Clinton defends U.S. response to crackdown in Syria

One week after officials put out the word that the Obama administration would call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeatedly passed up the opportunity to do just that.

Clinton, speaking alongside Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Tuesday at a forum in Washington, D.C., defended the U.S. response to Syria and Libya. And she suggested the time was not yet ripe to go public with a call for Assad's ouster or resignation.

"I am a big believer in results over rhetoric," Clinton said, when asked whether the administration would call on Assad to relinquish power. She noted that she wants to know that other nations in the region are on board in a uniform response.

"It's not going to be any news if the United States says, 'Assad needs to go.' OK, fine. What's next? If Turkey says it, if King Abdullah says it, if other people say it, there is no way the Assad regime can ignore it."

It's unclear whether the administration is waiting for a particular development in order to outline a firmer public stance on Assad, whose forces have launched an aggressive and deadly campaign since the start of Ramadan that has resulted in dozens of deaths. The four-day death toll in the Syrian city of Latakia reportedly reached 35 on Tuesday.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland suggested Tuesday that the administration wants to see more out of the United Nations. She said that while the U.N. has issued a presidential statement condemning the Assad regime, "we don't have a Security Council resolution because some countries have still not come off the fence."

Though the State Department claims it wants to hear more from other nations, U.S. officials told Fox News last Tuesday that the administration was planning to explicitly call for Assad to go.

It’s not just brute force, it’s not just unilateralism, it’s being smart enough to say: ‘You know what? We want a bunch of people singing out of the same hymn book,’ ” said Clinton, who appeared with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta at a national security forum at the National Defense University in Southwest Washington.

In some of her bluntest language to date on the administration’s cautious response to the Syrian uprising, Clinton acknowledged Washington’s limited ability to directly influence a country with which it has few economic or political ties. And she struck back at critics who have accused the United States of failing Syria’s pro-democracy movement by not yet publicly demanding the removal of President Bashar al-Assad. Administration officials said last week that such a call might come within days.

“It’s not going to be any news if the United States says, ‘Assad needs to go.’ Okay, fine, what’s next?” asked Clinton, who spoke before a room packed with service members, academics and journalists. “If Turkey says it, if [Saudi] King Abdullah says it, if other people say it, there is no way the Assad regime can ignore it.”

Clinton pointed to fresh successes in building a “chorus of condemnation” against Assad, noting strong statements last week by Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states as well as by Turkey, Syria’s neighbor and major trading partner.

So far there been no evidence of a change of heart by Assad. Tuesday brought fresh reports of violence in at least two Syrian cities as protesters continued to take to the streets, braving sniper fire and, in one case, shelling from tanks, according to news reports. Both U.N. relief officials and the Palestine Liberation Organization condemned this week’s attacks by troops on a Palestinian refu­gee camp in Latakia. A PLO spokesman accused the regime of committing “a crime against humanity.”

At the Washington event, Clinton was asked if the limited U.S. response signaled that the United States would no longer be prepared to preserve stability in troubled corners of the globe. Clinton replied that Americans would still lead but would no longer shoulder the burden alone.

“We have a very clear view that others need to be taking the same steps to enforce a universal set of values and interests,” she said.

Both Clinton and Panetta warned against deeper budget cuts for defense and diplomacy, saying the cuts would undermine the nation’s ability to deal with present security threats as well as future challenges, such as cyber-security and the rise of new economic powers.

“Very simply, it would result in hollowing out the force,” Panetta said. “It would terribly weaken our ability to respond to the threats in the world.