Ackerman: Supports Obama's Call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Step Down

I applaud the Obama administration for finally adopting the sanctions that I and many others called for weeks ago, and making clear that Bashar al-Assad and his regime of murderers and thieves and torturers of children must step down. The sanctions that were announced today are overdue but very welcome and essential for both moral and foreign policy reasons. And I congratulate the Administration on their success in orchestrating complimentary measures by other nations. American leadership has again proven to be the essential element in crafting an international consensus to act.

The Assad regime must go. All those who participate in violent efforts to preserve this despotic, terror-sponsoring and blood-soaked regime must be held accountable by the Syrian people with the aid of the international community.

Virtually every single interest we have in the Middle East, whether it’s preventing Iranian hegemony, aiding Israel’s search for peace and security, protecting Lebanon’s sovereignty, undercutting Hezbollah and Hamas, nurturing Iraq’s development, sustaining our partnership with Turkey, or just promoting democracy and human rights, is—dramatically, even exponentially—furthered by the Syrian people getting rid of the Assad regime.

But more significantly, as a nation that has said "Never Again," we must act to protect and keep faith with the desperate but brave people of Syria in their struggle to cast off the Assad tyranny and their freedom.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-Roslyn Heights, the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, on Thursday issued the above statement on President Obama calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.