The Rest of The Story- Bashar

Bashar al-Assad was born into a prominent family in the middle-east, with a powerful father that had risen from poverty to have a wealthy and influential place in society.  Bashar’s older brother Bassel was groomed to take the reins of the family business.  Bashar had no interest in following in his father’s footsteps, indeed, he only visited his father’s office once and never talked business with him.

Bashar was a good student, studying medicine in his home country. After graduation, Bashar practiced as an Army doctor in the biggest Army hospital in the country for four years.  In 1992, Bashar went to London to specialize in Ophthalmology at the Western Eye Hospital in London.   

Fate soon intervened, however.  Bassel, an aficionado of fast cars, was killed in an automobile accident in foggy conditions, and Bashar’s father called his son home to begin grooming him to take over the family business in 1994.  When Bashar’s father Hafez died in 2000, Bashar finally took over the family business.

Bashar al-Assad’s family business is the country of Syria.  And Bashar has gone from a person with no interest in politics to a feared and intimidatingly ruthless leader, crushing the reform movement in Syria with tanks, airplanes, bombs and machine guns.  It is estimated that tens of thousands of innocent civilians have died at the hands of Bashar’s military.  And this from a leader that swore upon his graduation from medical school to “First, do no harm”.