BUSH INCREASES PRESSURE ON SYRIA

UK GUARDIAN:

President George Bush yesterday threatened Syria with increasing isolation alleging that Damascus was "trying to prevent democracies from emerging" in both Iraq and Lebanon. Mr Bush, speaking at a press conference with the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, said he would raise punitive measures against Syria with US allies at the United Nations in New York, where he is due to address the general assembly today. His remarks echoed more specific allegations made by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, in a New York Times interview yesterday. Mr Bush said yesterday: "The Syrian government can do a lot more to prevent the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. And the Syrian leader must understand we take his lack of action seriously."

AFP/The Peninsula:

These people are coming from Syria into Iraq and killing a lot of innocent people,” Bush said following a meeting at the White House with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. “They’re trying to kill our folks as well. “And the Syrian leader (President Bashar al-Assad) must understood, we take his lack of action seriously,” Bush said. ... Khalilzad said Monday that the United States believes that Iraqi Sunnis are refusing to agree a proposed constitution because of threats from Sunni Muslim extremists who have infiltrated Iraq from Syria, where they have training camps. “Syria has to decide what price it’s willing to pay in making Iraq success difficult. And time is running out for Damascus to decide on this issue,” the ambassador warned.

Based on the Iraq timetable, if Bush warns Syria this week at the UN, then we can expect Assad to fold, or be overthrown by a junta of pro-Western generals and/or Syrian Kurds, and/or invaded and forcibly removed by April.

EITHER WAY: GOOD RIDDANCE!

(PS: I expect our forces in Iraq - in conjunction with Iraqi forces - to get real real real REAL close to counter-attacking jihadists INSIDE SYRIA very VERY soon - a la the bombing of Cambodia and the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. BECAUSE: to defeat the jihadists inside of Iraq we must keep them from being resupplied and/or replenished.)