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Source: http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/president-carter-s-plan-for-syria-is-unrealistic
Carter's Plan to Reengage with Assad Regime Is Unrealistic
(Atlantic Council) Frederic C. Hof - In an op-ed ("In Syria, An Ugly Peace is Better than More War") in the New York Times on Aug. 24, former President Jimmy Carter asks Western governments to reengage with the Assad regime diplomatically and lift economic sanctions, while asking the Syrian government to "accept the inevitability of reforms and implement confidence-building measures." Asking the Assad regime to reform and build confidence is like counseling a shark to go vegan. And accountability for the torture chambers and the mass murder conducted therein would require Assad and his jailers to present themselves for trial in The Hague. Clearly this will not happen. To lavish resources and international legitimacy on a regime whose human rights performance contradicts everything Carter stands for would only prolong Syria's agony. The writer, former ambassador and special adviser for transition in Syria, is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.