Syria is having a bad week. I wonder if we have some people stirring up trouble there yet:


“There is no graver threat to our country today than states that both sponsor terrorism and possess or aspire to possess weapons of mass destruction. Syria, which offers physical sanctuary and political protection to groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and whose terrorist operations have killed hundreds of innocent people -- including Americans -- falls into this category of states of potential dual threat.”

As Under Secretary of State Bolton pointed out, “Since the 1970s, Syria has pursued what is now one of the most advanced Arab state chemical weapons capabilities. It has a stockpile of the nerve agent sarin that can be delivered by aircraft or ballistic missiles, and [it] has engaged in the research and development of more toxic and persistent nerve agents such as V-X.”

The younger Assad is not as savvy as his old man was, which could be his downfall. Hama rules (in the words of Friedman) may not be enough. There's also this:

An Air Force translator for suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp tried to send classified information about the prisoners to his native Syria, military authorities charge.

Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi is behind bars at a California Air Force base, facing 32 criminal charges. The most serious — espionage and aiding the enemy — could carry the death penalty.

Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said a broader investigation into possible security breaches at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba was continuing. One suspect, a member of the Navy, is under investigation but has not been arrested, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

Military authorities accuse al-Halabi, 24, of sending e-mail with information about the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay "to unauthorized person or persons whom he, the accused, knew to be the enemy." The Air Force documents detailing the charges do not say who "the enemy" is.

Al-Halabi also is accused of planning to give classified information about the prisoners as well as more than 180 written messages from detainees to a person who would then go to Syria.

And this:

We were told (by U.S. Army lawyers) that he had a list of prisoners and a map of the detention center," said Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. "If he's charged, then criminal procedures would take effect. But we don't know at this point."Though Yee is not charged with any crime, his case is already attracting national and international attention to this out-of-the-way military jail, the holding facility for American citizens detained in the war against terrorism.

Yee, the first American serviceman to be detained in connection with that war, joins three civilian detainees at the Hanahan brig. Muslim groups and civil rights advocates are keeping close tabs on his status.

Emphasis mine.

(Hat tip LGF)