Word: syrian
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...economic and military reprisals." His fellow columnist at the Times, William Safire, even offers a game plan: "Our declared-war strategy should be to (1) suppress Iraqi air defenses; (2) take out war production at the 26 key targets; (3) launch a three-front land war at the Turkish, Syrian and Kuwaiti borders . . . Our great danger is delay." A Wall Street Journal editorial writer daydreams: "If we take Baghdad and install a MacArthur regency, that is the optimum...
...look like a conflict that pits the "imperialist" U.S. against a beleaguered Iraq, Arab sympathy will tilt toward Saddam. An Arab proverb instructs that if a Muslim nation invites a foreigner onto its soil to fight, then all other Islamic nations should turn against the renegade nation. Warns a Syrian official: "The Americans should realize that if they hurt Iraq, it will mobilize all the Arabs around Saddam Hussein...
Bush runs his own show, another lesson from the Reagan calamity. When the word came that Polhill's deliverance was imminent, the President was fishing off Key Largo, Fla. He got Ambassador to Syria Ed Djerejian on the phone before Djerejian was to pick up Polhill from the Syrian couriers. "Tell them that any improvement in relations is dependent on the release of all the hostages," Bush cautioned. Within five minutes of that phone call, Djerejian, who once worked in the Reagan White House, had Polhill in his car, heading back to the U.S.embassy...
What Bush is doing is all he can -- or should -- do. He has publicly thanked President Hafez Assad for his help in freeing Polhill, boosting the Syrian's prestige. He has passed the word that he is ready to talk with Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani. This sort of thing makes it easier for Syria and Iran to put pressure on the terrorists holding the hostages...
...been pushing Syria to take a more active role in securing the hostages' freedom. It was no accident that President Bush sent Syrian President Hafez Assad a warm congratulatory message on the 44th anniversary of Syrian independence last week. Syria's influence over Hizballah has been partly limited by the fact that Damascus is a supporter of the Shi'ite Amal, a secular Muslim group that continues to fight fierce battles with the fundamentalist Hizballah. But Hussein Musawi, leader of a pro-Syrian faction within Hizballah, is now believed to have taken control of the American hostages held...