Bashar Al Assad must go!

Bashar Al Assad, Syrian President

Power is indeed intoxicating that Bashar Al Assad would rather see blood bath than step down from his position as the President of Syria.  He must really enjoy seeing people die by thousands every day.   The presidency has a lot of perks that you can’t get if you’re an ordinary civilian.  I think part of the reason why he won’t step down is that he is afraid that when he steps down, he’ll lose all the privilege that he enjoyed so much.

It’s really not easy to let go of power, wealth and privilege.  The sad thing is he’s doing it at the expense of his own people’s lives.  An elective post is given to you by the people.  If they say they don’t want you anymore, you should go.  The problem with Syria is that, when Assad was running for a term, he was the sole candidate.  Assad’s own political block has already disqualified his political enemies in the effort to assure Assad of victory.  That is not all, the ruling government is actually a minority government composed mostly of the Shiites Muslims.  The majority of people are Sunni Muslims.  It’s the exact reverse from Bahrain where the Shiites are the majority and the ruling Sunni are the minority.  If Assad steps down, the Shiites ruling party are afraid that they’ll also lose the reigns of the government and their influence. 

The West is not too keen on helping the people of Syria who are dying by hundreds every day since Syria has no oil resources.  Look what the West did with Libya. They readily helped the rebels by supplying them arms and helping them bombard Libya’s major cities.  The finally got Gadafi and that’s the end of the story, they bid for the Libyan oil.  Syria has no oil resources and for the West, it’s not feasible to help.  As you know, the West will only help if they can see themselves profiting from it.

A friend of mine, Abdullah, a Syrian from Homs told me that it’s been two years since he last saw his family. He said that all activities in Homs were halted because of the war.  The Syrian people lost their livelihood because of the continuous fighting.  He is the only source of income that sustains his family.  He’s going to get married in Egypt next month without the blessings of his family, not one from his family will also be able to attend. It’s a sad story but Abdullah is just one of the few Syrians who suffered because of the senseless war.  The only reason for this war is that Bashar Al Assad would not step down.  One man’s greed for power has cost the lives of his own people.  Bashar Al Assad should step down!