Assad Quotes

• All dignified people in the world, whether Arabs or Muslims or others with dignity, are very proud of the speech made by president Bashar al-Assad a few days ago here in Damascus. For me he is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of the remaining dignity of the Arabs, and that's why I'm proud to be here.

  George Galloway

  Country, People, President

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• I still think a reasonable question is, would we be better off with [Muamar] Gadhafi and Bashar al-Assad still in there and Mubarak still there and Saddam [Hussein] there than the crap we have got looking at us now?

  Chris Matthews

  Thinking, Hussein, Als

  Source: www.msnbc.com

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• We have to get rid of ISIS first. After we get rid of ISIS, we'll start thinking about it. But we can't be fighting [Bashar] Assad. And when you're fighting Assad, you are fighting Russia, you're fighting - you're fighting a lot of different groups.

  Donald Trump

  Fighting, Thinking, Russia

  Source: cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com

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• We have to do one thing at a time. We can't be fighting ISIS and fighting [Bashar]Assad. Assad is fighting ISIS. He is fighting ISIS. Russia is fighting now ISIS. And Iran is fighting ISIS.

  Donald Trump

  Fighting, Russia, Isis

  Source: cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com

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• I think [Bashar] Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right?

  Donald Trump

  Thinking, Guy, Bad Guys

  Source: cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com

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• Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin - recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it.

  Carly Fiorina

  Reset Button, Challenges, Buttons

  5th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant, www.washingtonpost.com. December 15, 2015.

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• I don't understand this thing about [Bashar] Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go.

  John Kasich

  Russia, Iran, Middle East

  CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate, cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com. December 16, 2015.

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• I'll tell you whose view on [Bashar] Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by ISIS.

  Ted Cruz

  Dog, Islamic, Fighting

  Source: cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com

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• We will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like [Bashar] Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear.

  Marco Rubio

  Government, Iraq, Perfect

  Source: cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com

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• And if [Vladimir Putin] does fight ISIL alone, how does it work out for Russia to have sided with Assad, sided with Iran, sided with Hizballah, when they're trying to reach out to the rest of the Sunni world in the region? That's not a good equation for Russia.

  John F. Kerry

  Fighting, Russia, Iran

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• We need to learn from history. These same leaders - [Barack] Obama, [Hillary] Clinton, and far too many Republicans - want to topple [Bashar] Assad. Assad is a bad man. Gadhafi was a bad man. Mubarak had a terrible human rights record. But they were assisting us - at least [Muammar] Gadhafi and [Hosni] Mubarak - in fighting radical Islamic terrorists.

  Ted Cruz

  Islamic, Fighting, Men

  CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate, cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com. December 16, 2015.

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• [Bashar] Assad has made a series of choices ever since then that is literally destroying his country.

  John F. Kerry

  Country, Choices, Made

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• Three-quarters of [Bashar Assad] country is displaced. It's in Jordan, it's in Lebanon, it's in Turkey, and in the desert. The threat is that those people in the desert and others could become the next acolytes of ISIL if we don't find a way to join together to go after ISIL.

  John F. Kerry

  Country, Turkeys, People

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• To me, what I've always said is that the president [Barack Obama] has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way ISIS has been created and formed here. ISIS is created and formed because of the abuse that [Bashar] Assad and his Iranian sponsors have rained down on the Sunnis in Syria.

  Chris Christie

  Isis, Iran, Empowering

  "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate", December 16, 2015.

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• The other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had [Bashar] Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, ISIS would be in charge of all of Syria now.

  Rand Paul

  Fighting, Isis, Years

  Source: cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com

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• I'll tell what reckless is. What reckless is is calling [Bashar] Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people.

  Chris Christie

  Team, Russia, Ukraine

  "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate", cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com. December 16, 2015.

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• A large part of the left is pro-Assad. In those circles, you can't criticize Assad, but you know he's a monstrous war criminal. And anyone who criticizes Assad is joining the US imperialists. That's just ludicrous.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Circles, Criminals

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• You cannot bring peace in Syria as long as [Bashar] Assad is, in fact, there.

  John F. Kerry

  Long, Facts, Syria

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• [Bashar] Assad himself has said on several occasions recently that if the people of Syria don't believe I should be there in the future, then I would step - I would leave. He has said it. He has, on occasion, hinted that he wants a political settlement of one kind or another. I think it's up to his supporters, his strongest supporters, to make it clear to him that if you're going to save Syria, Assad has made a set of choices - barrel bombing children, gassing his people, torturing his people, engaging in starvation as a tactic of war.

  John F. Kerry

  Children, War, Believe

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• I mean, all of these things that [Bashar Assad] has done, there's no way even if President Obama wanted to just play along that you could actually achieve peace, because there are 65 million Sunni in between Baghdad and the border of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, who will never, ever again accept Assad as a member - as a legitimate leader.

  John F. Kerry

  Mean, Iraq, Turkeys

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• While all Alawites fear vengeance against their entire community should Assad fall, there are varying degrees of loyalty to the Assads.

  Elliott Abrams

  Loyalty, Fall, Community

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• Sunni are the majority of the [Syria], 60 to 65 percent. They've been ruled by [Bashar] Assad, who represents a minority Alawite element, which is about 12, 13 percent. And because of the choices Assad made, it's very difficult to see how you resolve this without buy-in from the Sunni world.

  John F. Kerry

  Choices, Majority, Minorities

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• Hillary Clinton failed to mention that her agreement with a precipitous withdrawal and declaration of victory in 2011 helped left swaths of territory and weaponry from ISIS. She failed to mention that she described Bashar al-Assad as a positive reformer and opened an American embassy. She failed to mention a complete failure strategy in Libya, which now is enabling ISIS to move into Libya.

  Carly Fiorina

  Moving, Isis, Agreement

  "Fiorina: Trump is a Clinton Christmas gift, I'm the lump of coal; US doing enough to defeat ISIS?". "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace, www.foxnews.com. December 20, 2015.

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• We need to focus on destroying ISIL, but we shouldn't be the ones declaring that [Bashir] Assad must go.

  Martin O'Malley

  Focus, Needs, Isil

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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• [Hillary] Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Assad tomorrow, but that would create another political vacuum that would benefit ISIS.

  Bernie Sanders

  Knowing, Isis, Political

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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