POTUS statement on Syria

[nadinbrzezinski]

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2012

Statement by the President on Syria

Thirty years after his father massacred tens of thousands of innocent Syrian men, women, and children in Hama, Bashar al-Assad has demonstrated a similar disdain for human life and dignity. Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help. These brutal killings take place at a time when so many Syrians are also marking a deeply meaningful day for their faith. I strongly condemn the Syrian government's unspeakable assault against the people of Homs and I offer my deepest sympathy to those who have lost loved ones. Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately.

The Syrian people demonstrated in large numbers across Syria yesterday to participate in peaceful protests commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre. They labeled the protests, "We are Sorry, Hama - Forgive Us." We owe it to the victims of Hama and Homs to learn one lesson: that cruelty must be confronted for the sake of justice and human dignity. Every government has the responsibility to protect its citizens, and any government that brutalizes and massacres its people does not deserve to govern. The Syrian regime's policy of maintaining power by terrorizing its people only indicates its inherent weakness and inevitable collapse. Assad has no right to lead Syria, and has lost all legitimacy with his people and the international community.

The international community must work to protect the Syrian people from this abhorrent brutality. Earlier this week, our Arab partners called on UN Security Council members to take action to support a political solution to the crisis in Syria and stop Assad's "killing machine." The Council now has an opportunity to stand against the Assad regime's relentless brutality and to demonstrate that it is a credible advocate for the universal rights that are written into the UN Charter.

We must work with the Syrian people toward building a brighter future for Syria. A Syria without Assad could be a Syria in which all Syrians are subject to the rule of law and where minorities are able to exercise their legitimate rights and uphold their identities and traditions while acting as fully enfranchised citizens in a unified republic. The United States and our international partners support the Syrian people in achieving their aspirations and will continue to assist the Syrian people toward that goal.

We will help because we stand for principles that include universal rights for all people and just political and economic reform. The suffering citizens of Syria must know: we are with you, and the Assad regime must come to an end.

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No comment. DU can parse this.

[Cleita]

1. I'm watching heartbreaking footage from Homs under fire right now on Al Jazeera.

"We are getting killed for one word, freedom."

"The United Nations has abandoned us."

The government is bombing and killing its own people with heavy artillery. Watch at the top of the hour every hour on

http://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/

[Tx4obama]

3. So, which is it?

A week so ago there was a video here on DU somewhere where it showed many thousands of folks in the streets chanting that they didn't want help from The USA or The U.N. and that it was 'their God' that they wanted to save them.

So, do they want help from The USA and The U.N. now?

I haven't been watching what's been going on this week, so my question is a serious one.

[Cleita]

7. You probably were watching pro-govt. drones on MSM. I haven't seen

any footage like that and I follow it every day. Last week was the first week Al Jazeera was actually able to get some reports from the ground at Homs (they have been banned from reporting in Syria by the Syrian government. I wonder why?) through the people there who were able to smuggle out footage and it showed Homs in ruins and starving people scavenging for food and medicine. Then the bombing and killing were escalated the very next day. So since the situation is messy as are all these situations in a war zone, until the truth is revealed, we don't know the whole story, but I believe Al Jazeera is getting the best coverage in spite of being banned because they really work at reporting the unvarnished news like good journalists. Sometimes it's hard to watch because they don't flinch from showing all the blood, guts and gouged eye sockets.

[TheWraith]

13. Why is it mutually exclusive?

Maybe some people don't want foreign help, and some do. Of course getting bombed and shelled for a few days with hundreds, possibly thousands dead might very well change some minds too.

[FarLeftFist]

2. It may be time to dismantle the Syrian Govt.

[leveymg]

6. That is exactly the thinking in Tel Aviv, Riyadh, and DC that fueled this civil war.

But, what of Syria, if the Ba'ath party were removed? What happens to the minority Shi'ia Allawi who make up the regime, and have survived because of it? Do we let the Sunnis "dismantle" them, too, as they have tried repeatedly to do? Have you ever heard of "the long campaign of terror" by Saudi-backed Sunni militants against the Shi'a dominated government? I gather you haven't - the corporate media isn't giving you that side of the story. See,

Terrorism in Syria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Syria Cached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
From 1976 to 1982, Sunni Islamists fought the Ba'ath Party-controlled government of Syria in what has been called "long campaign of terror". Islamists attacked ...

Have you heard anything at all -- bet you haven't -- about the persecution of the Shi'ia Allawites before they took power in a 1964 coup?

Under the Ottoman Empire they were ill treated,[21] and they resisted an attempt to convert them to Sunni Islam.[22] They revolted against the Ottomans on several occasions, and maintained virtual autonomy in their mountains.[23] T. E. Lawrence wrote: "The sect, vital in itself, was clannish in feeling and politics. One Nosairi would not betray another, and would hardly not betray an unbeliever."[24] In the early part of the 20th century, the Sunnis sat on the wealth and dominated politics, while Alawites lived as poor peasants.[25][26]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alawi

Aren't you really saying by that, we should dismantle Syria and the Shi'ia? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and just assume that your comment was spoken in the vacuum of ignorance of history.

