Or so said President Barack Obama:

The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.

Now, with 200,000 of those Syrian people dead, the guy who sits in the Secretary of State’s chair, John Kerry, says, “Well, whenever.”

We’re not being doctrinaire about the specific date or time. We’re open.

And

He said Mr Assad doesn’t have to leave “on day one or month one or whatever.”

Yeah, whenever’s good. Because Bashar al Assad the reformer can be trusted to step down at the appointed time. Absolutely.

Further Obama administration retreat.