Slideshow: Syria uprising (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/48244949/displaymode/1247/?wbSlideShowId=48244949&wbSection=news)(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-120719-syria-uprising/ss-121025-syria-uprising-08-tease-849a.photoblog600.jpg) (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/48244949/displaymode/1247/?wbSlideShowId=48244949&wbSection=news) / A look back at the violence that has overtaken the countryLaunch slideshowBy Paul Nassar, NBC NewsNews analysis
BEIRUT -- The Obama administration’s suggestion this week (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/01/14861629-syrian-opposition-wary-of-us-push-to-coalesce-leadership?lite) that it was prepared to sideline the opposition-in-exile Syrian National Council and attempt to handpick more representative leaders at a crucial meeting next week came after months of frustration over the group's dysfunction and ineffectiveness.
Made up of Syrian intellectuals and political exiles, the Istanbul-based SNC has barely been able to coordinate the simplest of tasks, let alone run the opposition against a well-entrenched regime such as Bashar Assad’s.
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