"He went north. To Aleppo. Took the First Division. He said he was going to fight the Turks. If he lost, he'd die. If he won, he'd come back. When he came back, he'd go on listening to those people shouting 'Assad step down.'"
Victor was silent for a long time. "He's crazy."
Bramo said nothing.
"A President whose own people are shouting 'step down,' taking an army that doesn't want to fight, to go up against the second largest standing army in NATO. He's crazy. But he knows he'll lose, he knows he'll die, and he still went. Why?"
Bramo thought for a moment. "Because he wants to die in Syria, not in exile in Moscow."
Victor walked back to his desk and sat down.
A freshly delivered intelligence report was spread out on the desk.
