Should we engage Syria?

This is a transcript of the Unto the Breach program. Click here for the audio.

Syrian president Bashar Assad is expecting the US to send over an ambassador to make good on Obama’s promise to engage in dialogue. No wonder why Assad was so happy when Obama was elected. The U.S. hasn’t had an ambassador in Damascus since the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which the U.N. believes Syrian officials were involved.

Bush stood by his decision to not negotiate with terrorists, and Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism. They have been on the State Department’s list of countries sponsoring terrorism since the list began in 1979. In fact, Damascus is a headquarters for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups. Syria also actively supports Hezbollah, and maintains a covert presence in Lebanese politics. They view terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah as legitimate resistance movements to Israeli occupation of Arab lands.

In September of last year, two Syrian commando battalions along with recon and engineer corps invaded and occupied Lebanese territory. In 2007, Syrian troops invaded Lebanon, digging trenches and bunkers. There is scant if any media coverage of these events.

And remember that Syria occupied and basically controlled Lebanon from 1990 to 2005. The Syrian intelligence service created the terrorist group Fatah al-Islam in order to destabilize the Lebanese regime that kicked Syria out in 2005. And Syrian troops invaded Lebanon towards the end of 2008 supposedly to stop terrorists in Northern Lebanon.

When it came to Iraq, Syria did little to nothing to control its border with Iraq. Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal reports that as many as 150 foreign fighters a month entered Iraq from Syria.

The Council on Foreign Relations states that Syria is hostile to al Qaeda, but in October of last year, U.S. troops from Task Force 88 assaulted al Qaeda’s foreign fighter network based in Syria. The Syrian government protested the attack, calling it “criminal and terrorist aggression.” They then claimed that women and children were killed in the attack, which was a lie. Numerous al Qaeda leaders have lived openly in Syria.

The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point concluded in 2008 that “The Syrian government has willingly ignored, and possibly abetted, foreign fighters headed to Iraq.”

Syria’s nuclear program was destroyed in September 2007 by an Israeli air raid. It was found that the North Koreans were helping buid the reactor, which was weeks away from functioning. The reactor would have produced plutonium that could be used in high-yield nuclear weapons or a dirty bomb. And Iranian cooperation in Syria’s WMD program was proven when dozens of Iranian engineers were killed alongside 15 Syrian officers in July of 2007. Jane’s Defence Weekly reported that they were mounting a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when an explosion occurred, releasing lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas.

So what will engaging with Damascus do for our national goals? Assad won’t all of a sudden stop supporting terrorist groups just because Obama sent an ambassador. No amount of talking will change Syria’s mind on their national goals. What does Syria stand to gain by cutting their ties with Hamas and Hezbollah, and Iran, whom they have been strategic allies with since 1979? Why would they simply walk away?

Look – talking with terrorists will only elevate them. They are not to be dealt with. You kill them and go after their nests. You defeat them idealogically, because that is the only path forward.