An Alternate Witness

Either I'm prophetic, or I spoke too soon.

Today, Baghdad announced the normalization of relations with Syria after 26 years, the mutual establishment of embassies, and cooperation towards the establishment of greater security in the region. Syria, of course, has an interest in keeping Iraq together, because a fracturing of Iraq would fuel Kurdish nationalism within Syria. Diplomatic cooperation between Iraq and Syria is a seed of hope that the Syrian border might be tightened and the smuggling of arms and insurgents into Iraq.

Sadly, however, just a little farther west in Lebanon, news is just coming through about the apparent assasination of Industry Minister Pierre Jamail, whittling down a Lebanese governing council already weakened by the ostentatious defection of Shi'ite ministers protesting Lebanon's support of a UN study finding Syria complicit in the assasination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Syria, of course, is a common thread in all of this. They are, of course, accused of aiding violence both in Iraq and in Lebanon, but I cannot help but wonder if a little recognition on the world stage, such as the normalization of relations with its neighbor Iraq, might give Syria the recognition it craves, in which case they might scale down their controversial smuggling operations.

Additionally, Iraq's President and a Syrian representative will be attending a weekend summit in Iran to discuss regional concerns. Better yet, the United States has not yet made any statements condemning such cooperation. Might this indicate the possibility of improved security in the Middle East?

A thousand blessings on their endeavors.