I never thought he was evil in the first place. He might not be the nicest ruler around but ask the average syrian whether they preferred life under assad or life in the middle of a civil war with heart eating fundamentalists on the one end and government troops bombarding cities on the other. If anything the west should have stayed the -blam!- out of it and let Russia support Assad and doing so would keep them in line. People get nasty when they are desperate -> Rebels false flag chemical bombings.