DOHA, Qatar - As Bashar al-Assad's shock troops storm cities
and towns across Syria, leaving a death toll in the triple digits that has only
stoked the fires of rebellion even hotter, Barack Obama's administration is
stepping up measures aimed at fatally weakening the Syrian dictator's regime.
Critics of the U.S. president's policy, particularly on the
right, have long charged his administration with being soft on Assad. But the
United States is now unequivocally committed to his ouster, having lost
whatever little faith it had in the Syrian leader's willingness to reform. "He
is illegitimate," a senior administration official says flatly. "We've
definitely been very clear that we don't see Assad in Syria's future."
To that end, the administration is working closely with its
European allies and Turkey, seeking to steadily ratchet up the pressure on a
regime that analysts, including within the government, increasingly see as doomed.
"All of the factors that keep the regime in power are trending downward,"
the senior official says, pointing to a swiftly collapsing economy and worsening
"cohesion" within the regime. "Assad is in on every decision,
without a doubt, but as time goes on there's more infighting."
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