This article states that viewpoint well:
Until the uprising began, Assad -- a minority Shi'ite Alawite -- had been emerging from Western isolation after defying the United States in Iraq and re-enforcing the alliance with Iran, raising fears among Syria's Sunni majority.
The attack on Banias this weekend raised sectarian tensions.
The West has been working on rehabilitating Assad on the international stage for the last three years in return for what it described as a change of Syria's regional behavior, but Europe and the United States have stepped up their criticism.
Don't you love that? "Defying" America in Iraq. For those not wise in the ways of Reuterspeak, that means funneling suicide bombers to al Qaeda in Iraq and hosting Iraqi Baathists so that our enemies could kill tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and security forces and thousands of American troops. Syria didn't stop doing that as a favor as much as recognize that our victory in Iraq made Syrian efforts to destabilize Iraq pointless and possibly dangerous.
Yes, criticism has stepped up. But not by much. By our actions, we clearly prefer the devil we know because we've coped with his regime and too many don't want to risk a better Syria just in case we can't handle the changes that a regime collapse would lead to.
Tolerating Assad in the hopes he will reform have given us nearly 600 dead Syrian civilians so far. Imagine what Assad can achieve if we continue to prefer the devil we know.
