| Date: 10/07/2012 Time: 11:01:00 PM |
The White House stressed here Tuesday the
importance that the international community comes together behind UN-Arab
League envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.
White House Press Secretary told reporters in a press gaggle aboard Air
Force One on the Annan plan, "we believe that it is essential that the
international community come together behind the plan, that the plan be
implemented, and that the transition that the plan calls for does not include
President (Bashar) Assad."
He stressed "we've made that case very clearly to all the "Friends of
Syria" and all our international partners. And that is a view that is widely
held among interested parties around the globe."
Carney added "we remain highly skeptical about Assad's willingness to meet
his commitments, which is another reason why Syria's future cannot plausibly
have Bashar al-Assad in the government."
He affirmed that Assad has "long since lost his credibility. He will go
down in history as a brutal tyrant who murdered his own people."
"We call on members of his inner circle, senior members of his government
and his military to break with Assad, to break with that tyrant, and to do so
on behalf of the Syrian people," he stressed.
Carney added "we also call on other nations to recognize the obvious, which
is that allying with Bashar al-Assad is allying with a tyrant and putting your
nation on the wrong side of the Syrian people."
Asked on whether Iran could have a positive role here, Carney remarked that
"I don't think anybody with a straight face could argue that Iran has had a
positive impact on developments in Syria. That's our view." |