Political Quotes

“I would say to the Senator from Texas--and I am sure he has studied this, as I have--it is hard to parse out the elements in the Middle East and decide who is fighting for which team. But when it comes to Syria, they have consistently aligned themselves with Iran, and in that alliance Iran has been very supportive of Syria and Hezbollah, another terrorist group that is operating primarily through Syria. So that close connection is a matter of concern to me. Our goal in the Middle East is to create stability and to stop the march of these dictators in the Middle East who are killing innocent people and denying them their most basic rights. We have tried everything short of military intervention, which I would not call for in the Syrian situation. But we have tried everything else--diplomatic and economic--to put pressure on Syria. We should continue to, and we should join with other nations and continue the efforts of the United Nations. But we can't get this job done when Russia plays the roll of outlier, supplying both Syria and Iran with military arms and support. If they want to truly join us in a stable situation in the Middle East, they should tell Asad it is over--and it clearly is over. This man could never legitimately govern Syria from this point forward after killing so many innocent people.…”