Bashar al-Assad - Obama Presidency Oral History

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Bashar al-Assad

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William Taylor

...here was on the day when Bashar al- Assad is run out of town that the Unite...

Jake Sullivan

...time was protests against Bashar al- Assad in Syria. I've always been curious: T...
...this time is the civil war in Syria, Assad 's use of chemical weapons, the rise o...

Michael Morell

...on everybody. So this guy, [Bashar al-] Assad , is a horrible, horrible human being...
...everybody significant pause was, if Assad leaves, does Syria look like Libya, o...

William Burns

...was a certain hope that Bashar al- Assad would turn out to be more of a reforme...
...rebels that were fighting against the Assad government? Especially coming as a...
...to apply in Syria, that sooner or later Assad was going to have to leave. That turne...
...of the bloody extent to which Assad and his backers, both the Russians an...
...way that ultimately they would. Now, Assad 's calculus was that he wanted t...

...there were only two players. There were Assad and there were violent Islamis...
...going to be better served by a post- Assad transition. That's a lot easier sai...
...words, targeted strikes at aspects of Assad 's power structure that might have ...
...setting red lines or declaring that Assad must go, but attaching minimalist mean...
...chemical weapons in August of 2013 by Assad , and the president's consideration o...
...Okay, say you destroyed a good bit of Assad 's chemical weapon stockpile. Say th...
...what were you going to do when Assad , two months later, stuck his head ou...
...including force, to overthrow Assad . That's easy for me to say now. But i...
...coupling maximalist aims, red lines, “ Assad must go,” with minimalist means. An...

Anne Patterson

...others, to basically get Bashar al- Assad out and move Syria to some sort o...
...in and provided air power to Bashar al- Assad , that basically secured his place...
...effect, I believe, but now Bashar al- Assad is stronger than ever, and other Ara...
...the other people opposed to Bashar al- Assad ?” But basically, and this is m...
...take military action against Bashar al- Assad . That was the other difference wit...

...there wasn't a figure like Bashar al- Assad , who was basically the perpetrator o...
...Should we have overthrown Bashar al- Assad with military power? Well, what woul...

Anne-Marie Slaughter

...them to rise up. We said, al- Assad 's time has come. And, you know, tha...
...the issue—had we been willing to bomb Assad 's airfields in response to the use o...
...out together with the Syrian Army—that Assad would have backed down and we woul...

Samantha Power

...Qaddafi do, and [Bashar Hafez al-] Assad do. Even before that had happened i...
...leaders in the region, like [Bashar] Assad , are likely to do, and informing thei...
...because Russia is defending Bashar al- Assad , who is gassing his people. Right? S...
...in the fall of 2013, after Bashar al- Assad used chemical weapons against civilian...
...a warning, basically saying that if Assad 's government used chemical weapons...

...should say that the reason that the Assad regime, at that time, was preparing t...
...against, or persecuted, even, by the Assad regime. So when Assad felt he wa...
...even, by the Assad regime. So when Assad felt he was losing, he got desperate...
...Syria, especially those targeted by the Assad regime, but just specifically, th...
...get reports in late 2012 into 2013 that Assad had broken the seal, that he had gon...
...the United States, when you think that Assad is on the verge of using, you want t...
...of engaging those who were close to Assad to see whether or not there might b...
...my BlackBerry, and I see reports that Assad has staged a massive chemical weapon...
...about more lives being lost. Moreover, Assad will just keep using. He's like a dru...
...an answer for how we would deter the Assad regime from using chemical weapons. Bu...
...attack itself, and not even condemn the Assad regime; to buy into these conspirac...
...a decision that comes as a shock to the Assad regime, to Putin, to me, to John Kerry...
...a limited military engagement, and if Assad kept using chemical weapons, or if h...
...symbolic, you want to be able to show Assad , notwithstanding all the grumbling...
...“Oh, do we really know that it was Assad ? Are we sure?” So it becomes ver...
...would have been there for Assad to continue to use. But nonetheless...
...shooting]. And so that emphasis on Assad , and what are the tools, and what i...
...moved Obama into coalition with the Assad regime, as some actually advocated...
...reasons that I think it didn't is that Assad , in many ways—he did deals with ISIS...
...but they were out of the control of the Assad regime, then maybe you're working wit...
...with their operations on the ground—the Assad regime, in the case of Syria. S...

Brett McGurk

...Obama said, “ [Bashar Hafez al-] Assad must go.” And I agree. I wish Assa...
...Assad must go.” And I agree. I wish Assad would get hit by a bus tomorrow. But a...

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Bashar al-Assad - Obama Presidency Oral History

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