The first U.S. ambassador to Syria in more than five years said Thursday Washington is committed to improving the two countries' relationship after years of tension.
Robert Ford said after presenting his credentials to President Bashar Assad that his posting is "proof that we are committed to try and solve the problems between our governments." ...
The Obama administration had argued that returning an ambassador to Syria after a five-year absence would help persuade Syria to change its policies regarding Israel, Lebanon, Iraq and support for extremist groups. Syria is designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the State Department.
How stupid are we? Seriously. How stupid are we to believe that Syria can be persuaded to be nice? Will they stop being Iran's deadly poodle? Will they stop trying to kill Iraqis and American troops in Iraq? Will they stop trying to destabilize Lebanon? Will they stop just being an oppressive dictatorship internally?
No they won't. So our desire for better relations immediately rules out the Syrians changing their behavior. I guarantee that the entire program of "solving the problems between our governments" will be for America to quietly accept that Syria will continue to act against us and kill our people--and we'll say nothing and shovel money at them. How's that for outreach?
Syria's regime knows what they have to do to get better relations. We should work day and night to isolate and undermine the Assad regime until Syria changes their behavior before we even think of having better relations.
