Industry Figure Tom Chappell

“For a fun second-term drinking game, chug a beer whenever you hear the phrase, ‘contentious but futile protest vote by the Democrats’. By the time Jeb Bush is elected, you’ll be so wasted that you won’t even notice the war in Syria.”
–Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, January 26, 2005.

“And, of course, the go-to blog for Syria is that of Josh Landis, who is burning up the track these days with a series of newsworthy revelations about US/Syria relations.”
–Juan Cole, Informed Comment, October 24, 2005.

Josh Landis, today: The following two articles ratchet up the pressure on Syria. It is very hard to believe that this is more than bark or that the US is still capable of biting Syria militarily. Neither the military, nor public are in the mood for opening another front. Most likely, the talk of war is an effort to scare Syria into taking some tough decisions. It may well be directed more at Europe than at Syria. We have heard nothing about what sanctions are being developed to punish Syria should it be accused by Mehlis of non-cooperation. Perhaps this silence is because Europe is reluctant to impose more than the lightest of “smart sanctions.” In this case by threatening military action in Syria, Washington may actually be raising the pressure on its European allies to get serious about sanctions or America will go crazy in Syria. America cannot actual[ly] abandon Europe and the UN again to launch a unilateral military strike. It would undo all the relation-mending that has gone on between the two. On the other hand - Who knows?

The two articles that he links to are pretty scary. The first is from Yedioth Ahronoth, the most widely circulated paper in Israel:

The American administration is determined to punish Bashar Assad and remove him. This is what Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz heard from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld last Friday in Washington.

People who were at the meeting said Rumsfeld and his advisers blame Assad for letting terrorists cross the border into Iraq and help kill American soldiers. The Israeli side said it is better to let Assad stay, along the lines of better the devil you know. But people at the meeting said the Americans showed no interest in who would replace Assad, and their goal is to remove him from power, and used the word “devil” to describe him…

Yedioth Ahronoth
“Rumsfeld tells Mofaz: We’ll kick Assad out”
November 8, 2005

And the second, from The Washington Post:

Last year, U.S. intelligence agencies and military planners received instructions to prepare up-to-date target lists for Syria and to increase their preparations for potential military operations against Damascus…

Eary Warning By William M. Arkin
“Wag the Damascus?”
The Washington Post Online
November 7, 2005

As for Josh Landis’s remark that it’s hard to conceive that these actions are much more than posturing, I have to say that I’ve given up on underestimating the craziness of this crew.

Read the Full Post at Josh Landis’s SyriaComment.com
November 8, 2005