US: Assad does not have to leave “tomorrow or the next day”
“They stayed truthful to their promises”: A billboard in Syria showing Assad flanked by Putin and Hezbollah’s Nasrallah.
Syrian President Bashar Assad “does not have to leave tomorrow or the next day,” the US State Department has stated. Washington allows that Assad may take part in transitional process, but can’t be part of Syria’s next government.
At the same time, the Obama administration continues to insist that President Assad cannot be a part of transitional government, once the country gets to that point.
“He cannot be part of that transitional government, however it ends,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.“He – for his many crimes against his people, for his brutality, cannot be a part of that ultimate transitional government. So – but we’ve not said that he has to leave tomorrow, that he has to be – that he can’t be part of the transitional process.”
Washington has been insisting that Syria’s president must be replaced with a new leader and an inclusive government for years, while accusing Assad of committing “many crimes against his people” including “dropping barrel bombs.”
“And I think it’s not – this isn’t the US dictating this. This is the feeling of many governments around the world, and frankly, the majority of the Syrian people,” Toner said.
When asked to clarify “how long” the State Department thinks the transition process could take, Toner failed to give an exact time period.
“I can’t put a timeframe on it. I can’t say two weeks, two months, six months,” he said, adding that the US is looking for “a political resolution to the conflict.”
However, Toner appeared to be confused when asked if the political transition had started.
“No, no, not – I mean, no, that’s – no,” Toner replied, explaining that this is what the Secretary has been working on.
Toner then admitted that the US is still in the “process to start the process,” stressing that this was “an urgent issue” that “has gone on too long.”
According to the US State Department, Russia is to blame for the delay because it “continues to shore up Assad to strengthen him.” […]
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2 thoughts:
US is trying to save face. Let it.
Although I am not familiar with all of what Assad has supposedly done “to his own people,” the only things that ever gets cited are chemical weapons and barrel bombs. They no longer talk about chemical weapons, so that must have turned out not to be true, and the barrel bombs, if used, were used only after the civil war had started. So, my question is “What did Assad do to justify trying to overthrow him in the first place?” I am relatively well informed and I don’t know the answer to that question. Seems like it’s just an excuse a la WMD in Iraq – Not true or only a grain of truth and nothing more.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/smoking-gun-emails-bush-and-blair-secretly-plotted-war-on-iraq-in-march-2002/5482990
Tomgram: Rebecca Gordon, How the U.S. Created Middle East Mayhem
Posted by Rebecca Gordon at 8:14am, October 20, 2015.
As middle eastern regimes go, let’s just say that Israel, Saudi, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, UAE and Bahrain are a damn sight worse and have a far worse record of atrocities committed against their people than Syria and even Iraq (asside from that monstrous attack against the Kurds in the north in 2001 which should have led to immediate sanctions by an outraged world, but strangely didn’t) It’s no picnic living in any of the monarchies around there, Iran on the other hand, since it got rid of the US monster installed shares it’s wealth among the people.
Mostly Assad agreed with Iraq, Iran, and Libya on eliminating the petrodollar as means to be paid for oil. Indeed this is the main reason for the elimination of Saddam Hussein and Ghaddafi. Also he disagrees with Israel about their continuing to hold the Golan heights, Syrian territory seized in the ‘six day war’, which should have been given back (see Un resolution 497).
As elected leader of a secular, tolerant, multi-ethnic and multi-religious state he has been disobediant to the rules as expressed by the US, and therefore must be eliminated! Barrel-bombs my foot!
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Why should the US dictate what the Syrian people can have? Because they are morally superior? Because they understand democracy? Because they can employ some more terrorists if they don’t get what they want? How about this for a solution. Why don’t we let the Syrian people decide who THEY want as their leader. After all, the US claims that the Syrians don’t want Assad even though 20 million people support him, so what’s the problem? If 20 million people or whatever’s left of the population vote for Assad in a democratic election what are the US going to use as their next excuse for getting rid of him? The barrel bombs they purchased from Turkey along with the chemical warfare weapons are not exactly an incentive for Syrians to vote for the US proposed pro Washington candidate are they? The murder for hire assassins they paid for aren’t going… Read more »
Why don’t we let the Syrian people decide who THEY want as their leader. Indeed. To my best knowledge, there has been only one recent poll conducted across Syria (see below). The pollsters say that the poll is representative of the people of Syria. A similar poll was also conducted in Iraq. Both polls were conducted in June-July 2015: 82% of Syrians agree that ISIS was foreign-created by the US (17% disagree). 85% of Iraqis agree that ISIS was foreign-created by the US (10% disagree). – Among the warring sides in Syria, Assad has the highest (!) support – 47% of Syrians think he has a POSITIVE influence (50% negative) . Compare to the groups which the US ‘coalition’ and the Anglo-Americans media claim we should all support: Free Syrian Army – 35% positive, 63% negative Syrian Opposition Coalition – 26% positive, 72% negative Considering the polling results, anyone claiming… Read more »
Well the Syrian people did decide who they wanted as their leader in presidential elections held in June 2014. 73% of eligible voters in Syria turned up at polling stations and 88% of those who did voted for Bashar al Assad to return as President out of a choice of three candidates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_presidential_election,_2014
Where they could, Syrians living overseas flocked to Syrian embassies to try to vote though in a number of countries (including the US and some western European countries) they were prevented from voting.
The Syrian elections were endorsed by a team of North American observers who held a press conference at the UN on the elections.
https://syria360.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/un-press-conference-bashar-jaafari-and-us-observers-on-the-syrian-presidential-elections/
Why should Assad come to the negotiating table in the 1st place. Negotiate with whom for what? Who would plan such a meeting anyway. Murkan MT talk.
Why should Assad come to the negotiating table in the 1st place. Because it is not possible to go from a civil war (no matter how it happened) to peace without some talks. Negotiate with whom for what? Who would plan such a meeting anyway. Assad can call for talks, but he has to do that in some credible way, maybe with involvement of the UN (which would be probably difficult because the US has a permanent seat and a veto right at the UN SC). To start with, Syria’s sovereignty has to be properly restored. Foreign countries which are operating in Syria illegally have to leave. This has to be put on paper. The future of Syria should also be discussed. For example, what about the Kurds (and not just in Syria)? Maybe it is time for the international community to think about establishing independent Kurdistan. When this devastating… Read more »
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