US: Assad's speech 'detached from reality'
State Department Spokeswoman Vitoria Nuland responded to Syrian President Bashar Assad's speech Sunday, saying the speech is "detached from reality, undermines the efforts of (UN envoy) Lakhdar Brahimi, and allows the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people."
"For nearly two years, the Assad regime has brutalized its own people. Even today, as Assad speaks of dialogue, the regime is deliberately stoking sectarian tensions and continuing to kill its own people… Assad has lost all legitimacy and must step aside to enable a political solution and a democratic transition." (Yitzhak Benhorin, Washington)
