With the fall of Saddam Hussein, the dimwit of Damascus, Bashar al-assad, has tried to take his place. But where Saddam survived and even defied the world Bashar looks more and more like a kid trying to fill a grown ups shoes.

Syria is now being blamed for the assissination of Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, who opposed the occupation of his country. A good question to ask is why did it take so long to figure out the Syrians were behind the murder of Hariri? It was fairly obvious the minute his car was exploded.

We all know that Syria funds, shelters and supports terrorists. Jihadists going to fight and die in Iraq come through Syria, and many are Syrians. Hezboallah has a safe haven in Damascus. They continue to treat Lebanon as a fiefdom, even though they have withdrawn their troops. Many continue to believe that Syrian intelligence has stayed behind and is still trying to help Bashar run the country.

So this begs the question, what do we do now? We know that Syria is a hostile nation, like it is trying to take Iraqs place on the axis of evil list. Do we let the UN impose sanctions? I seem to remember another middle eastern dictator that spent over a decade under official sanction and seemed to function under them just fine. The only reason sanctions might work is there isn't as much oil in Syria for France, who opposes any actions on Damscus, to take as they did with oil for food under Hussein.

Sanctions will not get rid of Assad. They don't get rid of anyone, they won't even contain Assad and stop his support of terrorism. So sanctions really aren't an option.

But there will not be an operation Syrian freedom. No coalition forces marching on Damscus to topple the last Baathist dictator, and finally exterminate this Arab version of Nazism. No the left has made sure that the war in Iraq is so unpopular and associated with words like "fraud" and "quagmire" that further action will be impossible. It's nice to know that the anti american left( is there another kind?) has effectively tied the hands of the American government. So what course do we have left?

From all reports the opposition in Syria is becoming more active, and Assads position is becoming weaker. But without help from the outside Assad will be able to crush any opposition and survive for sometime. The world, not just the U.S., must support the opposition to Assad and hopefully help freedom come to another country in a part of the world that is severly lacking in it.