Bashar's not so bad.

At least that’s what Joshua Landis at the New York Times wants us to believe. In a piece entitled “Don’t Push Syria Away” he laments the fact that GW didn’t have a cozy chat with Bashar Al-Assad, the tyrannical dictator of Syria. Instead Rice delayed his VISA and forced him to cancel his plans to attend the UN summit meeting in New York. Hell if we could do that to Assad my question is why didn’t we stop torturer and assassin Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian Puppet President from attending? After all those two countries are actively waging war on the United States and Iraq by funneling in arms and training killers to use those arms against Shi’ites, Iraqi security, and American troops. Oh, and Iraqi kids too.

Mr. Landis believes:

Mr. Assad's regime is certainly no paragon of democracy, but even its most hard-bitten enemies here do not want to see it collapse. Why? Because authoritarian culture extends into the deepest corners of Syrian life, into families, classrooms and mosques. Damascus's small liberal opposition groups readily confess that they are not prepared to govern. Though they welcome American pressure, like most Syrians, they fear the deep religious animosities and ethnic hatreds that could so easily tear the country apart if the government falls.

Farid Ghadry, president of the Reform Party of Syria, disagrees that opposition groups are not prepared to govern.

Never forget, revolutions are not opportunistic things molded out of an environment ready for their launch. Rather, revolutions create the environment in which they thrive and grow. It is up to our will to follow them through — despite the misgivings of those comfortable with a status quo that if allowed to continue for much longer will spell a de facto defeat for not just democracy in the Middle East, but for stability everywhere.

No doubt things could get ugly without a brutal monster keeping a lid on things through assassination, jailings, and torture. Look at what's happening in Basra now that Saddam is gone. Aside from the foreigners that Syria is allowing in, Shi’te militias controlled by different clerics are killing each other to see who is best able to lead the flock to heaven. Civil war is already happening on a small scale there and they belong to the same religious sect. Nevertheless even a chaotic Syria would be an improvement over the organized effort by Syrian Sunnis to undermine the Iraqi democracy. I hate to be hateful but if they are killing each other they will be less able to kill our troops in Iraq. Maintaining stability in Syria so the pipeline of terrorists coming into Iraq will continue flowing seems a little stupid to me.

Next week, United Nations investigators will begin interviewing top officials in Damascus about the bombing death of the anti-Syrian politician Rafik Hariri in Lebanon, a matter that many expect the United States will bring before the Security Council. Politicians and businessmen alike here are convinced that Washington wants to bring down the regime, not merely change its behavior.

Allah forbid that we hold Assad responsible for the assassination, after all Assad did warn Hariri, saying:

You have to bear in mind that I am capable of destroying Lebanon, you included.

This little blurb from the Landis article was especially strange.

Worse, if Mr. Assad's government collapsed, chances are the ethnic turmoil that would result would bring to power militant Sunnis who would actively aid the jihadists in Iraq.

Mr. Landis earlier admitted that this is already happening, and Assad wont put a stop to it because it would jeopardize domestic peace. They are actively aiding the terrorist but we can’t allow Assad to loose power because then they will actively aid the terrorists. What does Mr. Landis suggest we do to help Assad stop these militant Sunnis without jeopardizing the domestic peace?

For Mr. Assad to help the United States, he must have sufficient backing from Washington to put greater restrictions and pressure on the Sunni majority.

Ah, if only we would support more oppression of the Sunni majority in Syria then Assad could get the job done. All in the name of Democracy.

Hat tip to Oubai Shahbandar at Reform Syria Blogspot