After weeks of brutal government violence in Syria, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, the European Union and the United States called today for President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Affirming that the people of Syria "deserve a government that respects their dignity, protects their rights and lives up to their aspirations," Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that it was time for Assad to "leave the transition to the Syrians themselves." Steven Lee Myers reports on the State Department for the New York Times.