Government officials on fall of Assad in Syria
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Mouaz Moustafa, Executive Director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, and Andrew Boyd, former Director of the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence, spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the fall of Assad in Syria overnight.
"It's an indescribable feeling of happiness that this regime, this dictator who has made the worst crimes of the 21st century, alongside Russia, and Iran, and ISIS, all of these horrible people have been defeated by a coalition of rebel forces that did not need any support from any outside country, not Turkey, not Qatar, not anyone. This time around, Syria was liberated by its people, for its people. And it's truly inspiring. And it's not just good reverberations for Syria, for the Middle East and Europe as well."
Mouaz Moustafa, Executive Director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force
Brennan, during her interview with Moustafa and Boyd, said none of the officials in the regional and U.S. governments she spoke with "seem to know where Bashar al-Assad even went," prompting Brennan to ask Boyd if it matters where he went, to which Boyd said:
"I don't think it does, now that the government has fallen. I do think what unfolds over the next couple of weeks, and- and if the opposition actually treats all of the factions in Syria with dignity and respect and- and ensures their safety, we will have more understanding, because you know, there's a lot of atrocities that were carried out by the Assad regime. Those people are probably still in Syria, and so we'll see how that goes."
During the interview, Brennan mentioned to Moustafa that he was personally "involved in smuggling out documented evidence of some of the torture, of the mass atrocities, the systematic, institutionalized violence that happened from some of those prisons," which he brought to Congress and made it public.
When asked what he thinks we can learn now, Moustafa said, "The first thing that we are working really hard, and I can tell you all the rebel factions are working really hard to do, is find Austin Tice and hopefully bring him home, God willing, alive, to his family."
According to Brennan, Tice is an American journalist who "once worked at CBS News for some time," and is a Marine Veteran.
"He went to cover the plight of the Syrian people from what Assad, Iran, and Russia have been doing to them, and God willing, we bring him home alive, but we need to find him and bring him to his mom no- no matter what. And the Syrians owe him a debt forever. Also, other Americans that are undeclared. And freeing Syrians from- from prisons is something that's really important, but the collection of that intelligence as well as the Hezbollah, Iranian, Russian, Assad regime, any officials that have been arrested by the Syrian people, again, without any support of the international community or regional countries, who actually worked to try to save Assad, that is valuable, that's valuable to the United States. That's why we need to engage with this new, emerging government that God willing, is the path to democracy. The only Arab country in the world with the hope of being a democracy is Syria. That's incredible."
Mouaz Moustafa, Executive Director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Moustafa and Boyd, click here.
