COLLABORATING WITH THE DICTATOR:

A Surer Assad Reaches Out to US to Aid Needy Syria (AP, 3/06/09)

During eight years as Syria's president, Bashar Assad has grown more sure in his grip on power — ordering a crackdown on dissent, letting a personality cult bloom around him and opening up the economy after decades of isolation.

Now Assad is eager for a breakthrough in long strained relations with the United States, hoping for U.S. help in boosting a still weak economy and for American mediation in direct peace talks with Israel.