Israel Matzav

Syrian rebels to Obama: Who needs you anyway?

On Sunday, I reported that the Obama administration has decided not to help the Syrian revolutionaries, making the inane argument that Assad is a 'reformer.'

The revolutionaries don't see Assad as a reformer, but they don't want Obama's help anyway - for now.

Syrian rebels who have shaken the regime in Damascus do not want U.S. assistance, at least for now, a Syrian dissident in close touch with the network of protesters told The Washington Times on Sunday.

Ammar Abdulhamid, who has emerged as an unofficial spokesman in the West for the activists organizing the Syrian protests, said, however, that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was wrong to refer to Syrian President Bashar Assad as a reformer on CBS News on Sunday.

“It was ridiculous to call Bashar Assad a reformer. She should not have done that,” he said.

Mrs. Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the United States for now would not come to the aid of Syrians demonstrating against the rule of Mr. Assad.

When asked about Mr. Assad’s now-deceased father’s decision to wipe out Sunni protesters in the city of Hama in 1982, Mrs. Clinton said the current Syrian president was different from his father.

“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,” Mrs. Clinton said of Mr. Assad.

Disgraceful.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Syrian regime change

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:59 PM