Sy's Got Mail

Is it customary for Middle East leaders to email reporters, or is it just a Bashar Assad thing?

Nonetheless, a few days after the Israeli ceasefire in Gaza, Assad said in an e-mail to me that although Israel was “doing everything possible to undermine the prospects for peace,” he was still very interested in closing the deal. “We have to wait a little while to see how things will evolve and how the situation will change,” Assad said. “We still believe that we need to conclude a serious dialogue to lead us to peace.”

Maybe we've found Hersh's source on the Cheney death squads. But since it's so easy why didn't the UN think of it? They could have just emailed him their questions on Hariri and saved themselves a lot of time and trouble.