Robert Ford

Robert Ford: The American Who Went to Hama

When 300,000 Syrians gathered in Hama's central square on July 8, 2011, US Ambassador Robert Ford drove there without telling Washington — to stand in solidarity with protesters. Assad's government summoned him and threw tomatoes at the US Embassy. Ford later resigned his post in frustration at the Obama administration's reluctance to arm the opposition, becoming one of the most prominent American critics of US Syria policy from the inside.