Four Years into Syria's War, a Conversation with al-Assad

In Damascus, Syria, the managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine recently spent much one full day at the presidential palace. In a lengthy interview with President Bashar al-Assad, Jonathan Tepperman asked a series of rough questions and got some remarkable answers.

Jonathan Tepperman (R) interviews President Bashar al-Assad

Courtesy Media and Communications Office, Presidency of Syria

Since the interview, Tepperman has called him "a spectacularly competent liar" and compared him to Hitler in his bunker — still insisting to his generals that Germany could win the war."