[FarLeftFist]

8. Yes. I'm saying that we should take Assad out of power by any means necessary.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. "We"? As in America?

Getting involved in civil wars has worked out ever so well in Afghanistan and Vietnam.

[FarLeftFist]

10. Yes, WE as in America.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Yay! For war! Smoke 'em out! Bring it on!

Count me out as part of that "we".

[FarLeftFist]

15. This would be a humanitarian mission being Assad's men are cutting off the faces of children.

[Bonobo]

11. America, fuck yeah!

America...
America...
America, FUCK YEAH!
Coming again, to save the mother fucking day yeah,
America, FUCK YEAH!
Freedom is the only way yeah,
Terrorist your game is through cause now you have to answer too,
America, FUCK YEAH!
So lick my butt, and suck on my balls,
America, FUCK YEAH!
What you going to do when we come for you now,
it’s the dream that we all share; it’s the hope for tomorrow

FUCK YEAH!

McDonalds, FUCK YEAH!
Wal-Mart, FUCK YEAH!
The Gap, FUCK YEAH!
Baseball, FUCK YEAH!
NFL, FUCK, YEAH!
Rock and roll, FUCK YEAH!
The Internet, FUCK YEAH!
Slavery, FUCK YEAH!

FUCK YEAH!

Starbucks, FUCK YEAH!
Disney world, FUCK YEAH!
Porno, FUCK YEAH!
Valium, FUCK YEAH!
Reeboks, FUCK YEAH!
Fake Tits, FUCK YEAH!
Sushi, FUCK YEAH!
Taco Bell, FUCK YEAH!
Rodeos, FUCK YEAH!
Bed bath and beyond (Fuck yeah, Fuck yeah)

Liberty, FUCK YEAH!
White Slips, FUCK YEAH!
The Alamo, FUCK YEAH!
Band-aids, FUCK YEAH!
Las Vegas, FUCK YEAH!
Christmas, FUCK YEAH!
Immigrants, FUCK YEAH!
Popeye, FUCK YEAH!
Democrats, FUCK YEAH!
Republicans (republicans)
(fuck yeah, fuck yeah)
Sportsmanship
Books

[FarLeftFist]

12. Yup. Arm the rebels.

[Bonobo]

16. Hey I think I found another government somewhere doing bad things!

We'd better hurry up and overturn the government of Syria so we can get on to more bad guys.

There seems to be no end to it!

But that's okay, with the money the US covet. saves by having no educational infrastructure, health infrastructure or physical infrastructure commensurate with its 1st world status, there's PLENTY of more money to go into the hands of the companies that make weapons and the ones that support the war industry!

[FarLeftFist]

17. I know, it must be weird to imagine a completely democratic world where people aren't oppressed.

Hey I'm all for updating our infrastructure and education etc. But I'm also for world peace.

[Bonobo]

18. Yes, and everyone knows that the way to get peace is to bomb the living shit out of people

until you have it.

[FarLeftFist]

19. Who said anything about bombs?

[Bonobo]

20. What was your plan for "dismantling" the Syrian government? nt

[FarLeftFist]

21. Arm the rebels. Send in the CIA. Find channels.

Quiet ones and not necessarily U.S. ones, to reach out to key Syrian elites like the business community. And do all this without making it a U.S. issue. Name it something like "Friends of Syria", with the Arab League and individual Arab states out front. Tighten sanctions, keep naming and shaming Russia and China, provide refugee relief. Flood the zone. We should be helping at least indirectly the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council.

[Tx4obama]

4. China paper defends Syria veto, doubts West's intentions

China paper defends Syria veto, doubts West's intentions

Feb 6 (Reuters) - China's top newspaper on Monday defended Beijing's rejection of a U.N. resolution pressing Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to abandon power, saying Western campaigns in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq showed the error of forced regime change.

The commentary in the People's Daily, the top newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, was Beijing's clearest defence of its decision to join Moscow at the weekend in vetoing a draft United Nations resolution that would have backed an Arab plan urging Assad to quit after months of bloodshed.

The commentary suggested that Chinese distrust of Western intervention lay behind the veto, which was described by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a "travesty".

"The situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and numbers of civilian casualties keep rising. Vetoing the draft Security Council resolution does not mean we are giving free rein to letting this heart-rending state of affairs continue," said the commentary in the paper, which echoes government thinking.

SNIP

Full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/06/china-syria-un-idAFL4E8D60ST20120206

Looks like Russia and China are going to complicate things in regards to Syria
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More below, be sure to read the article on the link below - important stuff in there

Russia, China Veto Of Syria UN Resolution Sparks Outrage
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/05/russia-china-veto_n_1255990.html

[Owlet]

5. Posted yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101612082