Interview with Barbara Walters (December 2011) ABC News
“

Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know, There is a difference between having a policy to crackdown and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference, We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person, There was no command to kill or be brutal.

— Bashar al-Assad

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know, There is a difference between having a policy to crackdown and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference, We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person, There was no command to kill or be brutal." in the context of "Interview with Barbara Walters (December 2011) ABC News" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Bashar al-Assad" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Bashar al-Assad

About Bashar al-Assad

Bashar al-Assad (born 11 September, 1965) is a Syrian politician who was the country's president from 2000 to 2024. He is the son of Hafez al-Assad, who was the president of Syria from 1971 to 2000.