US: Any opportunity for Assad to run for additional elected office really offensive

The United States called it "really unfathomable" that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad would even contemplate running in an election to lead the country again. "It’s really unfathomable to think that the leader of a regime that has slaughtered over 100,000 of its own people, gassed to death over 1,400 on August 21st, would even contemplate running in an election to lead the country," Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department Marie Harf said during a press conference. "The Syrian people have been clear about what they want, and we have been clear that we will support them. And if he really were to follow the wishes of the Syrian people, he would go," she said. "This is a process that will take time," she added. "But I think the notion of a brutal dictator who's killed so many of his own people claiming to have any opportunity to run for additional elected office is really actually quite offensive.