The White House expressed its dismay with Russia and China´s veto of the Security Council resolution regarding Syria on Wednesday, saying that they were placing themselves on the wrong side of history.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that the United States was working with other nations to apply more pressure on the Bashar Assad´s regime, stressing its "appalling, depraved behavior."

"Assad will be remembered forever for what he did this past weekend and what he has done for the past 15 months." Carney said on Wednesday. "He squandered an opportunity to preside over a political transition that would improve the position of Syria in the international community and, most importantly, improve the lives of his citizens. And that will not change."

"We are in regular consultations with the Russians and others about what we are seeing happening in Syria and the need to put further pressure on the Assad regime, the need to isolate the Assad regime further and to bring about the political transition that Syrians so desperately deserve and desire", Carney said. "It´s a belief that we express in these conversations, that supporting the Assad regime is placing oneself or one´s nation on the wrong side of history."

Carney rejected Governor Mitt Romney´s criticism of Obama´s policy on Syria, saying "the president and the United Sates have led on Syria, as he and we have led throughout the upheaval known as the Arab Spring."

The State Department´s deputy spokesman Mark Toner said that the 90- day window for the Annan plan "is still ongoing," adding, however, that "given the events of last Friday, we´re going to continue to consult on possible next steps. Thus far we´ve seen very little progress by the Assad regime to comply with any of the six points of the program. There are elements of the Annan plan that are positive. The actual, you know, presence of monitors in Syria has had somewhat of a positive effect. It wasn´t enough, clearly, to stop the massacre in Houla."

Toner continued saying that while the plan did "provide a glide path… to a political transition," it failed to bring the cessation of violence "because of Assad´s unwillingness to stop his assault on the Syrian people... So to say we´re skeptical is probably an understatement." (© Copyright 2012 Ha´aretz 05/31/12)