Western powers call Syrian referendum on new constitution a 'sham'

foxnews.com ^ | 2/26/12 | AP

[ColdOne]

DAMASCUS, Syria – Syria's authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, a gesture by embattled President Bashar Assad to placate those seeking his ouster. But the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and the West immediately dismissed the vote as a "sham."

SNIP

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Sunday's vote "a cynical ploy."

"It's a phony referendum, and it is going to be used by Assad to justify what he's doing to other Syrian citizens," she said in an interview with CBS News in Rabat, Morocco.

Speaking to reporters in Rabat, Clinton called on Syrians in business and the military who still support Assad to turn against him.

"The longer you support the regime's campaign of violence against your brothers and sisters, the more it will stain your honor," she said. "If you refuse, however, to prop up the regime or take part in attacks ... your countrymen and women will hail you as heroes."

[Truth29]

If they are Christians, their countrymen will not hail them as heroes. They will kill them. The sad fact is that if the Islamists topple Assad, the Christians will be slaughtered. Assad, like Mubarak in Egypt provided a measure of protection to the Christians.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ColdOne.