Barack Obama Quotes

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

The mistake that was made was, of course, leaving Saddam in charge of affairs over there.

To destroy the Islamic State, you have to fix Syria. You have to look at the reasons that created the Islamic State. This is a huge task.

There are still plenty of fighting forces inside of Syria who want to see Assad go. We should have been helping them from the very beginning.

We don't see a peaceful Syria with Assad in there.

I thought the best way to topple Assad was not through airstrikes, but through equipping the moderate rebel elements.

I think it's too late. I think that there's been too much. This all started with the red line, walking away from it. The inability to arm the legitimate [Bashar] Assad opposition.

The central problem in Syria is that Sunni Arabs will not be willing partners against the Islamic State unless we commit to protect them and the broader Syrian population against all enemies, not just ISIS.

While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a brutal dictator and should be tried at the Hague for international war crimes, the United States should not militarily overthrow him.

We have always said there are two ways to resolve Syria, and both will end up with the same result: a Syria without Bashar Assad.

Seeing Syria remove Assad is a very high priority for America.

President al-Assad and his army are the only force that actually fights ISIS.

It is clear that the American people are weary of war. However, Assad gassing his own people is an issue of our national security, regional stability and global security.

No one wants to abandon the Israelis. But I think the perception is, and I think it's probably an accurate perception, that the tail is leading the dog - that we are giving the Israelis carte blanche ability to exercise whatever they want to do in their area.

I still agree with the invasion of Iraq. I don't agree with most of the decisions that accompanied it.

The fall of the Syrian regime is in the interest of America and Israel.

Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.

No one will remember that President Obama supported the Arab Spring if it eventually fails and the region collapses back into the political Dark Ages. If we actively engage these movements with advice, with money, and, when necessary, with military force, then we get a vote in how it all turns out.

By ending the Hussein regime, the United States has taken away yet another incubator of terrorism.

The dictator of Iraq will fully disarm or the United States will lead a coalition and disarm him.

When Britain and the U.S. invaded Iraq, it was with the reasonable expectation that it was going to increase the threat of terror, as it has.

The United States should propose partition in Syria. Assad can keep what he controls, and the rebels can form local governments and establish a new entity.

On Putin's order, Russia intervenes in Syria not to fight terrorists but to abet the war crimes of the Assad regime. Russian bombers deliberately target aid workers and hospitals. They threaten Syrian freedom fighters trained by the U.S. They are allied with our enemies in the Middle East and trying to weaken our friendships there.

The regime of Bashar al-Assad will inevitably go down. And its collapse will be loud not only in Syria but across the Arab world.

Here's the problem the Free Syrian Army has. They really want to topple the regime in Damascus, and this is where most of the fight takes place, between Aleppo and Damascus for the Free Syrian Army.