Syria

Fire of Liberty

Well, it seems that Bashir Assad still can't understand what the West as well as the people of Lebanon have been saying. Even when President Bush point-blankly states in The New York Post that he wants Syria, "Totally out of Lebanon — and that's very important for [Syrian] President Assad to hear. And it's more than just troops. I keep emphasizing this, but it's important for the world to understand that a Lebanon that is able to express itself freely at the ballot box needs to have no Syrian secret service," Assad continues to hem and haw about how many troops and where he will withdrawal his troops. As I noted in previous posts, the olden days of working with dictators to pick off our opponents ended on September 11th, 2001. At one time we would have dropped this thing if Assad had given up a bevy of terrorists or removed a small portion of their troops from Lebanon but the times are different and there's a new sheriff in town.

Unlike past administrations, the Bush White House has decided that the old smoke-filled room realist foreign policy was a no-go and had created more problems than solutions. As a believer in the "shining city on a hill," President Bush sees that people in distant lands should be able to enjoy the same fruits of freedom and democracy that this nation has become accustomed to. Yes, there are a considerable amount of skeptics and deniers who say the president is never going to be able to deliver his stated goals and just says things for show but few of these people realize that the man sitting behind the desk is a plain-spoken individual who means what he says. If he backed down now from what he's been saying for close to four years, he would never be able to say a word about enforcing his statements without the enemies of freedom and democracy laughing in his face. As with Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories, Iraq and the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, the president has stated his desired goals and delivered on them.

They say history repeats itself and President Bush is well aware of the various bargains that past president's - including his father - have made with past leaders in the Middle East. When these past administrations made such faustian bargains with these dictators they we're thinking about security and stability and forgot that such deals would come back and bite them. As long as these tyrants had America looking the other way (Generally the Soviets or other strategic concerns) they were able to enact a considerable amount of havoc on its people as well as the nation's riches. By robbing their people of their treasure, freedom and liberty, these dictators created situations that led to the breeding grounds of terrorism. Along with depriving these people of such things, these tyrannical regimes also promoted and facilitated the groups that have contributed to some of the worst acts of terrorism in history.

As the people of Lebanon demonstrated this past Monday, they can only take enough until the have to react. Assad seems to think he can delay the inevitable by running out the clock by promising to move some of the troops from Lebanon within several months. The only problem is that the US, UK, France, Germany, Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia and most importantly the people of Lebanon have demanded Assad get out of Lebanon. With so many big hitters going to bat for the Lebanese people, Assad would be a fool to continue this game of wits. Junior Assad doesn't have the support or cunning wherewithal that his father Hafez Assad seemed to show throughout his long tenure. If Assad has any inkling like his father, he will know he's been beaten and get the hell of Dodge before the 800 lb. Gorilla comes knocking at Assad's door with sanctions or worse yet F-16's and its full accompaniment of weapons. It's all up to the former ophthalmologist -Mr. Assad- being able to see whole situation in front of him.