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Blegh. Why? Waste of tax dollars and time.

 dogma wrote:
Who says we're trying to replace the Assads? It wouldn't be the first time the US has artificially extended a conflict in order to weaken the desired victor.

Granted, in that instance the United States was supporting both sides, but in this case Syria has Russia and a sizable, existing advantage. Plus Israel would literally gak itself in rage if the US backed the Assads and, unlike Iraq, they would find out sooner rather than later.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d93ee372-c963-11e0-9eb8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2WHkG7RIo

Western countries have united in calling for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to step down, taking the international pressure on his regime to end the violence against pro-democracy protesters to a new level.

To drive home their condemnation, the US slapped punitive sanctions on the country’s oil sector on Thursday and the European Union said it would meet on Friday to discuss extending its measures against the regime.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/18/syria-assad-must-resign-obama

The US and Europe have dramatically increased the pressure on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, with Barack Obama leading a demand by world leaders for him to surrender power.

Obama declared the "sustained onslaught" of Assad's regime against pro-democracy protesters had cost it all legitimacy. The US president was joined by David Cameron, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as the EU in demanding Assad immediately resign.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/world/meast/bashar-al-assad---fast-facts

August 18, 2011 - Both the United States and the European Union call for al-Assad to step down. U.S. authorities also impose new economic sanctions against Damascus, freezing Syrian government assets in the United States, barring Americans from making new investments in Syria and prohibiting any U.S. transactions relating to Syrian petroleum products, among other things.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/world/middleeast/19diplo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

WASHINGTON — The United States and several of its major allies on Thursday called on Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, to give up power. The carefully choreographed announcements came after months of popular protests and increasingly deadly reprisals that the United Nations commissioner for human rights said amounted to crimes against humanity by the Syrian authorities.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903639404576516144145940136.html

The U.S. and its European allies on Thursday called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and outlined a broad campaign to force him from power by targeting his regime's finances, including an embargo on Damascus's oil sales.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-08-18-obama-assad-resign_n.htm

BEIRUT — Syrian dissidents cheered the U.S. decision to call for President Bashar Assad to step aside amid a bloody crackdown but some Syrian economists and foreign policy experts say the move may be too late and of little value to save the Syrian people from years of dictatorship.

After months of saying Assad must rein in the violence, President Obama said Thursday that Assad has shown he is not fit to lead and should step down.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130516-obama-turkish-pm-erdogan-call-assad-syria-resign

At a joint news conference after talks in Washington on Thursday, US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) called on Syria's Bashar al-Assad to end the country's bloody civil war by stepping down.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

*snip*
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/world/meast/bashar-al-assad---fast-facts

August 18, 2011 - Both the United States and the European Union call for al-Assad to step down. U.S. authorities also impose new economic sanctions against Damascus, freezing Syrian government assets in the United States, barring Americans from making new investments in Syria and prohibiting any U.S. transactions relating to Syrian petroleum products, among other things.

*snip*

This is the only thing you should have cited. Everything else is empty posturing.

 dogma wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

*snip*
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/world/meast/bashar-al-assad---fast-facts

August 18, 2011 - Both the United States and the European Union call for al-Assad to step down. U.S. authorities also impose new economic sanctions against Damascus, freezing Syrian government assets in the United States, barring Americans from making new investments in Syria and prohibiting any U.S. transactions relating to Syrian petroleum products, among other things.

*snip*

This is the only thing you should have cited. Everything else is empty posturing.

So you disregard six other links that show that the US is asking Assad to step down, saying that those are "empty posturing". But the link you do approve has the opening line "Both the United States and the European Union call for al-Assad to step down."

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

So you disregard six other links that show that the US is asking Assad to step down, saying that those are "empty posturing". But the link you do approve has the opening line "Both the United States and the European Union call for al-Assad to step down."

Yes, because the other links featured phrases like "Western countries have united..." without any statement regarding what a "Western country" is.

Also bear in mind that all of the links you presented are in response to a single event.

 dogma wrote:

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

So you disregard six other links that show that the US is asking Assad to step down, saying that those are "empty posturing". But the link you do approve has the opening line "Both the United States and the European Union call for al-Assad to step down."

Did you think I was referring to the US?

If so, my apology, I was referring to all the various news agencies that failed to contextualize the same event.

*scratches head*

Every link said something about him being called to step down. What makes the CNN one special? What did the others fail to contextualize?

 djones520 wrote:

*scratches head*

Every link said something about him being called to step down. What makes the CNN one special? What did the others fail to contextualize?

It presented facts beyond "Lol, Assad must step down!"

 dogma wrote:

 djones520 wrote:

*scratches head*

Every link said something about him being called to step down. What makes the CNN one special? What did the others fail to contextualize?

It presented facts beyond "Lol, Assad must step down!"

You are an odd person... cause every link I clicked on did that. Whatever though.

 dogma wrote:
Yes, because the other links featured phrases like "Western countries have united..." without any statement regarding what a "Western country" is.

Every link, bar the Financial Times, specified the US. So that is six links out of seven. Your objection to my points about US involvement was "Who says we're trying to replace the Assads?". From the overwhelming majority of the links I provided, clearly the US is looking for Assad to step down

 dogma wrote:
Also bear in mind that all of the links you presented are in response to a single event.

So multiple corroborating sources confirmed that there were calls for him to step down are being objected too. Also the final link is from a separate event, and is dated as such if you follow the link.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
\
Every link, bar the Financial Times, specified the US. So that is six links out of seven. Your objection to my points about US involvement was "Who says we're trying to replace the Assads?". From the overwhelming majority of the links I provided, clearly the US is looking for Assad to step down.

The links you provided indicate that the US is publicly stating that it wishes Bashar al-Assad to step down. That does not indicate that it wishes de facto "Assad" authority to end, or that it was being ingenuous.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

So multiple corroborating sources confirmed that there were calls for him to step down are being objected too.

No, not at all. The US has most assuredly called for Bashar al-Assad to step down.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:

Also the final link is from a separate event, and is dated as such if you follow the link.

Fair enough.