Syrian Regime Opponents See Obama as Favoring Assad Basher

UPDATED see at bottom 8-7-2011

Barry Rubin compares Obama's rhetoric on the "Arab Spring" with the actual policy of the Obama administration. He also quotes from a message that he received from an Arab friend:

How ironic. President Barack Obama extolls the “Arab Spring,” helps overthrow the Egyptian and Tunisian governments, made a try to do so in Bahrain (until the State Department talked the White House out of it), and is still trying in Yemen and in Libya (with military intervention!) yet does nothing on Syria, the most repressive by far of all these countries (except Libya).

So, here’s how the Middle East works. As an Arab friend writes to me:

“Everyone, whether anti- or pro-regime, is convinced that the U.S. government is protecting [Syrian dictator] Bashar al-Assad and wants him to stay. The longer this administration stands by its incredibly stupid position telling him to "lead the transition" as he kills and tortures at will, it will be stained by his obscenity.”

In other words, when the U.S. government defends the Assad regime the people believe it supports the Assad regime. Every principle set down by the Obama Administration on Egypt and elsewhere—whether right or wrong—is being violated by that same government in Syria!

. . . . .

And the Syrian oppositionists correctly believe that they aren’t getting any international support. Palestinian groups that have practiced terrorism for decades are treated as saints and victims; the Syrian people (and Iranian, Turkish, and Lebanese oppositions, too) are treated like pariahs. Western students do nothing for them; Western students and activists don’t protest on their behalf.

Why do only anti-Western movements and opponents of governments friendly to the West get Western support? [here]

Indeed. Why does the US Govt or, if you like, the Obama administration support regimes that stand against what Western values are supposed to be? Regimes that violate human rights every day? Why does Obama work so hard at undermining countries --Israel in particular-- that embody those values in their everyday governmental practice?
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See our previous posts on the revolt in Syria[here]&[here]&[here]& [here]& [here]. Posts are listed earliest first.
6-20-2011 Jackson Diehl wrote an excellent op ed for the Washington Post on Obama's Middle Eastern policy. He is soft on Assad Basher and tough on Israel [here]
8-7-2011 The Hill reports on the US public relations outfit that arranged for Assad's wife to have a profile of her done for Vogue [here]