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Continued.......

The U.S. is thus calculating, "like father, like son": that insuperable pressure, short of an invasion, can make the Assad regime change its entire way of looking at the world. It does not follow this is a bluff, however. The Bush administration is hardly prepared, after the cost of its mission to Saddam Hussein, to fritter away its credibility on Bashir Assad. As before, Mr. Bush will take his time, but in the end he will be prepared to liberate Syria and Lebanon, just as he liberated Iraq, if Assad does not "co-operate fully".

One sees in the background of this, from Bush administration statements and from what one may glean at large, the true roadmap for the voyage ahead. In effect, President Bush is making a pact with Ariel Sharon and Israel, that Mr. Sharon has already begun to acknowledge. "We will eliminate Hizbullah, and if necessary forcibly democratize the Palestinian Authority. In return you will bite the bullet, withdraw your Settlements from the West Bank, and recognize an independent Palestinian State."

The intention to act on such a large scope is implicit in everything President Bush has said. Diplomats and foreign governments have tended to respond only to the parts they least like. They would be well advised to begin looking at the whole, for as they should surely realize by now, Mr. Bush does, indeed, deliver on his promises.

Syria is like a mafia fiefdom, with a bunch of mob bosses left to their own devices to line their own pockets with ill gotten gains from the black market and the drug trade. Cut off their ability to turn a buck and they'll soon go elsewhere or start knocking each other off to get a piece of the rapidly dwindling pie.

Cutting the oil line, which was used in violation of the UN food for oil allowance, was a great first step. Syria just lost 200,000 barrels a day of oil to sell on the black market. It's getting increasing difficult for drugs to flow into Syria from Afghanistan and Iraq, so that's going to create a pinch.

Syria doesn't have to be invaded. Pressure, applied on the right people, from the right sources, combined with special ops, should do the trick.

Eventually I believe and hope that Assad (who is not really iedological), and his mafioso cronies, will decide that it's far preferable to live in the lap of luxury than it is to coddle terrorists.

When his Assad Sr. died and Bashar took over, I thought it would be a new day for Syria. Bashar struck me as a sweet and thoughtful person unlike his dad. I hate to hear all this. I'm hoping his father's cronies are still running things, and that Bashar is a pawn of sorts. Perhaps he wishes he would have remained an opthomologist. I can't help the feeling he does not like all this, but if he is actually spouting radical sentiments against Israel, then I don't know what to think.

It's just disappointing because I was really hoping Syria was on the road to modernization and cooperation after the death of Assad the Elder.

Syria has always been a terrorist source, with frequent mention in numerous sources I have read ever since I started following Islamic terrorism in the Middle East -- and that's been awhile. When credible evidence is established that WMD and Hussein regime officials have fled into that country, the US military in the region should be right on their heels. Why wait after waiting for this long? We have the momentum.

The Turkey/Israel/US alliance is nothing new, but Turkey really screwed the pooch when they didn't let us use them to bring in the 4th.

It is going to take a while before Turkey is trusted again, and let me tell you, the Turkish Military is NOT AT ALL pleased with the civilian government right now.

Syria, and Mr. Assad are in a big old pile of doodoo, he better back off quick and settle down, because the 4th is fresh and raring to go, they are a bit PO'd over the fact that they get nothing but a police detail, they would love to get in on the action too.

I think and have always thought that Syria is next, it will be when President Bush says it's time though, he's got this thing worked 3 ways from Sunday. I trust him EXPLICITLY!!