Leaked Syrian PR Tips for Assad Show How Easy It Is to Hoodwink "Progressive" Media Types

I must have missed Barbara Walters' interview with Syria's President, but I'm pretty sure his tree preferences never came up. (Presumably, had she asked, "President Assad, if you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?," he would not have selected the infamous Gharkad.) It is not surprising, however, that a leaked Syrian e-mail reveals he was well-prepared for her onslaught of questions:

Here’s the advice Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s media adviser gave him before Assad’s interview with Barbara Walters:

“It is hugely important and worth mentioning that ‘mistakes’ have been done in the beginning of the crises because we did not have a well-organized ‘police force.’ American psyche can be easily manipulated when they hear that there are ‘mistakes’ done and now we are ‘fixing it.’ It’s worth mentioning also what is happening now in Wall Street and the way the demonstrations are been [sic] suppressed by policemen, police dogs and beatings.”

The Syrian briefing paper is certainly worth reading, as is the Syrian regime’s willingness to use the supposed cultural sensitivity of American progressives to shield Syria against American accusations of Syrian atrocities.

 "American psyche can be easily manipulated"--you can say that again. Hence the success of CAIR and the rest.