Syria next

The Telegraph notes:

Tony Blair will seek to use the diplomatic breakthrough with Libya to secure similar concessions on weapons of mass destruction from Iran and Syria. Ministers believe that his New Year offensive will restore his fortunes.

Secret "back channel" talks, which have been going on for months with both countries, will be stepped up as London and Washington try to capitalise on the surprise U-turn by Col Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator.

The capture of Saddam Hussein and Libya's announcement on Friday that it would dismantle its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes were being seen in Downing Street as vindication of the Prime Minister's strategy for tackling the threat of WMD.

So they should be (and The Telegraph, to its credit, gives a notably generous editorial assessment of the Prime Minister's record on these matters).

The case of Syria seems to me urgent and practicable. Before the overthrow of Saddam there was strong evidence of Syria's possessing chemical weapons, holding Iraqi weapons for safe keeping, facilitating the smuggling of weapons from Russia and promoting terrorism.

The reactionary critics of the Prime Minister - Tony Benn, Robin Cook, Kenneth Clarke and the rest - will complain about the indelicacy of pressing for political change in the Middle East (last April The Independent revealingly referred to President Bush's 'unseemly' desire to reorder the region). They should be ignored once more. We liberal internationalists are, on current evidence, entitled to hope that the overthrow of Saddam and economic pressure resulting from coalition forces’ destruction of the oil pipeline from Iraq will, without our resorting to war, impress upon Syria the imperative of abandoning its belligerent foreign policy. Without the outlet of anti-American and anti-Israel populism, the edifice of Baathist totalitarianism may then prove as fragile as it did in Iraq.

Comments

[Arnold Williams]

"We liberal internationalists are, on current evidence, entitled to hope that the overthrow of Saddam and economic pressure resulting from coalition forces’ destruction of the oil pipeline from Iraq will, without our resorting to war, impress upon Syria the imperative of abandoning its belligerent foreign policy. Without the outlet of anti-American and anti-Israel populism, the edifice of Baathist totalitarianism may then prove as fragile as it did in Iraq."

Wonderful! Best news ever! Now for the hard part: PERSIST!

[warlord]

The real source of Wahhabist islamic extremism is Saudi Arabia. How long before we deal with them?

[Stephen Daedelus]

Never, warlord; we need the oil, but aren't willing to put up with an invasion to get it.