Kerry says Syria’s Assad has to go, but U.S. is flexible as to when

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Kerry says Syria’s Assad has to go, but U.S. is flexible as to when

By Carol Morello September 19 at 10:01 AM

LONDON – Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Saturday that the United States is willing to negotiate the conditions and timing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down from power, and urged Russia to convince him to negotiate his exit.

Kerry, who is in London before flying to Germany to discuss the refugee crisis engulfing Europe, called for a renewed diplomatic effort to resolve the conflict in Syria, which he said was as urgent a need as fighting Islamic State militants.

“We’re prepared to negotiate,” Kerry said at a news conference with British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond. “Is Assad prepared to negotiate? Really negotiate? Is Russia prepared to bring him to the table and actually find the solution to this violence?

“We’ve made it very clear, we’re not being doctrinaire about the specific date or time,” he added. “We’re open. But right now, Assad has refused to have a serious discussion, and Russia has refused to help bring him to the table in order to do that. So that’s why we’re where we are.”

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/kerry-says-syrias-assad-has-to-go-but-us-is-flexible-as-to-when/2015/09/19/de7b897c-5cc0-11e5-8475-781cc9851652_story.html

[HooptieWagon]

1. Russia offered to remove him a couple years ago.

I have no idea why the US didn't give them a nod of approval then. We're just bumbling around in the swamp right now...don't appear to have a plan, just grasping at straws.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Pretty much.

[TubbersUK]

3. Apparently the US, UK etc

believed that Assad would very soon topple anyway - so they saw no need for a negotiated road map.

That's what I read anyway.

[Mass]

4. And replace him by?

Because each time we have replaced a leader, it did not turn that well.

The Washington Post and some Democrats and Republicans have never seen a war they did not like, but this is a complex topic. As abhorrent as Assad is, it is not obvious that the alternatives are better, and who are the US (or Europe or Russia for the matter) to decide who will be the leader of a country like Syria.

It is largely because Obama did not think the US had to be the world police and pick winners that I supported him in the primary, and I still support that.

[HooptieWagon]

5. If Russia removes him, they can replace him.

Or keep the country stable until leadership emerges. US was stupid to get tangled up in a Russian puppet state.

[Cayenne]

6. Kerry can't spit out 'regime change'

This neocon State Dept is hell bent on a pipeline and it won't happen without a regime change. So another successor within this regime won't do.

[6chars]

7. i.e., the next administration can deal with him