Reply #21: Well, on that count... [View All]

[punpirate]

... Syria is significantly shy of oil--it's almost dry now. It's destined to become a net importer in just a few years--certainly fewer than ten, and their economy is quite shaky.

But, Syria still has a military presence in the northern half of Lebanon. Getting rid of that aids the Israelis. A substantial reason for Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon was ostensibly to prevent rocket attacks on northern Israel, but the real reason was to control water--most of the water coming into the area around Hebron comes from Lebanon.

The other US argument against Syria is that its leadership has strong familial and tribal ties to the former Sunni leadership of Iraq. There's probably a school of thought among the civilians in the Pentagon that they all have to be eradicated.

Iran's another matter, entirely.

Still, this article doesn't seem to make strong distinctions between help coming from inside Iran and Syria, and formalized assistance from the Syrian and Iranian governments, and that's a distinction that clouds the issue considerably.

Cheers.