Obama, Cameron Hope to See Russian Pressure on Assad - East Idaho News
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Obama, Cameron Hope to See Russian Pressure on Assad

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Getty 051313 CameronObama?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1368474751426Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — One month ahead of the G-8 Summit in Northern Ireland, President Obama met with British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House Monday where the two talked about the conflict in Syria.

“Syria’s history is being written in the blood of her people, and it is happening on our watch,” Cameron said at a joint press conference with the president at the White House. “The world urgently needs to come together to bring the killing to an end.  None of us have any interest in seeing more lives lost, in seeing chemical weapons used, or extremist violence spreading even further.”

“Together, we’re going to continue our efforts to increase pressure on the Assad regime, to provide humanitarian aid to the long-suffering Syrian people, to strengthen the moderate opposition, and to prepare for a democratic Syria without Bashar Assad,” President Obama said.

Obama and Cameron, who also held a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office Monday morning, both voiced their hope that Russia would eventually join the call to increase pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“As a leader on the world stage, Russia has an interest, as well as an obligation, to try to resolve this issue in a way that can lead to the kind of outcome that we’d all like to see over the long term,” President Obama said.

Cameron’s visit to the United States is the first since President Obama was re-elected. During Cameron’s trip to the United States last April, Obama and Cameron attended a March Madness basketball game as the president introduced the British Prime Minister to one of his favorite sports, and the British Prime Minister said he’s eager to learn more about another American pastime – baseball.

“There was a lot of attention about how I took David to March Madness. We went to Ohio.  And a year later, we have to confess that David still does not understand basketball — I still do not understand cricket,” Obama said.

“Thank you for the remarks about the cricket and the basketball.  I haven’t made much progress,” Cameron said. “I made a bit of progress on baseball; I actually read a book about it this year, so maybe next time we’ll get to work on that one.”

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