Iran & Syria: Keeping our eye on the ball

In the middle of the leak case and the Alito nomination it's easy to take our eyes off the serious problems developing in the Middle East.


Originally posted here: Redstate.org Nov 1st, 2005: 14:57:28


In the last week the leader of Iran has called for the extermination of Israel and the UN has issued a Security Council resolution demanding greater cooperation in the probe of the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister.

Syria obviously feeling some pressure yesterday called for an Arab summit to rally support from its neighbors. From what I can gather it looks more and more likely that President Bashar Assad's Brother Maher Assad, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, the chief of military intelligence may have been directly involved in the assassination of a former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Just today Syrians are protesting outside our embassy! Story Here

From foxnews.com-"Anti-Syrian Lebanese political leader Walid Jumblatt, meanwhile, warned Damascus could face chaos and instability like that roiling Iraq should President Bashar Assad fail to cooperate with the U.N. probe into the Feb. 14 bombing in Beirut that killed Rafik Hariri and 20 other people.""If (he) acts like Saddam did, yes, we are heading to a situation similar to what happened in Iraq," Jumblatt said in an interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite television channel late Sunday. "But if he acts in order to preserve Syria's national unity and Syria's interest before (serving) the brother-in-law, a brother or anyone, he can save Syria."

As for Iran, This is the most dangerous situation IMHO the world is facing today. We all know that Iran is continuing its nuclear program and aiding the insurgency in Iraq. Iran has a vested interest in a US failure in Iraq hoping they can move in and take over which is something they've wanted for decades, a Shiite majority with control of vast amounts of oil.

In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor when it believed Saddam Hussein was close to producing a nuclear bomb. Now in the wake of this most recent threat I'm of the mind that Israel might feel the need to once again strike to defend its right to exist.