Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have taken his cue from Winston Churchill — who wrote that “dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not to dismount” — in desperately clinging to power by killing as many people as they need to.

Or they may have seen the humiliation former Egypt strongman Hosni Mubarak is going through at the hands of the people he once led for over 30 years. Or they might be inspired by Libya leader Muammar Qaddafi, who is also killing his own people and has virtually split the nation in two to resist pressures to step down.

Unlike Qaddafi, who faces an armed resistance, Assad is dealing with mostly unarmed and peaceful demonstrators who were initially calling for political reforms, but now nothing short of his resignation.

Rather than silencing the protesters, Assad’s gun has brought more Syrians into the streets. The d...