Saturday.....War On Terror.....Golan Heights

The Iraq Study Group was a bi-partisan commission co-chaired by James Baker and Lee Hamilton. It released its final report in December of 2006. It touched on just about every conceivable area of the Iraq War. Concerning Syria, it was very receptive to Israel returning the Golan Heights to Syria and in return Syria would give the usual promises of being good and the United States would also give promises of defending Israel if Syria did not live up to its promises. The strategic military importance of the Golan to Israel is enormous. It's the high ground, a barrier, and now an important economic, agricultural and water supply concern to Israel. Bashar al-Assad previously said that any negotiations with Israel would not be mediated by the United States while George Bush was President because he had no real vision for peace. An article released yesterday by the Associated Press was given the headline Syrian praises Obama's values and quoted a telegram sent by Assad to Obama that said The values that were adopted by President Obama during the election campaign and after he was elected president are values that the world needs today. Some commentators are wondering why Assad is making this gesture. Does he realize that he overplayed his hand in recent years? Is he concerned about the turmoil in Iran and backing away from them? I don't think so. He wants the Golan and believes that it is within his grasp with the present administration in power.