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QUESTION: So on the first anniversary of the protests ' it's exactly a year ago ' do you believe that U.S. policy toward Syria and what's going on in Syria has been on target, lacking, or ambitious? How do you characterize it?
MS. NULAND: You're asking me to give a grade --
QUESTION: I mean, I'm asking you as the ' this is the top diplomatic entity in this town and they're the ones that conduct foreign policy toward all parts of the world. So how do you assess your policy towards Syria thus far?
MS. NULAND: I think the more appropriate point to be making on this one year anniversary -- and as you know, there was some upheaval before a year ago today, but we think about this as the anniversary because it was a particularly horrific and violent day. It was the one ' today's the one year anniversary of the beginning of the peaceful political protest that followed the killing of school children in Daraa for the crime of writing some anti-Assad graffiti on the walls.
So what have we seen in this year? As the peaceful protests have grown, the Assad regime has become more and more bloody and violent vis-a-vis its own people, has gone into town after town trying to suppress the violence with guns rather than sitting and talking with its own people.
So the international community has responded. And you've seen over these months, more and more countries increase their sanctions on Iran ' on Syria. Just today ' well, more and more countries closing the noose on Syria, refusing to trade, refusing to conduct normal diplomacy, refusing to allow normal flights and commerce, et cetera. We're seeing the impact on the Syrian economy. We're seeing the impact on the increasing isolation of Syria. We are going to keep up the pressure until the Syrian people achieve their objectives.
Nicole.
QUESTION: Does the Administration have any comment on the alleged Assad emails that were printed in the Guardian newspaper? And did the Administration have access to them before they were published?
MS. NULAND: On your last question, I think the answer is no. I don't have any information to indicate that we saw them before they were published. But we don't have any reason to believe that they're anything but authentic. And they really tell an amazing tale. Far from being detached from what his military is doing, Assad seems to take pride in the viciousness of his own security forces. And he seems to make fun of the idea of actually sitting down and talking with his people. So it really illustrates the character of this guy who ' and why he has lost legitimacy not only in the eyes of his people, but in the eyes of the international community.
I'm getting the high sign.
QUESTION: Yeah.
MS. NULAND: Let's do one more.
[START MATT LEE] QUESTION: I got a few more. First of all, on that one: Since you're willing to comment now on the substance of stolen documents, I'd like for you to talk about some WikiLeaks cables. Will you be willing to do that?
MS. NULAND: I will not.
QUESTION: Why is it that you're willing to draw conclusions from emails that were clearly stolen from the people who were writing the back and forth to each other in this case and not on something ' I mean, do you agree that these were stolen?
MS. NULAND: I can't speak to how the Guardian acquired them. I would send you to the Guardian on that.
QUESTION: Right. Well, you know, WikiLeaks didn't speak to how they acquired their documents.
MS. NULAND: They were classified government cables, and we're obviously not going to comment on them. |
