"Bashar Assad is a disappointment to ....Jeffrey Feltman" and "Israel must immediately topple Assad"

Via Friday-Lunch-Club

"Bashar Assad is a disappointment to ....Jeffrey Feltman"

Today's WaPo editorial page is all about what Hiatt perceives as a "long line of disappointments"... Having peddled 'intelligence' provided by terrorists, Hiatt puts it in tandem with Syria's elusive Scuds ... the WaPo/ here

BASHAR AL-ASSAD is proving to be an embarrassment for the Obama administration. In pursuit of President Obama's policy of "engagement" with U.S. adversaries, the State Department has dispatched several senior envoys to Damascus for talks with the Syrian dictator. It has also nominated a new ambassador (oh that 'ambassador', what a treat!)and repeatedly expressed the hope for a step-by-step improvement in relations.....

Most recently, Mr. Assad has been accused by Israel (Hiatt is & should be registered as an 'agent' of Israel) of handing Scud missiles to Hezbollah, which would allow the Iranian-sponsored group to attack every major city in Israel with one-ton warheads....

"If these reports turn out to be true, we are going to have to review the full range of tools that are available to us in order to make Syria reverse what would be an incendiary, provocative action," Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman told the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week, moments after making a strong pitch for the first U.S. ambassador in Damascus since 2005. Administration officials have suggested that the Scuds may not have reached Hezbollah in Lebanon; in that case the strong statements may be preventative. What is known for sure is that Syria has facilitated the transfer of thousands of rockets and missiles to Hezbollah since 2006 in blatant violation of the U.N. resolution (need we enumerate Israel's violations of that same resolution?) that ended that summer's war in Lebanon. So why persist with the "engagement" policy? "President Assad is . . . making decisions that could send the region into war," was Mr. Feltman's answer. "He's listening to Ahmadinejad. He's listening to Hassan Nasrallah. He needs to listen to us, too."

That's a reasonable argument; we don't agree with Republicans who say the dispatch of Mr. Ford, a capable professional diplomat, would amount to a "reward" for Mr. Assad. Still, there has been no shortage of communication: Senior U.S. officials have summoned the senior Syrian envoy in Washington four times since Feb. 26 to talk about the weapons transfers to Hezbollah. What's been lacking are tangible steps by the administration to accompany more engagement with more pressure, such as more sanctions against Syrian officials and companies. The problem isn't that Mr. Assad is not getting the U.S. message. It's that he sees no need to listen."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 9:19 AM

 "Israel must immediately topple Assad"

Another lunatic from the great colony of Israel going after Syria's nomenklatura. I am sure President Assad's reply to Israel's petty attempts would be: "Thank you for your confidence" ... Haaretz/ here I dare to ask: How do you depose a regime? I've seen Israel help elect short lived regimes (Bashir Gemayel), but 'topple' one?

".... Israel should be conscious of several factors in the face of the threat from the north. First, on the margins, one should bear in mind Justice Richard Goldstone's ruling in his report to the United Nations on Operation Cast Lead - that hitting a country's infrastructure is a war crime as it constitutes collective punishment, which is banned under international law. I am not saying that Goldstone must be obeyed, but his ruling must be taken into consideration. ..... Israel should also try to shorten the duration of any fighting as much as possible by hitting Lebanese infrastructure, but only in response to Israel's being hit first. In the event of war, Israel's strategic goal should be the overthrow of the Alawite regime in Syria, and with that aim should continue developing its mobile ground forces along with massive aerial firepower....

Above all, Israel must make it clear right now that, in the event of a missile attack from the north, it will act on the goal of immediately deposing the Alawite regime in Syria even before turning its attention to the missile threat. Such a statement could deter the Syrians from arming Hezbollah with Scuds, out of concern that the Muslim organization might fire the missiles without first coordinating with Syria. "

Posted by G, Z, or B at 10:11 AM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian