I listened carefully, and to your point about our policy on the Syrian situation, he said he would find out who in the Assad opposition we can work with, and support THEM. He specifically mentioned in the speech that al qaeda is on the move in Libya, Syria and other places.
He pointed out that Assad is an Iranian puppet. I think this is a good point. To sit back and let Syria deteriorate into what it has, doing nothing, is not the best course. He pointed out that Syrians with better intentions than Assad OR al qaeda are angry and saddened that America has done nothing as they are slaughtered by the thousands.
What he seemed to say is, we need to be on the side of people who do want something better for themselves in their countries, NOT that we should choose between Assad and al qaeda (which basically means choosing NOTHING) while everyone else is slaughtered.
Thanks! I didn't hear the speech but will watch it later on C-Span.
My view is that while Assad may be a devil, he is the devil we know. As bad as he may be, he does try to take some care of women, ethnic and religious minorities. Yes, he is receiving support from the Iranians but given the loss of Egypt as an American friend, might there be an opportunity here to take a pragmatic approach of putting the past in the past and winning Assad over from the Iranians and Russians? Carter for all his flaws did it with Sadat and that worked out fairly well until hussein came along.