Syria looks like they are going to work with us instead of against us.
The Bush administration underscored its newly positive stance on Syria Monday with praise for Syria's closing its border with Iraq and stopping Iraqi diplomats from boarding flights to Damascus.
Are they our friend and ally? Not hardly. But neither are they allied with Hussein. Saddam's son-in-law by some accounts was hiding in Syria before returning to Iraq and turning himself in. Why the change of heart? Perhaps the changing climate in Syria was not to his liking.
In any event, Syria is growing more cooperative, choosing the carrot over the stick. Now it is up to the Bush administration to ensure that the carrot remains the more attractive inducement by including Syria in the Middle East peace process.
Terrorism is like a disease, and has to be fought with a dual appraoch. You have to treat the symptoms as well as the root cause. It will do no good to take out Hussein if we allow the conditions which breed terror to continue. We've eliminated a present terrorist threat in Iraq, treating the symptom; now we have some breathing room to try and address some of the root causes: poverty, ignorance, and repression.
Posted by Rich at April 22, 2003 10:47 AM | TrackBack