The Damaskus Spring

President bishar al-asad was by all accounts very successful in this in two thousand four the bush administration started to slam him hard for allowing foreign fighters to enter iraq. The damaskus spring would go on to have a much longer lasting impact on bishar's regime like all arab leaders after nine eleven he was forced to make some difficult decisions. Bishar had to thread the needle of working with the us just enough to knock it regime changed himself while also standing up to america enough to maintain support at home and most importantly doing his part to ensure that iraq was enough of a debacle that bush wouldn't have the political capital to fuck with the syrian