Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.
SYRIA IS GOING to be held accountable. Hallelujah!
At least that is what the Bush administration is threatening if the Syrians don't straighten up and fly right. That would include ending its support for anti- Israel terrorism, its development of weapons of mass destruction and its willingness to let Arab fighters cross into Iraq to kill American troops there.
It is not news that Syria is anti-Israel. In fact, both Syrian President Bashar Assad and his evil father before him delighted in seeing if they could keep Syria at the fore of the anti-Israel attack squad. And it is nothing new to learn of Syria's weapons of mass destruction program. Theirs is real and now, which may distinguish it from Saddam's WMD, a program over which we went to war.
Either one of these two realities is reason enough to hold Syria "accountable," whatever that means. But the third, well that's a whole other problem. About that there need be no discussion about accountability, just action to stop it.
If it is true, and apparently it is because it has been reported for months and now publicly acknowledged by the government, then Syria is allowing Arab fighters to cross into Iraq to kill American troops. That seems to me like a direct act of war on our country.
Ever since President George W. Bush announced on the deck of that aircraft carrier the cessation of the fighting in Iraq, American servicemen have been picked off and blown up in greater numbers than during the war itself. That is intolerable and it won't be long before the American people will want to say "no more, bring the boys home."
But, until that happens, I know President Bush must be beside himself trying to figure out how to keep those under his command safe, especially since Saddam is gone and practically the entire deck of evil cardmeisters is in custody or, better, dead. The very thought that Syria is playing us for fools must drive our president crazy.
Hence, the tough language. Being held accountable in this world can be very stressful. I can just see Bashar quaking in his highly polished boots at the thought, as Secretary of State Colin Powell puts it, of being "on the wrong side of history."
I say forget the nice talk. How about a missile or two aimed at his royal rear. That would stop the boy despot from aiding and abetting the murdering of our GIs. Who does he think he is and who do we think we are that we should allow him for one more minute to give full aid and comfort to terrorists desiring to kill our kids in uniform?
Syria isn't Saudi Arabia. For some reason -- the cynics would say it is oil and money -- the United States has used a hands-off approach on the Saudis even though most of the 9-11 killers were Saudi, Osama bin Laden is a Saudi, and the banks, charities and even some government entities under Saudi control helped fund the madness that destroyed America's innocence two years ago.
But Syria is not about oil. It is about as bad as Iraq ever hoped to be in the way it treats its people and its neighbor, Israel. If building weapons of mass destruction and giving aid and comfort to terrorist murderers is bad behavior in need of accountability, Syria is our guy and there ain't enough black or yellow gold to change that fact.
Who cares if Syria, which is the only country on the State Department's list of terrorism sponsors with which the United States has full diplomatic relations, is trying to help us re-stabilize Iraq. That is no reason to go easy on them. Besides, we'll figure that mess out ourselves one of these days without any help from our "friends" in Syria.
If Bashar is responsible for killing our men and women in uniform, this is no time and there is no reason to be lenient. His regime must be held accountable.
Right or wrong, when Syria was just hurting Israel, there were plenty of people in this country who were content to try diplomatic means to stop their bad behavior. Sometimes we even said "pretty please" when we talked to them. That didn't work, either.
But this time it is our children who are dying, many at the hands of those who have entered Iraq with the blessing and encouragement of that terrorist-state.
I hope Secretary of State Colin Powell is successful in trying to find a diplomatic solution. But if he isn't, and in short order, then I expect our president will take the next step up the ladder of accountability.
After all, words have meaning and actions have consequences. Soon we may learn what "being accountable" means in today's world.
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