This picture appears today in the New York Times with this caption: " Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, right, surrounded by bodyguards on Saturday in Damascus for the inauguration of a statue dedicated to university “martyrs” who were killed in the country’s civil war..." What struck me is this: 1) The caption indicated that he was surrounded by his bodyguards. But I did not see that in the video footage. In fact, many supporters of the regime criticized Bashshar for undertaking the trip. 2) the same description appeared in Saudi and Qatari media: that he was surrounded by his bodyguards. 3) what do you mean by that? That there are no supporters of the regime outside of his bodyguards (and of course, they all are `Alawites)? 4) By denying that the regime has support, are you basically hoping that by denying the support, the support will go away? 5) Where did you see the bodyguards in the picture? I enlarged it and could only see one. 6) do you know how dumb and Ba`thist you are in your crude propaganda on Syria?
