Ending the Syrian bloodbath

Opinion: October 31, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times: While other Arab nations take the first steps toward democracy, Syria remains a literal battleground, one on which more than 3,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations. Unlike his counterparts in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, President Bashar Assad remains in power. Arab nations that aspire to be peacemakers should press for his departure or at a minimum an end to the violence against the opposition before any negotiations begin.

Assad’s brutal reaction to protests makes him unfit to lead, even in the unlikely event that he meaningfully shared power with the opposition. A small but revealing example of the thuggery of the Assad regime was the harassment of U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Ford. Last month, Ford’s motorcade was attacked, trapping Ford and other U.S. diplomats for about 90 minutes in an office building where he was meeting with an opposition leader. The Obama administration has recalled Ford, ostensibly to ”give him a little bit of a break.”

The Syrian National Council, an umbrella organization representing several rebel groups, does not support airstrikes by outside governments like the ones that helped drive Moammar Gadhafi from power. It has called for international ”monitors” to take up positions inside the country to prevent violence. But unless they were an armed peacekeeping force they would be hard pressed to restrain pro-Assad fighters. In the absence of a definitive victory by rebels or major concessions by Assad, other means must be tried, from sanctions to diplomacy.

Every Arab country is unique, and the experiences of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are not interchangeable. But all three have been ruled by autocrats who suppressed dissent and stifled political development, and all three are now free of their longtime dictators.