JULIETTE OCHIENG COMMENTARY: North Koreans, Syrians And Strong Horses

The conservative Republican blogger opines: "This morning, US Intelligence Officials—including CIA head General Michael Hayden--gave a classified account to Congress as to what it knew and when it knew it with regard to the bombing of a Syrian facility by the Israeli Air Force last September. Allegedly included in the briefing is video evidence obtained from within the now-destroyed facility—a facility whose core was almost identical to a known plutonium-producing facility in North Korea. According to the article, the video shows North Koreans 'touring' the facility to boot. The WaPo article also says that this evidence could 'complicate' the US efforts to strike a deal with North Korean President Kim Il-Sung regarding his nukes. Hmmm. Sometimes I wonder whether we're really trying to 'strike a deal' with such a monster anyway. It seem to me that the Bush Administration’s policy toward the Norks is more strategically-minded: putting the American seal of approval on the 'negotiations' per Li'l Kim's demands, but, in reality, standing back while Kim’s neighbors put up with the bulk of his insanity. And, after the regional players tire of playing and being played, the US would sign off on whatever they decide—especially if the decision comes from the Japanese. And who could really expect a man possessing nuclear power capabilities while keeping his own people in such a state to listen to actual reason anyway? Selling the tech to the Syrians seems far more in-character for the gulag-keeper."

She continues her commentary, about foreign policy: "As for the Syrians, their ambassador to the US--Imad Moustapha—is predictably outraged at being bombed by the hated 'Zionist Entity,' but rightly points out that the West claimed that Saddam’s Hussein’s Iraq had a nuke program also, but no evidence of same was subsequently found. Some think that Saddam managed to move evidence of such a program to…Syria.

Ms. Ochieng responds to another conservative blogger's claim that Syria seems less than willing to restart its program: "Can we call this the 'Strong Horse Syndrome?' Or perhaps the Reagan Syndrome? One wonders whether we’ll see the reverse of such a syndrome after January 20, 2009."