- In the case of Syria, the message from 2009 was: If you are prepared to open Syria politically, if you are prepared to be a reformer, if you are prepared to work with us on Middle East peace and other issues we share, we can have a new and different kind of partnership. And that is not the path that Assad chose.
- State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland • Speaking on the state of relations between the United States and Syria, the latter having seen months of bloodshed and death as Bashar al-Assad’s government has attempted to crush an upswell of protest and dissent. The Obama administration had made efforts to open up dialogue with Assad, which drew criticism from some conservative quarters — this represented a major change from the Bush administration’s antagonistic stance on Syria, and Assad’s cruelty as a leader was well-known before 2008. We can appreciate certain things about either tact; Bush’s seems more emotional, whereas Obama’s might feel colder and more calculating, but those distinctions now seem strictly academic. It’s reported that the U.S. could soon demand Assad leave power altogether. source
