[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2410]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 SYRIA

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, each day the world watches in horror at what 
is going on in Syria. Seventy thousand people have been killed as 
President Bashar al-Assad carries out a campaign of wanton violence 
against his own people.
  These atrocities have gone on for far too long--seventy thousand dead 
Syrians. It is time for this awful dictator-tyrant to step down and 
allow his people to pursue a peaceful transition to the democracy which 
they crave. Assad grows increasingly desperate as rebels continue to 
gain ground despite the full force of Assad's military arsenal of 
planes, bombs, and rockets. President Assad should understand the world 
is watching his every action and will not tolerate his unforgivable 
slaughter of innocent citizens, including the potential future use of 
chemical weapons.
  President Obama has made clear--and I support him 100 percent--the 
use of such chemical weapons would constitute a red line for the United 
States and for the national community. Rather than continue to kill his 
own people, Assad should end the bloodshed and relinquish power to 
Syria's citizens.

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