Opportunity Knocks: Syria Cutting Military Cooperation With U.S.

Here's the relevant information:

Syria Cuts Military Cooperation With U.S., May 24, 6:11 PM (ET), By ALBERT AJI

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria has stopped security and military cooperation with the United States in recent months after Washington failed to respond to repeated overtures from Damascus, Syria's ambassador said Tuesday. The New York Times on Monday quoted [Syrian Ambassador to the US] Mustafa as saying Syria had "severed all links" with the U.S. military and CIA in the last 10 days because of what he called unjust American allegations.

"The United States will not be satisfied with Syria unless Syria follows a policy that suits the American political orientation and Israeli interests ," Mustafa said, echoing widely held beliefs in the Arab world that the United States is biased toward Israel. He said the United States wants to "redraw the political map of the region in a way that suits American and Israeli interests."

(All emphases mine)

Were it so that we were acting on proper desires for us and Israel, the ones the ambassador decries so clearly. We still seem to be giving Syria a pass, no matter how many Americans and Iraqis it is responsible for killing and how much destruction it is causing in Iraq. The Syrians sponsor more terrorism than we sponsor stupid federal programs--and they sponsor these against Israel and the US. "Sanctions," which we are using, are truly akin to urinating into a hurricane.

It is easy to get Syria's attention and hold it permanently. Recall the old saying that if you grab someone by the genitals, his heart and mind soon follow.

Syria's western boundary is the Mediterranean Ocean. Its eastern boundary is Iraq. It is Appalachian poor as a productive country. Were it not for Saudi Arabian and Iranian support, Syria would have nothing and could do nothing to anyone. Do these suggest policy actions?

Carrier based aircraft could reach anywhere in Syria in minutes from the Mediterranean, as could U. S. Air Force aircraft out of Iraq. No overflight permissions would be needed, except that of the Syrians. But then, we would be bombing them.

Suppose something like this. For EVERY car bomb, EVERY road embedded IED (improvised explosive device), and EVERY attack from "insurgents" in Iraq against Iraqis and the Coalition, we drop all kinds of bombs on things the Syrians value to any extent whatsoever. No plane is to return home with unexpended ordnance.

We have all of Syria's ports, rails, utilities. We have its government facilities and all of those wonderful Ba'ath houses. And, do not forget the Bekaa Valley. A truly target-rich environment, well, at least for a while.

Just think of Assad running from a MOAB (I no longer remember what the military acronym stands for, but in common parlance, it came to mean "mother of all bombs"). How many aircraft, and how many flights would it take? And if Syria is reduced to gravel, where would Hamas, Hezbollah, Ba'athists, and all the other Muslim ne'er-do-wells stay? Lebanon is as easy to get to as Syria; and, if Turkey wants them, they deserve what they get.

Once Syria has been demolished, we could ask Saudi Arabia and Iran if they "got it." The answer would come in the form of almost complete cessation of "insurgency" in Iraq.

If not, then Saudi Arabia and Iran are accessible from carriers at sea, land based aircraft...