On Bashar al-Assad
Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Bashar al-Assad. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power.... The world, and the syrian people, would be better off without him.
But I also know that Assad poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors...and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.
I know that even a successful war against Syria will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.
I know that an invasion of Syria without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.