Quagmire Alert

From Instapundit, a report from a musician currently touring Iraq and Syria, on the state of the country from his perspective.

He says this about Syria:

If CNN hasn't gotten it, it appears that Assad in Syria has. The cabinet change was a big thing even though many hoped/expected that Assad would choose a non-Baathist over Otri. Still, they think a few of the new guys will be non-Baathists which would have been unthinkable before.

They sure need it-- the country is a beautiful basket case full of intelligent, kind people who could do something good if given a chance. On a more superficial, but probably important level as well, the kids military uniforms we saw last year are all gone, and a lot of the militarization you used to see in posters and monuments, etc. seems to have been toned down. The Lebanese paper, The Star, attributes this directly albeit grudgingly to the US being right next door.

Hm - sounds suspiciously close to what some of us were citing as a justification for the war - enforcing moderation on terror-mongering states like the Syrians and Iranians.

Read it all.

Posted by Mitch at September 18, 2003 07:42 AM