The United Nations now says 6,000 people
have been killed since demonstrations erupted almost a year ago, and
opposition activists say the death toll has topped 7,000. Many of the
victims have been peaceful activists.
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/07/us-military-beginning-review-of-syri...Tens
of thousands have been injured. Thousands have been arrested; others
have simply disappeared. And beyond that, thousands of refugees have
fled to neighboring Turkey, Jordan and even Iraq.
This is truly an international disaster.
In
the meantime, the United Nations Security Council can't even pass a
simple resolution demanding that President Bashar al-Assad step down.
That's because of a Russian and Chinese veto.
The Russians continue
to provide weapons to the Damascus regime, even while the violence
continues, although the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. tells me the
Russians support the Syrians "for the time being."
Ambassador Susan
Rice says she believes al-Assad's days are numbered. When I asked her if
the U.S. would support arming the opposition, as Sen. John McCain and
others have suggested, she said, "our strong preference is not to fuel
what has the potential to become a full-blown civil war. Assad is off
the reservation. ..."
She also hinted that the United States is
indeed considering all its options, saying, "before we start talking
about military options, we very much want to ensure that we have
exhausted all of the political, economic and diplomatic means at our
disposal."
As we all know, there is no real appetite in the U.S. or
among the NATO allies to take direct military action, even along the
lines of what was done most recently in Libya ("the no-fly zone") and
back in the 1990s in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The Arab world, the Europeans
and the United States can certainly intensify the diplomatic and
economic pressure on the al-Assad regime, but these kinds of sanctions
are unlikely to achieve much, given the economic and diplomatic support
the Damascus government receives from Russia, China, Iran, Lebanon and
even from the supposedly pro-U.S. Iraqi government of Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki.
Amid all this, the al-Assad regime is stepping up its military assault on the anti-regime forces.
The
U.S. is certainly using stronger language. When I asked Rice to look
into the camera and speak directly to al-Assad, this is what she said:
"The
United States stands with the people of Syria, fully and unequivocally,
in their aspirations for peace for democracy and for a brighter future.
Your days are numbered, and it is time and past time for you to
transfer power responsibly and peacefully. The longer you hang on, the
more damage you do yourself, your family, your interest and indeed your
country."
