BlackFive

This is a sign we are not being taken seriously in the Middle East, when a chinless weasel like Assad is willing to rub our noses in it by allowing an Iraqi insurgent TV station to operate from Syria.

Al-Zawraa TV began broadcasting on November 14. The channel was set up by the Islamic Army of Iraq, an insurgent group comprised of former Baathists who were loyal to Saddam Hussein and now profess a conversion to a bin Laden-like ideology, according to Middle East-based media monitor Marwan Soliman.

I don't see how a provocation like this can go unanswered, and it doesn't matter one lick if we can't locate the station itself. This calls for a couple of precision strikes on whatever Assad values most. In addition we obviously have some intel on bases or training areas used to support the insurgents, and toss in a few shots at his most valuable military assets too.

How perfectly does this illustrate the fundamental foolishness of Baker's call to engage Syria. We have nothing to discuss with Syria until we have bloodied their nose and reminded them that poking the lion is a bad idea. We cannot tolerate the destabilizing efforts of both Syria and Iran if we are to have any chance of success in Iraq. Baker wanted to tie the whole Middle East up in one nice package with a lot of formal lying in formal wear leading up to a Grand Deal where all the bad actors have been engaged in constructive dialogue and had their needs addressed. That is an epic fantasy with a near zero chance of happening. Buuuuut, if you throw in a couple of good ass-whippings for Assad and the Mullahs breaking a lot of their toys you may just be on to something. Hezbollah is a creature of both of these and a major impediment to peace with Israel while actively fomenting the overthrow of the Lebanese government.

Sadly for the left and an unfortunate number of average Americans we cannot ignore these serious dangers because they are weary of our current war. None of these problems were caused by our invasion or occupation of Iraq, we were going to have to deal with them sometime. What we need is an Iraq Study Group with some cojones to develop a coherent plan for this entire situation that is not predicated on sipping tea by the freakin' pool.