Three men at the heart of President Assad’s defence team have died in a suicide bombing, Syrian state TV says.
The president’s defence minister, brother-in-law and head of his crisis team were at a meeting at national security headquarters in Damascus.
No footage has yet emerged of the attack in which the national security chief and interior minister were also said to have been wounded.
The Administration had better be VERY careful about what they cause or influence to have happen in Syria.
Although, in an ideal world, its better to shun evil, in a practical world where thousands of human lives are at stake, that is not an option that is reasonable if greater evil will result from that shunning.
The adage “Its better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.” applies here.
The State Department is hopelessly outclassed when it comes to dealing with political-military affairs. Most of the State people were educated by people who wrote fairy tales about the way things “should be” and are ill equipped to deal with cut-throat and unprincipled adversaries.
An obvious outcome if Assad falls in Syria is chaos. Other likely outcomes include well-organized (by Middle Eastern standards) radical Islamicists taking power in Syria and Turkey taking control of northern Syria.
Israel may conduct pre-emptive operations to protect its border with Syria and to protect/improve its stractegic/tacticaL situation with Syria. Lebanon may fall back into a hot civil war and greater chaos.
All because of childish political leadership in the Defense and State Departments.
As an aside, the Defense Department’s Office of International Afairs has often functioned as a ‘sub rosa’ State Department and can possibly do more ‘good’ in this situation than the State Department if it is not compromised by the incompetence of political appointees.
Elves,
Please correct my second sentence in comment #1. where I said,
“…that is an option if greater evil will result from that shunning.”
to read,
“…that is not an option if greater evil will result from that shunning.”
Thank you.
But, what if the devil you know is being bodily thrown out the door? You have to work through the remaining options, then.