“We will not allow the Muslim Brotherhood to take what we prevented them from taking in 1982.”

"...The events in Syria have, however, validated the purpose of the structure that surrounded Hafez Assad and his regime since 1971, whereby military and security institutions take precedence over political institutions. One is in the hands of the Baath Party and the other is under the president’s control.The Syrian army is the president’s army and it falls when he falls.Perhaps herein lies the West’s, and especially the United States’ insistence, on a political transition that results in Assad stepping down, while preserving the army’s unity to avoid the repetition of the 2003 Iraqi scenario. And because the Syrian army is an ideological army controlled by a solid command and blind loyalty, this majority-Sunni army managed to fight the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist militants, who are also Sunni, without disintegrating or collapsing. ..."