John Kerry denies he ever had a 'rosy view' of Assad ...

"Even Qaddafi looked like a reformer for a while and he gave up his nukes.

"Assad sure doesn't look like a reformer today." 
"Assad still has a chance to do the right thing"

To be a reformer, he has to give Iran and resistance

Via FLC

"...  in an exclusive interview today, Kerry said he no longer saw the Syrian government as willing to reform. "He obviously is not a reformer now," he said, while also defending his previous stance. "I've always said the top goal of Assad is to perpetuate his own regime." When pressed by The Cable about his earlier, rosier view of Assad, Kerry denied he had expected the Syrian regime would come around. "I said there was a chance... I wasn't wrong about if those things were done. They weren't done,..."

"We can't [continue to engage] right now," he said. "This is an egregious situation. There are a lot of human rights abuses and we have to respond appropriately." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to point that the Syrian regime has "an opportunity still to bring about a reform agenda." However, Kerry's about-face suggests that the administration's allies in Congress have no interest in taking the fall for the administration's optimism regarding Syria. Meanwhile, those in the Senate who have always seen Assad as a despotic and cruel leader are claiming vindication.... Two other top Democrats continued to defend the two-year drive to engage the Syrian government in interviews with The Cable on Tuesday."Even Qaddafi looked like a reformer for a while and he gave up his nukes. So things flip around pretty quickly in the Middle East," said Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-MI). "Assad sure doesn't look like a reformer today." Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Assad still has a chance to do the right thing. "I don't think Syria has shaken out yet, I don't think we know what Assad will or won't do.... I wouldn't be overly optimistic," she said. Feinstein also sounded a cautious note about Washington's ability to pressure Syria to choose a path toward reform. "I don't think we can be everyone's keeper. We've got five nations under active civil war in the Middle East now and I don't know that we can be telling every one of them what they should or shouldn't do," she said. "If they're not going to listen to their own people, it seems to me that we're not going make much of a difference."

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 8:23 PM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian