Target Syria

Target Syria
Jonathan Rhodes
9 May 2003

Tyrants and terrorists should see the pattern by now. Diplomacy...military buildup and posturing...military action. When the US took on the Taliban in Afghanistan, President Bush clearly stated the US demands: Give up al Qaida or we will take them - and you - out. They failed to heed that message and they are no more. With Iraq, another clear message, this time to the despot Hussein: Give up your WMD, your terrorists, your regime, or we will take you out. Saddam failed to comply, we took him out.

The message, and the demonstration of our will to enforce that message, could not be more clear. State sponsored terrorism will not stand.

Now on to Syria, the junior partner of terror exporter Iran.

A cornerstone of the War on Terror is to eliminate state sponsors of terrorism. The Ba'athist in Syria control Lebanon and openly support Hezbollah and Hamas with legitimized roles in Syrian government, open offices in Damascus and military control of southern Lebanon.

Secretary of State Colin Powell visited 37 year old Syrian "President" Bashar Assad in Damascus last weekend. Here is what Mr. Powell said about those meetings:

"There are no illusions in his (Assad's) mind as to what we are looking for from Syria," Powell told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"There was, as we put it in diplomatic terms, a candid exchange of views, but it is not promises that we are interested in, or assurances, but it is action. We will see what happens in the days, weeks, months ahead."

In diplomatic terms, "candid exchange of views" means blunt threats. Here is the message from the US:

Turn over the Iraqi Hussein regime members seeking asylum in Syria
Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon
Dismantle Syrian WMD's, long and medium-range ballistic missiles
Turn over Iraqi WMD's buried in Syria
Close the Palestinian headquarters and training camps of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

Sever political and military links with the Hezbullah (in Lebanon), and take military action against them, if needed, to remove their missiles and rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, aimed at Israel.

Powell then went to Beirut, Lebanon and met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid Following Meeting With Lebanese President Lahoud, Speaker of the Parliament Berri, and Prime Minister Hariri. He gave them a similar message:

"I had an opportunity to brief the Minister and the other leaders here of my conversations earlier with President Asad in Damascus and I discussed with them, as I did with President Asad, the strategic change that has taken place now, not only with the appointment of Mr. Abu Mazen and with the delivery of the roadmap, but especially with the change in the regime in Iraq."
"I share your desire to see peace in this part of the world. That is the President’s commitment as well. The President’s vision as outlined in his 24 June 2002 speech is clear. It asks for the end of terror and violence. It asks for the transformation of leadership in the Palestinian Authority. We are now seeing that transformation of leadership with the appointment and confirmation of Mr. Abu Mazen as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. With his appointment and confirmation we presented a roadmap to the two parties. It points a way forward.

It also points a way forward, not only for the Palestinians and the Israelis, but also for a more comprehensive settlement. The United States is committed to a comprehensive settlement that would include the interests of Lebanon and the interests of Syria as well. Peace must come to the whole region.

The United States supports an independent and prosperous Lebanon, free of all, all foreign forces. Lebanon has great potential. It could be a model for democracy and free trade in the region. Close ties between the people of the United States and the people of Lebanon give a strong mutual impulse to help each other." (Colin Powell, US State Dept. Press Release)

The message to Lebanon:

Turn over Iraqi WMD's hidden in Lebanon
Lebanese military to remove Hezbullah from southern Lebanon
Fully disarm Hezbullah - while allowing for their existence as a political party
Removal of Syrian and Iranian troops from southern Lebanon

This is all tied into the "Roadmap" to peace between the Palestinians and Israel. Critics of US foreign policy previously claimed that the Palestinian/Israeli issue must be settled before the US took action against Iraq. Fears of igniting a regional middle-eastern war have proved to be groundless. President Bush's policy moved in a different direction. Seeing the decades long quagmire of the Israel/Palestine issue, the administration moved to change the balance of power in the middle east as necessary to move the peace process along. With the Taliban gone, al Qaida relegated to the minor leagues and Hussein gone, that change has clearly been effected.

Yasser Arafat has been replaced by the appointment of Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Arafat continues to go kicking and screaming and will not easily give up his half-century of terrorist power - but for the first time in modern history there is a Palestinian Prime Minister and the path to Palestinian statehood is being cleared of Arafat's terrorist agenda. Israel has taken the astounding position of removing its forward settlements and probably will give up the Golan Heights once the northern Israeli border is secured with the dismantling of Hezbullah and Lebanon's return to democracy and peace.

The opportunity for real peace in the middle east has never been brighter. Like it or not, as Victor David Hanson has said:

"While we hope reason and negotiation can insure peace, only wars have proven to create or preserve it."

Hopefully, Syria, their puppets in Lebanon, Arafat and the "religious" jihadist fanatics in Iran will not require the US to again prove that we are serious about ending the quagmire of terrorism in the middle east. Hopefully peace can be achieved through negotiation and diplomacy.