State Department’s Assad Report Riddled with Possible Errors

After initially ignoring a congressionally mandated deadline, the State Department publicly released a report detailing the net worth and illicit-business practices of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his family yesterday. But some GOP officials and Syria experts suspect that State only started working on the report amid public pressure that crested after the deadline had passed — and that the final product is full of potential errors.

Although the report states that the total net worth of the Assad family is approximately $1–2 billion, it also asserts that the total wealth of one specific Assad family member, Rami Makhlouf, is around $5–10 billion. This apparent discrepancy suggests that the report was not thoroughly vetted before publication.

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Jimmy Quinn

Jimmy Quinn is the former national security correspondent for National Review.

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After initially ignoring a congressionally mandated deadline, the State Department publicly released a report detailing the net worth and illicit-business practices of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his family yesterday. But some GOP officials and Syria experts suspect that State only started working on the report amid public pressure that crested after the deadline had passed — and that the final product is full of potential errors.

Although the report states that the total net worth of the Assad family is approximately $1–2 billion, it also asserts that the total wealth of one specific Assad family member, Rami Makhlouf, is around $5–10 billion. This apparent discrepancy suggests that the report was not thoroughly vetted before publication.