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Morning Brief: Assad frames Syrian uprising as Western plot
| Thursday, April 18, 2013 |     |
Top news: In an interview broadcast on television Wednesday, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected the idea of negotiations and described what he said was a Western plot to recolonize his country. “It is a war in every sense of the word. There are big powers, especially Western powers who historically never accepted the idea of other nations having their independence. They want those nations to submit to them,” he said. Assad also warned that supporting his opponents was a losing strategy, because the rebels would ultimately turn on their Western backers.
In Washington, differences between top administration officials on Syria came into focus as Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all delivered Congressional testimony on Wednesday. While Kerry described a close working relationship with the Syrian rebels and emphasized the need to take further action to speed Assad’s exit, Hagel and Dempsey appeared reluctant to deepen U.S. involvement in Syria. Dempsey, who had previously supported a plan by then CIA director David Petraeus to arm the Syrian rebels, said he was no longer sure you “could clearly identify the right people.” “It’s actually more confusing on the opposition side today than it was six months ago,” he said.
Despite his misgivings about deeper involvement, Hagel announced Wednesday that the United Sates is sending additional military planners to Jordan to prepare for any contingencies involving chemical weapons or spillover of the Syrian conflict.
United States: The U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan plan to expand background checks, ban assault weapons, and outlaw high-capacity magazines, dealing a crippling blow to the administration’s campaign to curb gun violence. President Barack Obama called it “a pretty shameful day for Washington.”
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-By Ty McCormick
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Filed under: Uncategorized 
2013-04-18 09:01:02
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