Obama Calls On Brutal Syrian Dictator al-Assad To Step Down

President Obama is calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. France, Germany, Britain and the Euro Zone joined in Obama's call.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already had arranged to step up sanctions against Assad, who has followed in the steps of his father as a murderer. His warships and tanks have bombarded cities.

Obama ordered the freezing of all Syrian assets in the U.S. and banned import of its oil.

"I strongly condemn this brutality, including the disgraceful attacks on Syrian civilians in cities like Hama and Deir ez-Zor, and the arrests of opposition figures who have been denied justice and subjected to torture at the hands of the regime," the president's statement said.

The Voice of America broadcast that a U.N. fact-finding mission on Syria said widespread and systematic human rights violations against the civilian population by Assad's regime may amount to crimes against humanity. The investigators recommend the U.N. Security Council refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.

Assad reportedly had ordered his soldiers to return to their barracks today but there were fresh reports of attacks and deaths.

Europe has already imposed some similar measures. Now the Russians will have to ask themselves whether the Syrians will be able to pay for all the weapons it sells them.

Turkey looms on its border, and it would not take much to provoke it to intervene. Iran, Syria's only real friend, would have to go through Iraq to come to its aid. Israel is not likely to stand by and let that happen.

This could be a week where we get two dictators overthrown. Libya's last redoubt of Tripoli is surrounded. The world has tired of his calumny.