Clinton Slams Assad Speech as 'Chillingly Cynical'

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that President Bashar al-Assad gave a "chillingly, cynical speech" in which he tried to shift the blame for the violence in Syria.

"Instead of taking responsibility, what we hear from President Assad in his chillingly cynical speech yesterday was only making excuses blaming foreign countries," Clinton said.

Clinton said he described "conspiracies so vast that it now includes the Syrian opposition, the international community, all international media outlets, the Arab League itself," she said.

Clinton spoke during a press conference with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani whose country is a member of the Arab League, which sent monitors to Syria in a bid to end the violence against protesters.

In a speech, Assad blamed foreign plotters Tuesday for the deadly 10-month-old protests against his regime and vowed to crush their "terrorism" with an iron fist.

Clinton spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Assad must meet the commitments Syria made to the Arab League to end the violence, withdraw heavy weapons from cities, admit journalists, free political prisoners and allow for a real political dialogue.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in Assad's deadly crackdown on 10 months of pro-democracy protests.