Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the President is pushing forward with his re-engagement strategy with Syria, despite the latest reports indicating that the Syrian government has transferred long-range Scud Missiles to Hezbollah. The President, after all, is on a crusade to make the world more secure, hence, he can ill-afford to meddle in Syria's internal affairs, nor can he afford to weaken the Syrian/Hezbollah alliance:
Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah in a move that threatens to alter the Middle East's military balance, Israeli and U.S. officials alleged...Scuds be damned! Engagement is the name of the game, baby!
U.S. President Barack Obama has made engaging Mr. Assad's government a cornerstone of his Mideast policy, arguing Syria can be engaged in a regional peace process and lured from its strategic alliance with Iran.
A senior U.S. official involved in Mideast policy said Washington was uncertain why Mr. Assad would escalate tensions with Israel...
Detractors of the White House's policy of engagement with Damascus seized on the news Tuesday as evidence Mr. Assad has no intention of breaking Syria's strategic ties to Tehran and Hezbollah.
"It's increasingly hard to argue that the engagement track has worked," said Andrew Tabler, a Syria analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Officials briefed on the intelligence said Israeli and American officials believe Lebanon transferred Scud D missiles to Hezbollah that were built with either North Korean or Russian technology.
The Scuds are believed to have a range of over 430 miles, placing Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's nuclear installations at Dimona all within range of Hezbollah's military forces...
Israeli officials said this week that Scud D missiles were "game-changing" armaments that marked a new escalation in the Mideast conflict...
In February, President Obama nominated a career diplomat, Robert Ford, to be the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since 2005. The Bush administration pulled its chief envoy to Syria following the assassination of former Lebanese Minister Rafik Hariri, which was widely blamed on Syrian intelligence officials. Damascus has denied the allegations.
Mr. Ford's appointment was part of a phased U.S. reengagement with Syria that was to be tied to Damascus's cooperation in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, according to U.S. officials...
Congressional officials said Tuesday that Republicans were now seeking to place a hold on Mr. Ford's confirmation, which was initially expected to pass the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week.
U.S. officials stressed, however, that the White House wasn't second-guessing its engagement strategy and was pushing forward with Mr. Ford's nomination...
Update: The Kuwaiti daily, Al Rai is now reporting that the White House has made an about-turn and has decided to delay the appointment of its new ambassador to Damascus in response to the weapons' shipment.
It remains to be seen whether this report is true.
A change of heart by the Obama administration?
I don't think so. The President and his cronies have probably come to conclusion that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will refuse to confirm Mr. Ford's appointment as long as the Syrians continue to arm Hezbollah with scuds. Hence, they've decided - at least for the present moment - not to push forward with Mr. Ford's nomination, since it would ultimately be a losing proposition.
Pending.....
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