Since last month's bomb attack, the fighting has become more intense, reaching into Damascus and Aleppo for the first time in the 17-month-old uprising against the Assad dynasty.
Video footage posted on the Internet appeared to show that rebel fighters were carrying out summary executions in Aleppo in much the same way as government forces have been accused of acting in Damascus.
One video showed four men identified as members of the pro-Assad Shabbiha militia being led down a flight of stair, lined up against a wall and shot in a hail of rifle fire as onlookers shouted "God is Greatest".
I'm not happy that the Assad regime faces resistance by some pretty awful elements inside Syria (who arrived at the invitation of Assad for use against us, originally) rather than by the League of Women Voters direct action wing. But you go to proxy war with the resistance you have and not the resistance you wish you had.
I know that some of the resistance are thug terrorists. But they are helping to drive out an enemy of the United States (Assad), knock a major weapon out of the hand of Assad's sponsor (Iran), and giving China's and Russia's thug-protection racket a setback.
Shouldn't realists be willing to pay the price for these worthy objectives? Besides, the Syrian people seem willing to pay the price to get rid of Assad for their own reasons.
One thing at a time. Get rid of Assad while preparing the less objectionable resistance for the next round to suppress the jihadis.
