Posted By Josh Rogin
Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 5:22 PM
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The death of Muammar al-Qaddafi today shows what's in store for the leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which will probably be the next group of tyrants to be thrown out of office and potentially killed, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), told The Cable.
"If you're the leaders of Syria, you're looking at today's events as a preview of what your future may hold," Rubio said in a Thursday interview.
"I believe that dictators in that region are unsustainable," he said. "The Syrian regime is doomed and it's just a matter of time, whether it's weeks, months, or even a year, their position is unsustainable. The people there want a better life. They're tired of living under this ineffective, incompetent, and repressive regime. And so, I think their days are numbered."
He called on the Obama administration to ratchet up the pressure on the Syrian government and redouble its efforts to convince other countries to do the same.
Rubio wasn't ready to endorse the idea of an internationally imposed no-fly zone over Syria, as his colleague, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), did earlier this month in an interview with The Cable.
"There are major differences between Syria and Libya," Rubio said, claiming that the Syrian regime isn't using planes to attack its people and the Syrian opposition hasn't asked for an international military intervention.
"I think it's important that if you're assisting someone that you know who they are and that they are asking for your help," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Rubio told Fox News that the bulk of the credit for the success of the military effort in Libya belongs to the British and the French, and that if President Barack Obama had acted faster, Qaddafi's death would have come months ago.
"It's the French and the British that led on this fight and probably even led in the strike that led to Qaddafi's capture and death," Rubio said."[President Obama did] the right things but he just took too long to do it and didn't do enough of it."
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EXPLORE:AFRICA, NORTH AFRICA, LIBYA, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, STATE DEPARTMENT, SYRIA, U.S. CONGRESS, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY 
THANK YOU I HOPE YOUR RIGHT.
To all of you butsher assad supporters ,
now we now why assad sends his army to kill his opponants , Assad is like you ,refuses to believe that people actually dont want him anymore.
Now ,, what do you expect when a butsher dictator(who inherited from butcher dady) would react to someone burnt his lovely photo ? yep ,,he sends his Tanks to get him . Now THAT is legitimacy dont you think ?
and you Assad supporters are exactly like him , I`m sure if you could find me , my Family and my distant family and my friends and my distant friends and poor me would VANISH.
shame on you all , didnt you see how well fed and healthy were the Palestinian prisoners when released ?
didnt you see the Druz hero Weam Ammash looked and sided with the heros of the Syrian revolution ?
the poor 35 thousands Syrian (or whats left of them alive) would love to be transfered to , YES Isreal who is a million time more honorable than not only your Assad but to all the arab (clowns) leaders.
look at what comes out of your mouths , nothing but a bad language and anti zionists , when your gonna have real peace with Isreal and stop trading with the so called RESISTANCE AND IMPIREALISIM AND BLA BLA BLA.
After 60 years of your backwardness and denial when will you learn ?
can you tell me who was there to blame befor 1947 ? go wonder....
yes the truth is as long as Arabs wil deny that Isreal is there forever you are gonna still see a dictator after dictator.
bye bye .
Its so so sad you butcher Assad supporters , look at your level and look at the words you use .
Baby nvusa , your Athad (assad) is ; finished , done , finito , the end is near , terminee ,fertig
3abepwehhbin .
you see ,, I`m living the dream that Assad is on his way out (Ghaddafi`s way) and you : desperato , sad , panicing waiting 24/7 to see what i`m gonna comment on FP , for god`s sake just read your comments , nothing new , all you say : Assad is good , Assad is loved , Assad is this , Assad is that !! but i got to tell you , you start calling me a dumb a** ! your Mommy didnt teach you maners ? I know all she taught you was to keep falling in love with Assad , hey , i`got an idea ; go marry him ?
You do not sound as a syrian, but an ashkenazim zionist..
We, native Semitic Syrian Mizrahim Jewish, support Bashar Assad who protected us against Muslim brotherhood....There is non regime in Mideast who defended Jew rights as Syrian and Moroccan. If the native Semitic Arab Jewish could not live in Israel due to its racism how you dare to speak about freedom???? Ashkenazim European false Jews as you, are running the country and Arab Jews have no rights because we're not European....Do not fool around and stop mucking yourself... So get the hell out of Palestine.....Besides Mr. Rubio is Cuban in fact he was born in Cuba why he does not ask freedom for his fucking Cuban fellows????? yessssssssssssssssss theres is no oil...no interest.....Shalom , Salam, Paz, Peace
Can't the Republicans decide what they're supposed to support? Did they support the idea of France and the U.K leading the way or did they support the U.S taking charge?
Some mantra other than "whatever Obama doesn't want or didn't do" would be much appreciated
Admittedly the election's still a year away, but both parties seem to be having trouble deciding on a clear message. Obviously this election will be less about foreign policy than about economics, but my greatest criticism of politicians is when they fail to have a clear, consistent message during election year.
Appreciate the nuance and lack of bluster, but...
