From Father to Son: Ruling the Syrian State
Bashar sought to maintain and further develop his father's system, as he stated in his inaugural address.[30] He selected a personal staff of younger men from his generation who shared his worldview. Three came from the Syrian Computer Society and headed the tourism, communications, and higher education portfolios, however, lacking their own power bases, they proved unable to exercise significant influence in government circles. With the patriarch of the family gone, Bashar also proved unable to control his immediate family. Confrontations between his younger impulsive brother Mahir and his older sister, Bushra and her husband Asaf Shawkat were widely reported. For the most part, the military elite of Hafiz's era remained in place during Bashar's first years. The only exception were some changes in the 'Alawi officers and their replacement by younger officers.[31] This face-lift, however, was designed more to create a support base for Bashar moving forward.
Bashar avoided dramatic changes in Syrian leadership, especially in the military and security elite. He also avoided leapfrogging younger officers who were close to him into leadership positions. As a result, Bashar lacked a loyal circle of supporters with the power and status necessary to affect change. In answering a question in 2003 about the old guard and the degree to which they restricted his activities, Bashar explained: "What is important is the general order in the state. We made many personnel changes and we determine to replace anyone who lost his value whether he belongs to the old or young guard."[32] While in the first elections on 23 March 2007 to the People's Assembly since Bashar took power, 178 of 250 delegates were new - most of them young - no change was made to the largely symbolic body. This however was also a continuation of the Hafiz's policy in the 1990s where independent candidates were allotted 40 percent of the Assembly's seats. Nevertheless, the People's Assembly largely remains a venue to ease tensions and "let off steam."[33]
Although Bashar avoided dramatic changes to the state's political leadership, he did bring in some new faces from outside the state agencies. These included Sa'dallah Agha al-Qal'a (tourism minister), Mahir al-Mujtahid (secretary-general of the presidency of the Council of Ministers), 'Ali Kana'an (president of the Industrial Bank of Syria), 'Abdallah al-Dardari (chairman of the State Planning Commission), and 'Issam al-Za'im (minister of industry). While they were older than Bashar, they were still a generation younger than the old guard and had a measure of western education and exposure.[34] Bashar had less success shuffling people into cabinet positions. The defenders of the status quo still outnumbered the advocates of change. He had more success putting people into key positions of the intelligence services.[35] Most significantly was Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas's retirement in May 2004 at the age of 73. He, like Vice President al-Khaddam were two of the three most senior members of Hafiz's old guard. Al-Khaddam was also replaced and subsequently blamed Bashar and Syria for the bombing in Lebanon that killed Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005.[36]
[30] For Bashar's inaugural address, See: Radio Damascus 17 June 2000. For an English translation of the speech, See: "Bashar Al-Asad: Inaugural Address." 2000. Available at: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/syria/bashar00a.htm Accessed: 20 December 2007.
[31] Zisser, Eyal. "Syria." Middle East Contemporary Survey XIX (1995). p. 595.
[32] Al-'Arabiyya TV Channel 10 June 2003.
[33] Zisser. "Syria at a Crossroads." p. 12.
[34] Leverett. Inheriting Syria. pp. 76-77.
[35] "The Ba'th Party Keeps the Upperhand in the New Government." Syria Report (October 2003).
[36] Bar'el, Zvi. "Assad Accused / Don't Mess with the Family." Haaretz 1 January 2006. Al-Khaddam was given the Lebanon portfolio by Asad Sr. and brought relative stability to the country. In 1998, Hafiz gave the portfolio to Bashar in grooming him for succession.