que syria syria

Assad Led Stephanopoulos on a Wild Goose Chase

Photo: FRANCK FIFE,BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP Images/Getty

George Stephanopoulos had one hell of a week: Before he landed his exclusive interview with Barack Obama, which aired Sunday, he went on a wild goose chase to Beirut, Lebanon, in the hopes of sitting down with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He had every reason to think Assad would follow through with the talk: The Syrian leader had sat down with Charlie Rose just a few days earlier and apparently wanted to talk to Stephanopoulos to rebut President Barack Obama’s address on Syria. However, the New York Times reports, “Mr. Assad must have had a change of heart, because once Mr. Stephanopoulos was in Beirut, the interview was called off. Mr. Stephanopoulos returned to the United States empty-handed.”

As far as journalistic “gets” go, however, a sit-down with the president is not bad. So while Stephanopolous might have wasted a very long trip, his week certainly ended on a strong note. Obama, meanwhile, also had a big week, following his Tuesday speech with an actual deal with Russia to secure chemical weapons in Syria. He told Stephanopoulos that while the process was not “smooth and disciplined and linear,” it was working.

Assad Led Stephanopoulos on a Wild Goose Chase