Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Of all the Mid-East countries, the one I always find most schizophrenic is Syria…

Of course, the fact that Israel, and therefore by default, the U.S. can sneak in and bomb even the most sensitive of sites in Syria probably has them sleeping with one eye open, and therefore contributing to their anxiety, which is usually followed by bouts of overindulging in sex acts with Iran…go figure.

A bullet behind the ear is what Syria needs.

General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, is crediting efforts by the Syrian government, along with stepped-up counter-terrorism activities in other Arab states, with cutting the flow of al-Qaeda terrorists entering Iraq.

This change in Syrian behavior has occurred at a time when the Iraqi government and the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad have been increasing their diplomatic and economic engagement, and when relations between Jordan and Syria also have been warming.

In November, King Abdullah of Jordan visited Syria for the first time in four years. Shortly after that, Syria made a surprise decision to participate in the Middle East peace meeting convened by President Bush at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Assad’s regime has been designated by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism. In the recent past, it has been a frequent source of problems for the United States and its allies in the Middle East.

Allied with Iran, Syria helped supply Lebanon’s Hezbollah during its 2006 war with Israel. The regime also supports Hamas, the militant Islamist Palestinian organization that has been designated a terrorist group by the State Department.

Evidence collected by a United Nations investigation strongly suggested that the Syrian regime was behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, and it is also widely suspected of being responsible for other political assassinations in Lebanon.

“The progress that has been made against al Qaeda-Iraq this year is very significant,” Petraeus said on the December 28 edition of Bill O’Reilly’s radio show, which was guest-hosted by Dom Giordano.

“It has been helped, I should note, by the way, by actions in a number of source countries, including Saudi Arabia, some of the Gulf states, and some north African countries, who have conducted operations against so-called foreign fighter facilitators, financiers, and others who have supported and provided money and individuals to al Qaeda-Iraq. And also, by Syria, which has taken more aggressive action against al Qaeda-Iraq in the networks in Syria that take individuals through Damascus Airport and then on into Iraq.”

Petraeus’s comments were in keeping with remarks he made in December to the London Guardian. They also backed up recent claims made by Iraqi and Syrian officials.

In a December 7 interview with the Guardian, Petraeus credited Islamic fatwas “condemning extremism” issued in countries such as Saudi Arabia along with efforts by the Syrian government to take “more aggressive action against some of the foreign fighter facilities there” with helping to cut the flow of al Qaeda terrorists entering Iraq.

The paper cited U.S. officials as saying that between August 2006 and September 2007 about 700 foreign terrorists had entered Iraq from Syria. Since then, the flow has been cut dramatically.

At a December 21 Pentagon press briefing, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also credited Syria with helping to stop the flow of terrorists into Iraq. Cartwright suggested that Iraqi-Syrian commercial relations were beginning to supplant the flow of terrorists.

(CNS)