Syrian Leader's Wife: 'I Am the Real Dictator'

Asma al-Assad also mocks the people of Homs in hacked emails
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 19, 2012 3:39 PM CDT
Syrian Leader's Wife: 'I Am the Real Dictator'
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, left, and his wife Asma Assad look on after a ceremonial reception at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, June 18, 2008.   (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)

So the Syrian president's wife can do more these days than buy pricey candlesticks and chandeliers. Hacked emails reveal that Asma al-Assad, British-born wife of Bashar, also mocks the people of Homs (not long before hundreds died there) and jokes with friends that she is "the REAL dictator" in her family, the Telegraph reports. She also chats affectionately with family members and dabbles in talk about future overseas holidays.

When mocking Homs, she circulated an email that listed silly answers to exam questions, like, "In which battle did Napoleon die?—His last battle." She wrote in the subject line: "A really bright Homsi student!" In other emails, she criticized ABC's edits of an interview with her husband and commended one of his speeches for being "very strong, no messing around." In a rare emotional moment, she seemed aware of the rising insurgency and wrote her husband: “If we are strong together, we will overcome this together ... I love you ...” (More Syrian uprising stories.)

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