12-08
In a rare interview with an( American) television network, Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad denied he is responsible for the violence engulfing his country and distanced himself from the behavior of his armed forces.
"They are not my forces," al-Assad told( ABC's )Barbara Walters in an interview that was broadcast Wednesday. He was responding to a question about whether he thought his forces had cracked down too hard on protesters over the past nine months.
"They are forces for the government. I don't (own) them. I'm president. I don't own the country. So they are not my forces."
Wouldn't al-Assad, the commander in chief, have had to (give) the order for any military actions? "No, no no," he said.
Not by your command? "No," he said, "on no one's command. There was no command to kill or to be brutal."