[Dean's World] Dave Price: What We Have Here Is Not Failure To Communicate

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Price:
What We Have Here Is Not Failure To Communicate
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1177691314.shtml


   In a shocking development, sure to shake the very foundations of
   Democrat foreign policy, Nancy Pelosi's high-profile visit to Syria
   has not produced any positive results whatsoever. The WaPo
   [1]editorializes thus:

     Three weeks have passed, so it's fair to ask: Has there been any
     positive change in Syrian behavior -- any return gesture of
     goodwill, however slight?
     Mr. al-Bunni might offer the best answer -- if he could. On
     Tuesday, one of Mr. Assad's judges sentenced him to five years in
     prison. His "crimes" were to speak out about the torture and
     persecution of regime opponents, to found the Syrian Human Rights
     Association and to sign the "Damascus Declaration," a pro-democracy
     manifesto.
     ...
     What of the other items on the U.S. congressional agenda? Well,
     there has been a major surge in suicide bombings in Baghdad and
     elsewhere in Iraq this month, in what U.S. commanders describe as
     an attempt by al-Qaeda to defeat the new security operation in the
     capital. According to U.S. and Iraqi officials, almost all suicide
     bombers in Iraq are foreigners, and some 80 percent of them pass
     through Syria. The border remains as porous as ever.

   Well, at least Bashir got a nice photo op with Nancy and some
   additional claim to legitimacy.
   Some problems can't simply be talked away. Assad's thuggish ruling
   Alawite minority can brook no dissent, as any public discussion is
   likely to expose their massive corruption and incompetence, driving
   public pressure for a change in leadership. And the presence of a
   succcessful democracy next door in Iraq could be lethal; Syria had
   [2]free elections as recently as 1955 so the concept is not alien to
   Syrian citizenry -- and the regime knows a second [3]Damascus Spring
   might end with Assad at the end of a noose.

References

   1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602259.html
   2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria#Civilian_rule:_1954.E2.80.931958
   3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_Spring