Sunday, September 23, 2007

Seething For A Cleaning?

Jane's Defence Weekly is reporting in its Sept. 29 issue that the blast occurred while the Syrians and Iranians were attempting to put a chemical warhead on a Scud C missile. Most of the injuries were caused by the dispersion of nerve and mustard gas.

Could it be that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad isn't as devoted to peace as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, seem to think he is?

The assassination Wednesday of Antoine Ghanem, an anti-Syrian member of the Lebanese parliament, suggests Mr. Assad thinks it's easier to get what he wants by force than by "dialogue." Mr. Ghanem is the fourth anti-Syrian member of parliament to be murdered since December 2005.

But privately, Syrian generals are seething. And this puts Mr. Assad between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn't retaliate, he risks unemployment, or worse. But the ease with which Israel conducted the raid suggests that if Syria attacks Israel, Syria will get its clock cleaned.