... it's safe to say that IF Obama had acted earlier or more muscularly, as Rubio suggests, he and his obstructionist ilk would have been quick to find faults with that as well. This is just another example of the GOP tendencies to eschew objective behavior altogether in their bizarre, blind hatred of Obama - regardless of the facts on the ground. (I don't doubt that the Brits and the French helped equally.)
And who even says that the Libya episode should have ended earlier ? All things considered, from OUR point of view (no boots on the ground, no American bloodshed, and a theoretically friendly government on deck), the way things played out seem pretty ideal.
Anyway, Syria...
Israel-firsters are dangerous to the world not just USA
Rubio and his zionist aipacers are racist idiots in DC suits made in Apartheid israel.
Assad falls and so israel gets minced into little meat patties to feed to the dogs of history.
Besides, Rubio is a racist israel-firster who cares only about Apartheid israel - not about us Americans.
I would love to see Assad fall just so we can be rid of this thieving, fed-reserve fleecing, infanticide loving Apartheid state of israel.
Bring it on Rubio - LOL - good bye Apartheid israel.
p.s. is that political nerd rubio knowing that there's a regional military pact between .... oh well let him look it up .
All God's honest truth. But get prepared to get called Hitler in 5.....4.......3.......2.......1.
Water off a Duck'sDback to be called anti-shmanti in our day
The zionists have abused/over-used for no good reason the term anti-semite and disgraced the memory of the suffering euro jews forevermore. This abuse has also made it more difficult to spot and arrest the REAL anti-semites with swastikas for tattoos under their white starched suit-shirts.
I know soon as the rabid zionists whiff any criticism of Apartheid israel, they sling at you with this emotional weapon of mass distraction.
They're still all stuck in some damaged time-warp, living in 1939.
Not my problem in the slightest.
I know I utterly loathe nazism as much as I loathe zionism.
Just like your name, you're in constant snooty orbit, never landing on terra firma.
Who the hell are you to tell people when to use the word 'god'.
If Einstein, who was jewish AND anti-zionist, was posting here, would you dismissively call him a "troll" too?
All anti Apartheid israel are "trolls" my friendo?
LOL I see the pro Apartheid israel posters are getting more and more stupid.
oh yeah ,,bring it on , you Arabs are going to teach the Isrealis a lesson as you did in the past ,,,1947 , 1967 , 1973 , 1982 (downtown Beyrout),2007 ,oh I forgot Hizball diperhead won it !!
what`s rong with you arabs spin defeat into a victory ! ?
okay nvusa , prove what i just written is not true ?
The more you post, the more you show yourself a paid hasarado agent disseminating propaganda on behalf of Apartheid israel.
LOL - EVERY SINGLE war Apartheid israel has ever fought they did it riding on the backs of the French, the Brits and now the USA.
Besides, this is NOT the 20th century. You not heard how hizbollah the underdog kicked Apartheid israeli arrrrsse TWICE already.
Apartheid israel has no more 'deterrence' to speak of mister fake syrian.
The 'balance of terror' has been established now for a good 4 years and Apartheid israel is crapping in it's european pantaloons.
You're a pathetic pretender and I will remind you of this at every single posting you make.
C ya around zionist amateur!
hey Taxi ! stop
just go tell the palestinians who lives in Isreal and ask them if they would like to give up their Isreali PassPort in exchange to Syrian passports ? NOT one of them would do that , never mind Syrians PassPorts they even wouldnt exgange it to any arab passport ,they would even rebel against Isreal , There you have it.
bye bye.
Like I said, the more you post about Arabs/Syrians, the more you give yourself away to be a COMPLETE PAID FAKESTER.
LOL, yeah right in your own lunchtime do Syrians prefer to be ISRAELI CRIMINALS than native.
What planet are you from? LyingTongue?
we people of the world must understand the fact the Syrians will win the revolution .. there are signs for that .. Syrians are willing to topple this regime by all means , we must read in history it is just full of lessons .. and see know that Ghaddafi has been captured and killed though he was calling himself the king of Africa .. and king of the Arabs ...... the will of people always win eventually , and regarding Golan or Israel , i don't think Bashar was giving peace to all countries of middle east and all region .. It is true that he never fired once in Golan against Israel , yet he was supporting terrorist groups along with Iran , he was coward for not getting involved in direct war with Israel yet he induced instability to many countries around .. so i don't think it is of any use to support this dictator who gave no peace to Syrians nor their neighboring people .. lets all unite to support Syrians in their revolution .. Bashar is true dictator .. true criminal !!
nv-nusayri
wow , 40 years of one mafia family rule and still loved eh ?
that`s what they tell you in NORTH KOREA eh ?
you know what , stick with reading your Joshua Landis , he always write things (lies) you like reading , after all he -like you - has to stick with Butcher Assad .
hey , i want to ask you ,, have you seen any article written by him lately ?
oh , i forgot ,,he`s writing a book these days and he better not conclude it now , because soon the conclusion would look like Ghaddafi`s . See what happened when no one would publish for you these days , you start writing a book and you , cant write a book , instead you come here and annoy us with your lies that everybody knows about them.
John Hudson reports on national security and foreign policy from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, the White House to Embassy Row, for The Cable.
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