President Bashar al Assad said ..... he’s willing to give up

[RandallB]

President Bashar al Assad said his office “doesn’t mean anything to me” and he’s willing to give up it up

By Roy Gutman
McClatchy Newspapers http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/0...on-syrias.html

ISTANBUL -- After losing his most important supporters outside Syria, President Bashar al Assad said his office “doesn’t mean anything to me” and he’s willing to give up it up, though preferably after national elections.

“If the president’s departure is in the interest of Syria, the president should naturally go. This is self-evident,” he told the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet. “You should never stay in office one day if the people do not want you; and the elections are the means through which the people show whether they want you or not.”

Assad gave the interview Sunday, a day after Russia and China joined the United States and other major powers to call for a transitional government with full executive powers to replace Assad’s one-man rule.

Some pro-democracy rebel groups that have been fighting the regime for the past 16 months rejected the plan, drafted by United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan. Their chief complaint was that at the insistence of Russia, Assad’s most important backer, the plan didn’t explicitly require Assad to go.

Assad withheld criticism of the Annan plan and entertained several questions about how long he would stay in office.

“The most important thing is that everything should be decided inside Syria, not outside it,” Assad said, according to the English translation posted on the Syrian presidential web site.

He also didn’t rule out departing office through some means other than elections, such as the Annan plan, which calls for a transitional government that could include members of the regime if they’re acceptable to the opposition. Annan said he doubted the opposition would agree to anyone with “blood on his hands” to be in the transitional government, a clear allusion to Assad.

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/0...#storylink=cpy

[readytogo]

Well, we'll see if the killing stops or if Assad was just trying to appease people.

[RandallB]

I personally do not believe a word that Assad says....

[IamPJ]

I personally do not believe a word that Assad says....

Me neither....

[dcbrott99]

If Assad holds any kind of election it will be along the lines of the elections that Saddam Hussein had where he would win with 100% of the vote.

[Sean Osborne]

I personally do not believe a word that Assad says....

I'm with you. He's a bald-faced liar and this is nothing but a ruse.

[Chris]

If Assad were to do the things he allegedly said he would either be a dead man or rounded up and sent to the international criminal court to face charges. I do not believe he would do that. That's just asking for a death sentence. Assad will probably do something stupid like start Isaiah 17 if he is not careful.

[AndyM]

He is all part of Gods plan. Gods will be done.