Excerpt from transcript
JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And we turn to the situation in Syria. Today, the world laid down a new challenge to a government that rights groups say has now killed some 2,000 of its own people.
After five months of the Syrian uprising and the regime's recent escalation of its crackdown on protesters, the U.S. and the U.N. sharply raised the stakes. Until now, President Obama had criticized Syrian leader Bashar Assad, but stopped short of insisting he step down.
That ended today, when the president issued a statement that said of Assad: "His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people. The time has come for President Assad to step aside."
PBS Newshour 8/18/2011
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