Even Israeli leaders are calling for stronger Western action against Syria. In the wake of the Houla massacre, Defense Minister Ehud Barak criticized the expulsions of Syrian diplomats as inadequate and said, “More concrete action is required. These are crimes against humanity and it’s impossible that the international community is going to stand aside.”
On one level this might not seem terribly surprising—Syria is, after all, in a longstanding state of war with Israel, and the Assad regime has long been a leading backer of Hezbollah, Hamas, and other anti-Israeli terrorist groups. So it makes sense that Israeli leaders would call for tougher action against Assad. Except that for years Israeli leaders have viewed the Assad regime as a bulwark of stability and have dismissed calls for supporting the opposition. I remember a few years ago having an argument with a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem on this very issue; he dismissed my suggestion that it would be better for Assad to go as the fantasy of an American who did not have to live next door to Syria.
Now even the Israelis realize that the Assads deliver a faux stability and that their removal actually has the potential—not the certainty but the potential—to improve the strategic outlook for Israel while hurting Israel’s main enemy, Iran. If only the Obama administration had reached a similar conclusion.
Instead, even in the wake of the latest atrocities, the president and his aides are still locked in diplomatic never-never land where the magical intervention of Kofi Annan or Vladimir Putin will somehow resolve the situation. They should wake up and smell the Arabic coffee. Only American-led action has any chance of ending the killing anytime soon.
There is no mystery about what it would take: provide arms, communications gear and other important help to the more moderate factions of Syrian rebels; help them to become better organized; support Turkey in establishing safe zones inside Syria; and possibly commit to using air strikes, either to defend the safe zones or to strike regime targets. Yet there is little sign the Obama administration is reconsidering its opposition to such steps. Thus, the killing goes on.
Arabic is a language. nYou mean Arabian coffee. Or am I wrong?
Please Daddy, just one more little war.
"he more moderate factions of Syrian rebels"–good luck with that as Syria tips into a communal and sectarian civil war–we are sure there are "moderate" "factions" with command and control hierarchies are we? this thinking is how the Gulbuddin Hekmatyar got their juice in Afghanistan. But now Turkey's Justice and Development Party gets to play the role of ISS. Folks who want to advocate going in might as well advocate going in–and that would require American, not Turkish, boots on the ground or you end up playing out Turkish regional aspirations.
Wake up and smell the American coffee. We are tired of your wars.
We Americans, have a spotty track record, at best, of bringing peace to the middle east. We need to listen to Israel.r n How about bringing peace to the US-Israel alliance, first. Rather than asking Israel to make another lame concession which will only invite more terrorism, why not try a different strategy.r n We can start by releasing Jonathan Pollard, with no delay whatsoever. The Pollard Affair was OUR fault and our fault alone. Navy psychologists failed to screen Pollard out and failed again to detect clear warning signals. I do not blame Israel for running Pollard. There is no room for error, of course they had to find out what the dumb shit numbskulls were withholding from Israel in violation of previous agreements. The United States of America is not responsible for events in Egypt with The MB taking control. We do not even know the end results of that disaster. I would not trust the US to do anything right from beginning to end. Israel BEWARE.
Too much talk. Too many freaks.