Democracy For Peace

Do all roads lead to Damascus?

In an interview with Haaretz, Uri Sagi, an Ex Israeli Army chief, makes the case for including Syria in solving Lebanon’s situation:

If you talk to [Syria] and convince the Americans to provide them with economic aid and perhaps to gently back off on Assad regarding the Hariri assassination, Syria, with all its weakness, can be a stabilizing force in the region.”

The New York Times agrees:

Western powers and responsible Arab leaders […] should begin a major diplomatic push in the region. Everyone’s first stop needs to be Damascus, to tell President Bashar al-Assad of Syria that he will be persona nongrata if he keeps meddling in Lebanon.

Thomas Friedman is even clearer:

The big strategic chess move is to try to split Syria off from Iran, and bring Damascus back into the Sunni Arab fold. That is the game-changer. What would be the Syrian price? I don’t know, but I sure think it would be worth finding out.

Syria is getting a lot of attention, next comes the cajoling and the schmoozing, and before we know it, Walid Almuallem, Syria’s Foreign Minister, will be in the White House.

Are we, the democratic forces in Lebanon, being sold out? Is stability once again paramount to American policy makers? Only Condi Rice can answer this question, when she comes to the region to solve, as George Bush puts it, this shit.

This question is for Uri Sagi and the rest of the Israelis:
Why the hell do you still regard Syria as a “stabilizing force” in the region? Last time I checked, they were funding and supporting what you label “terrorist organizations” while smothering a democratic government. Do you have some kind of Schizophrenia?