By Sarah Stern & Kyle Shideler

In the past two and a half weeks, the Obama administration has ramped up its efforts to engage with Syria’s Dictator Bashar Assad, announcing its intentions to appoint an ambassador to Syria 5 years after the Bush Administration severed ties in the aftermath of the Rafik Hariri assassination, the killing which led to the Cedar Revolution and the effort to expel the last remnants of Syrian domination over Lebanon. Yet the Hariri assassination, one of many political assassinations conducted by the Syrians in Lebanon for which no justice has been done, plays absolutely no role in the decision to reopen ties.

Syria remains on the U.S’s list of Terror Supporters, and is well known to provide safe harbor to terror organizations ranging from Hezbollah and Hamas, to Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as being suspected of harboring insurgents who conduct attacks against U.S forces and civilians in Iraq. But that support for terror played no role in the decision to reopen ties. “There are a variety of actors in Damascus we think should not be there,” says State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley, a strong candidate if the State Department gives employee awards for understatement in the line of duty. Despite these numerous “bad actors,” the State Department lifted its travel advisory to U.S citizens traveling to Syria on February 20^th.

Nor has civil and human rights abuses in Syria improved.  According to the State Departments own Human Rights Country Report for Syria,”The government’s respect for human rights worsened, and it continued to commit serious abuses. The government systematically repressed citizens’ abilities to change their government. In a climate of impunity, there were instances of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life.”  This is a polite way of saying that the Syrian regime continues to jail, torture and murder anyone who stands in their way.

The Syrian regime continues to act in an aggressive, destabilizing way. In early February, Syrian foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu’alem threatened missile attacks against Israeli cities while at the same time Syria began transferring  long range Fateh-110 missiles to Hezbollah. Syria also has resumed shipments from North Korea of materials for use in the building of centrifuges, an activity which initially halted after the 2007 Israeli strike against a suspected Syrian nuclear facility.

Why then, if all of these behaviors have remained unchanged does the Obama Administration seek to reopen ties with Syria? State Department Spokesman Mark Toner says, “It’s a clear sign, after five years without an American ambassador in Damascus, of America’s readiness to improve relations and to cooperate in the pursuit of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Arabs and Israelis.”

Once again Syria’s victims of repression, terrorism, and assassination are sacrificed on the altar of “peace.”

Even for those of the “Realist” foreign policy school, who may be totally unmoved by Syria’s human rights abuses, sponsorship of terror, and penchant for assassinating neighboring leaders, the decision to reopen a full range of ties with Syria should be regarded  in the words attributed to the wily French Diplomat Talleyrand as, “worse than a crime, it’s a mistake.” Why? Because it is doomed to failure.

The supposed goal of the Syrian outreach is to open negotiations with Israel, and to distance it from Iran.  If you’re experiencing déjà vu, it’s for the simple reason that we’ve been here before. In fact, William Burns, the man likely to be tapped as Ambassador to Syria, met with Bashar Assad in 2004. Other notables who attempted to reach out to the Syrians included then Secretary of State Colin Powell, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. John Kerry, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (through Turkish intermediaries.) None have succeeded in distancing the Syrian regime from its Iranian ally, nor in opening real negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace.

Far from responding to the U.S rapprochement with anything like eagerness, the Syrians took the opportunity February 26^th to mock the deal. In a joint press conference with Iranian ally Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Assad condemned “US Colonialism,” while joining the Iranian Holocaust denier in a pledge to create a Middle East, “Without Zionists.”

The two terror sponsors also took the opportunity to lunch with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah, and are believed to have discussed war plans, which involves building up Hezbollah’s military force until Israel is forced to respond, then  having Syria strike Israel with its large arsenal of ballistic missiles. IDF Military Intelligence has reported to the Knesset that Syria is now transferring military arms and technology to the Lebanese terrorist group that far exceeds anything it has given its proxies before, including long-range surface to surface missiles; surface to air missiles, and sophisticated anti-tank rockets.

In our efforts to engage the Syrians, we have ignored that they have expressed time and time again, their complete disinterest in amending their behavior. Throughout the Middle East it is becoming apparent to dissidents and reformers, that standing up to the despotic and tyrannical regimes is a mistake. The March 14^th movement in Lebanon is on its last legs. Saad Hariri, son of the murdered Lebanese politician and now Prime minister must go to Damascus and kow-tow to Assad and Hezbollah. Lebanese and Syrian dissidents must once again disappear into their bolt holes, as America, which encouraged and supported their movements, now aligns with their oppressor in another failed attempt at swaying the unswayable.

Under our current policy, diplomacy has become (with apologies to Will Rogers), the art of saying nice doggie, until you can find a bigger carrot.

Tags: Dissidents, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, U.S Policy