Petraeus Credits Syria With Assistance in Iraq

General David Petraeus says that Syria has been a great help in damming the flow of insurgents into Iraq:

"The progress that has been made against al Qaeda-Iraq this year is very significant," Petraeus said on the December 28 edition of Bill O'Reilly's radio show, which was guest-hosted by Dom Giordano.

"It has been helped, I should note, by the way, by actions in a number of source countries, including Saudi Arabia, some of the Gulf states, and some north African countries, who have conducted operations against so-called foreign fighter facilitators, financiers, and others who have supported and provided money and individuals to al Qaeda-Iraq. And also, by Syria, which has taken more aggressive action against al Qaeda-Iraq in the networks in Syria that take individuals through Damascus Airport and then on into Iraq."

Why would Syria be helping us? I think it has a great deal to do with the fact that when Israel launched the air raid earlier this year (most likely with US assistance), we and Israel were extremely tight-lipped and did not gloat or even claim anything had occurred. This helped "Boy" Assad immeasurably as leadership in the Mideast is based on strength and any sign of weakness allows ones enemies to grow in stature. An Israeli invasion of Syria would be seen as a major sign of weakness for Assad and the allied Israel and US spared him the humiliation by tamping down the story from the outset.

Add to that some secret diplomacy and our carrot and stick approach when dealing with Syria and you come to the conclusion that they are finally seeing the light. By Petraeus' acknowledging their aid it is the Bush administration saying in not so subtle terms that if you help us, we'll help you and hopefully will lead to a more stable Lebanon and pressure on Hezbollah.

While the General credited the Saudis and others, the pipeline of Jihadist's coming through Syria on the west and Iran on the east has been stanched and that is one of the major victories that Petraeus has won this year.