Reply #55: U.S. to Syrians: 'Don't Expect Another Libya' [View All]

[pinboy3niner]

Source: TIME Magazine

By RANIA ABOUZEID / BEIRUT Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011

September 28 2011 at 10:18am



Syria's protest movement is largely peaceful, says U.S Ambassador Robert Ford. But the longer President Bashar Assad prolongs his ferocious campaign to suppress the challenge, the greater is the likelihood that Assad's claims to be facing an armed sectarian rebellion will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

...


.... Six months of a ruthless crackdown have left at least 2,700 people dead and more than 20,000 in detention (some of whom are feared dead). Some Syrians are now calling for protection from the international community, but like many things related to the fragmented Syrian opposition, there is disagreement as to what that might mean. The spectrum of opinion covers everything from full-throttled NATO intervention on the lines of Libya to creating and protecting and a Benghazi-like haven near the Syrian-Turkey border, deploying international monitors or simply providing greater political support.


"One of the things we've told the opposition is that they should not think we are going to treat Syria the same way we treated Libya," Ford says. "The main thing for the opposition to do is figure out how to win away support from the regime, and not look to outsiders to try and solve the problem. This is a Syrian problem and it needs Syrian solutions."

...


http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2094881,00.html?xid=rss-topstories