the president of the united states and secretary clinton both have insisted promoting a peaceful democratic system in syria is what our national interest is, and the american embassy and i myself are working hard to help facilitate a democratic transition. that transition must begin with the syrian government stopping this brutal oppression. alisyn: by criticizing the government, by working with the opposition, you are hoping to have a peaceful transition that assad would step down. is that likely? the president has said and the secretary of state have said that president assad has lost his legitimacy and he should step aside so other syrians can begin the democratic transition process. one of the things we would like to see is for the syrian
absolutely not. the protesters that we visited in hamas have been peaceful. and i said at the beginning of reply remarks that we support a peaceful democratic transition. this violence is coming almost entirely from the syrian government. i went to hamas first to be sure that there were not armed gangs like the syrian government claimed there were. and i saw no armed gangs. then i underlines the two protesters and underlined to all syrians that we support the right of syrians to free expression without getting arrested and we support the right of syrians to demonstrate, to march peacefully in the streets. these are things tbhee the united states take for granted, and syrians wants the same right. alisyn: last, many foreign analysts think that iran is the