[katana]

The Assad family and their Alawi sect/tribe have always done whatever was necessary to cling to power, knowing that the alternative would be massacre at the hands of a vengeful Sunni majority. Their tactics in reaction to this Obama inspired revolt and civil war have been no different.

Anyone who thinks their protection of Christians and other religious minorities, the longstanding status of Syria and the Assads as Russian/Soviet clients, or the brutal tactics used to keep themselves and those minorities from having their throats slit, are new understands nothing about the region, history, or the decades of politics preceding our time. The Assads are bastards. And they're not even "our" bastards. But they're better than the bastards Obama and McCain have tried to install in power.

[marron]

Well said.