President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan presented a joint front against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad even as Obama shies away from deeper U.S. involvement in the conflict, such as sending weapons to the rebels.
The Turkish leader, a key U.S. ally in the Muslim world, said before his trip to Washington that he would press Obama for assertive “further steps” needed to speed Assad’s fall. Standing alongside Obama in the Rose Garden yesterday as a light rain fell, Erdogan sidestepped a reporter’s question about what happens if the U.S. doesn’t step up its involvement.
