PROOF THAT BUSH'S LEBANON/SYRIA POLICY A TOTAL FAILURE

JPOST:

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's visit to Syria this week and his recent comments about liberating the Shaba Farms (Mount Dov) by force if diplomacy fails reflect a new political reality in Lebanon in which both the Iranian-backed Hizbullah and Syrian influence have gained strength, an Israeli expert on Lebanon said this week.

Suleiman is scheduled to arrive Wednesday in what is being called "a historic" two-day visit to Syria, where the two countries are expected to discuss exchanging embassies and establishing full diplomatic ties for the first time since their establishment more than six decades ago.

"It's recognition of Syrian power in Lebanon," said Asher Kaufman, an Israeli scholar and assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. "In 2005, Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon and since then it has made every possible effort to regain its strength, and it has done so.

WE HAD SYRIA ON THE ROPES IN 2005.

WE COULD HAVE TOPPLED ASSAD - AT LEAST HAD HIM INDICTED FOR MURDERING HARRIRI.

WE COULD HAVE LET ISRAEL FINISH OFF HIZBALLAH.

WE DID NEITHER.

• THIS EMBOLDENED ASSAD - AND HIS CHIEF BENEFACTORS: IRAN AND RUSSIA.
• UPDATE: CHCAGO BOYZ AGREE (VIA GVDL).
  
• BUSH AND RICE COMPLETELY MISPLAYED THE WHOLE DAMN THING.
• PUTIN AND ASSAD RAN CIRCLES AROUND THEM.
• I AGREE WITH THOSE WHO'VE SAID THAT IN MANY RESPECTS BUSH'S LAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN CARTER'S THIRD TERM; OBAMA PROMISES MORE OF THE SAME - OR CARTER'S FOURTH!
• MCCAIN IS SMARTER ABOUT THESE THINGS AND WILL DO BETTER.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.