Getting Serious On Syria

President Obama called for Syrian President Bashad al-Assad to step down in the wake of al-Assad's bloody, months-long crackdown on dissidents since the Arab Spring swung into high gear.

"The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way," President Barack Obama said in a written statement. "We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside."

The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the European Union echoed Obama's demand.

"Our three countries believe that President Assad, who is resorting to brutal military force against his own people and who is responsible for the situation, has lost all legitimacy and can no longer claim to lead the country," British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement.

"We call on him to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people."

Pretty sure the international pressure will get to al-Assad sooner rather than later, but as always whenever Syria is involved, Iran's response will be key.   But if anything, I think this response is for the benefit on another country:  Iraq.

When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki spoke up about the government crackdown in Syria, it wasn’t the hard line that President Barack Obama would want from a U.S. ally in the Middle East.


“I hope that demonstrations in Syria will not be quelled by force,” Maliki told the Iraqi television al-Sumaria on Aug. 13, in his first public response to Syrian President Bashar al- Assad’s five-month crackdown on dissidents. Assad should “respond to the people’s demands and quicken the implementation of reforms.” 

That's about as milquetoast as a response as you can get on Syria, and the line in the CNN piece at the top there about the US expecting a strong condemnation from other leaders is directly being pointed at Nouri al-Maliki.  With the international community coming down on Syria and al-Assad like this, al-Maliki is going to be brought to heel.

So if you're wondering why on a random Thursday that the US is dropping the hammer on Syria, you can lay that at the feet of Iraq's PM soft pedaling things.