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(AP) WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is telling Syrian leader Bashar Assad that he must either lead his country through a democratic transition or "get out of the way," the first direct U.S. challenge to the Assad family's decades-long autocratic grip on power.
In a broad speech outlining U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa amid upheaval in the Arab world, Obama said Thursday that Syria's brutal crackdown on pro-reform activists is unacceptable. He said Assad could no longer rule through repression and must change course if he wants international acceptance. More than 850 people are believed to have been killed in two months of unrest in Syria.
Obama's speech came a day after he imposed sanctions on Assad and six other officials for human rights abuses during the crackdown.
And if he doesn't shape up soon, we are going to have a meeting!
Devotedly washed and sprinkled with rose petals, Hamza Ali al-Khateeb lies prepared for burial.
But the rituals of death cannot wipe away the horrific injuries that have mutilated his body almost beyond recognition.
Nor do they blot out that Hamza - riddled with bullets, kneecapped and with neck broken and penis hacked off - has the rounded cheeks and gentle face of a child.
...
'Torture is usual in Syria. It’s not something new or strange. What is special about Hamza is that he was only 13 years old. He really is a child.'
Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who also appeared on "Face the Nation," condemned the violence in Syria but stopped short of calling for Assad's resignation.
"There is a different leader in Syria now, many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he's a reformer," Clinton said.
Gates, when asked directly if he thought Assad should step down, reiterated the White House dictum that "these kinds of things are up to the Syrians."
"What I said... when I was in the Middle East, is that the lesson that should be taken from Egypt was where a military stood aside and allowed peaceful protests and allowed political events to take their course, that's basically the lesson that I was talking about with respect to Assad, in terms of whether he should stand down or not," Gates told Schieffer, when asked if Assad should step down. "You know, these kinds of things are up to the Syrians, up to the Libyans themselves."
Is there a coherent policy in all of this somewhere? When did the Libyan resistance become part of NATO?
Last edited by The Brandon Five; 05-31-2011 at 12:45 PM..
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If you are beginning to understand where have you been??
Although we had little to do with the colonization of the Arab states, we are viewed as the part of the "them" who have perpetuated the problem. Our role is more significant as we have often provided the firepower to keep things in line..
The stories are out of sequence, Obama spoke first, Clinton second and the horrific story about the child came last..
Do not find the comments of Obama and Clinton/Gates all that contradictory...
__________________ "Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.
If you are beginning to understand where have you been??
Although we had little to do with the colonization of the Arab states, we are viewed as the part of the "them" who have perpetuated the problem. Our role is more significant as we have often provided the firepower to keep things in line..
The stories are out of sequence, Obama spoke first, Clinton second and the horrific story about the child came last..
Do not find the comments of Obama and Clinton/Gates all that contradictory...
Who said they were in order?
The contradiction is the treatment of Syria vs. Libya. Ghaddafi shoots protestors: send in the Air Force and NATO. From that first statement by Obama and the statements by Clinton and Gates, it appears that the admin wants Assad to remain in power somehow, regardless of what he does.
If you are beginning to understand where have you been??
Although we had little to do with the colonization of the Arab states, we are viewed as the part of the "them" who have perpetuated the problem. Our role is more significant as we have often provided the firepower to keep things in line..
Amazing that both of you missed the tongue-in-cheek aspect of that. So you both oppose the Obama administration's approach here? Interesting...
"interesting?" seriously? Why?
i'm sorry... have I ever once worked myself up into a lather is support of the latest corporate president? ... or do you just, by default, assume I'm some Obama enthusiast because I loathe decades of horrifically flawed U.S. foreign policy?
Last edited by Titus Pullo; 06-02-2011 at 03:09 AM..
i'm sorry... have I ever once worked myself up into a lather is support of the latest corporate president? ... or do you just, by default, assume I'm some Obama enthusiast because I loathe decades of horrifically flawed U.S. foreign policy?
Epic fail on my part. I meant "support" not oppose.
This nugget may partly explain it. We need to support Assad in order to placate another noted "reformer": Putin.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the U.S. and European nations not to encourage anti-government protesters in Syria by holding out the prospect of military support like they provided in Libya.
“It is not in the interests of anyone to send messages to the opposition in Syria or elsewhere that if you reject all reasonable offers we will come and help you as we did in Libya,” Lavrov, 61, said yesterday during an interview in Moscow. “It’s a very dangerous position.”
The world will be so much better when those guys and the cuddly Chinese are running things!
The world will be so much better when those guys and the cuddly Chinese are running things!
Note: B5, there are people who call themselves Americans who would like to see the fall of our nation as it now exists...sadly, I believe that's what these people are hoping for.
__________________ "No one walking this earth knows what is truly righteous"
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