Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for coming in on short notice. We just brought this up last week.
I've spent some time in Damascus. I was there on trade issues eight years ago with our government. It's quite an eye-opener to see the large youth population of Damascus. There's a lot of unemployment, and you can almost sense the frustration among the populace, so I'm not totally surprised by what's happening.
The Russians have been visiting there in just the last couple of days, and apparently they've been quite well received. According to reports, over a million people showed up at the rally when the Russians landed there. Many people know that most of the support Assad has is from minorities; he has a big following with them. Gadhafi and Mubarak seemed to have mostly military support, but as these things unfold, it gets more complicated if there's a large population supporting a dictator or whatever it maybe.
What I'm concerned about.... We hope that down the road there is going to be a good outcome from this turmoil, but I'm concerned about these minorities and the role they're playing right now. How they might be treated in the aftermath, when this is all said and done?