It's difficult to see how Syria can have any long-term future with Assad there as president. Many people would never return to that country if that were the case.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There are still plenty of fighting forces inside of Syria who want to see Assad go. We should have been helping them from the very beginning.
Assad has to go. I mean, the way that ISIS can recruit, and the rebels that are in the north, and all the chaos that's happening through a lot of Syria circles around a lot of people that do not like Assad.
Maybe the future of Syria will not be a presidential system where one person will have all the power, so, the discussion about who should and should not rule Syria will become irrelevant. Let the Syrian people decide.
A lot of the issue that is happening in Syria is Assad is still there. And after years now, the administration, of saying Assad has to go, the pressure is not being applied to Russia, to Iran - the folks that are propping up Assad - and Assad himself to be able to actually be removed there and to transition to another leader.
Assad is the president of Syria. He enjoys fairly effective control over his country.
The transition from tyranny to democracy is very hard. The Syrian people have to handle this in a way that works in Syria. And the brutality of the Assad regime is unacceptable.
Some leaders think time will solve the problem. Their hope is that Assad's regime will ultimately fall from the heavy toll of the horrors it has spawned. From past experience with such regimes, this scenario is unlikely to happen.
Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.
I know something quite sure. We'll never have peace with this Syrian regime. They'll never give us relief, and we'll never forget that.
The word 'democracy' and the name of Assad do not blend very well in much of Syria.
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