NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Thanassis Cambanis about his article in The Atlantic, “The Logic of Assad’s Brutality” which he says explains why Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad would order a chemical attack after President Trump announces his intention to pull American troops out of Syria.
All right. Let’s turn to a question at the heart of this reported chemical weapons attack in Syria – why? Why would Bashar al-Assad use chemical weapons on his people? And why now? Thanassis Cambanis takes this on in The Atlantic in an essay headlined “The Logic Of Assad’s Brutality.” Cambanis is a senior fellow at the progressive think tank The Century Foundation, also a columnist at The Boston Globe. And he joins us now from Beirut. Welcome to the program.