Time to teach Syria a lesson
Jed Babbin at RealClearPolitics.com argues that many of the problems of terrorism in the Middle East stem from Syria and it is time for Israel to strike back:
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal - operating from his headquarters in Damascus — ordered the raid in which Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. Meshaal, and pretty much every other terrorist leader other than Usama bin Laden, operate from Syria with impunity because Bashar Assad’s Syria - the Syria he inherited from his father, and which has been on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1979 - is entirely stable. He has no fear that through American or Israeli action his support for terrorism will be interrupted. From Syria money, weapons and terrorists flowed into Iraq for months before and ever since the American invasion of 2003.
Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said that Meshaal - even in Syria - was a target for Israeli action. We should encourage Israel to strike into Syria, and not just to capture or kill Meshaal. Destabilizing Syria, and thus destabilizing its support for terrorism in Israel and Iraq is the goal. If anyone chooses to equate “destabilization” with “regime change”, we should do nothing to encourage or dissuade them. It’s time to put the terrorist genie back in the bottle. If the genie won’t comply, we may soon have to smash the bottle all to pieces.
Alongside Iran, Syria is responsible for financing and sheltering the major terrorist organizations that operate in the Middle East. Those of us who want to see peace in the region have seen each peace initiative systematically undermined by Damascus and its terrorist allies. If those working for peace are undermined further, Syria could find that its destabilizing efforts backfire.
