Good editorial from the Jpost: President Bush, change the rules of the game!
Editorial: End 'plausible deniability'
In a classic Yiddish folktale, a rabbi advises a poor man who complains of overcrowding to bring his goat inside the house. Though puzzled, he goes along with bringing animal after animal inside. The rabbi's logic is finally revealed when he tells the man to remove all the animals, leaving a seemingly spacious house behind.
Perhaps there is an Arabic version of this story, because Syrian President Bashar Assad seems to know it well. For years, Syria's strategy has been simple, foisting on the West as many "goats" as possible, so that when the international community complains, one can be removed and the diplomatic pressure along with it.
The list of Syrian misdeeds is so long it is hard to know where to begin: occupying Lebanon, dealing in drugs, providing a weapons gateway for Hizbullah, hosting Palestinian terrorists, and crushing domestic dissidents. In the context of the war on Iraq, Assad threw in a few more goats: opening a sanctions-busting pipeline for Iraqi oil and, during and after the war, hiding Iraqi regime figures and, perhaps, Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
So when US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Damascus this weekend, Assad had a choice of goats to offer his visitor. On leaving, Powell noted with satisfaction that Assad had been forthcoming, and news reports indicate that he was promised that the Damascus offices of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other groups would be closed.
As of yesterday, the Telegraph reported that all these offices were open as usual. As one man armed with an assault rifle at Hamas headquarters put it, "We are working as normal." Making and breaking promises to Americans is business as usual for Syria, which committed to Powell two years ago to shut down the oil pipeline to Iraq and did not.
There is also a history of Syria opening and closing terrorist offices, and making symbolic withdrawals from Lebanon, as needed to release momentary diplomatic pressure.
So none of this is surprising, except that Powell, by going to Damascus in the first place, is not showing signs that the rules of the game have really changed.
For years, Syria has been a master of the game that all the rogue states of the region, including Iraq, Iran, and Libya, had played: the game of plausible deniability. According to the old rules of the game, these nations could support terrorism with the ample knowledge of the world, and the State Department could list them as "terrorist-supporting states," but little would come of it as long as the regimes denied what they were doing.
The whole idea of the war against the terror network was to change the rules of this game. US President George W. Bush once again laid out the new rules in his excellent speech aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln: "Any person, organization, or government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist crimes. Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilized world and will be confronted."
The significance of Bush throwing down the gauntlet again in this fashion, after the liberation of Iraq, should not be minimized. These words, combined with the actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, themselves change the context of the game. But each rogue leader must now ask himself, "Will the US really apply these new rules to me, or can I just throw out a goat or two and be left alone?"
Before 9/11, the US played along with the plausible deniability game, because it knew that if it fully exposed the terror network, it would have to confront the rogue states. Bush has clearly ended this coyness, which cost America so dearly.
But now that the US has changed the rules both declaratively and with concrete actions, a separate danger has arisen: maintaining credibility. Bush has rightly set the standard very high, but if countries like Syria do not come into line, all the rogues will take notice.
Syria must now do much more than close a few offices and boot out a few wanted Iraqis that's playing by the old rules. Now, if US credibility is not to be eroded, Syria must shut down its support for terrorism entirely, including the planeloads of weapons that flow to Hizbullah via Damascus, and the blocking of the deployment of the Lebanese army on Israel's border, displacing Hizbullah.
Even a total end to support for terror would only begin to ameliorate Syria's sins. Lebanon would still be occupied and the Syrian people still oppressed. But it would be a start. It would also be no more than what Turkey demanded and received regarding the PKK terrorists that tormented Ankara, following the massing of the Turkish army on the Syrian border.
There is little doubt that Damascus has taken note of the American divisions in Iraq, not to mention their mobility. The only question is whether Syria can continue its rogue behavior without being paid a visit.
jpost.com |
