Obama rewards Syria for supporting Al Qaeda

The new US ambassador to Damascus, Robert Ford, on Thursday handed his credentials to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, the AFP reported:

The appointment comes almost six years after Washington withdrew its ambassador to Damascus, Margaret Scobey, in the wake of the February 2005 assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in a car bomb in Beirut...

The appointment of Ford "shows that President Obama wants to work with Syria even if we don't agree on every issue," a US embassy source said.

But it should not be viewed as a "reward" for the Syrian government, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on January 7 as Ford was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...

It should be noted, however, that Syria is not only culpable for the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, it is also to blame for many of the bombing attacks currently plaguing Iraq, including today's attack:

Suicide bombers struck inside Iraq for the third day straight, killing 45 Shia pilgrims and wounding more than 150... Al Qaeda in Iraq continues its campaign to strike at Iraq's security forces and Iraqi Shia in an effort to weaken the government and divide Iraqis along sectarian lines...

Al Qaeda in Iraq is supported primarily through its networks in eastern Syria. The al Qaeda ratlines, which move foreign fighters, money, and weapons, pass from eastern Syria through the northwestern Iraqi cities of Sinjar and Rabiah into Mosul...

In 2009, al Qaeda's central leadership based in Pakistan reportedly sent a senior ideologue to Syria to partner with a dangerous operative who ran the network that funnels foreign fighters, cash, and weapons into western Iraq.

Sheikh Issa al Masri is thought to have left Pakistan's tribal agency of North Waziristan and entered Syria in June 2009, where he paired up with Abu Khalaf, a senior al Qaeda operative who had been instrumental in reviving al Qaeda in Iraq's network in eastern Syria and directing terror operations in Iraq, a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

Although the US killed Abu Khalaf during a Jan. 22, 2010 raid in the northern city of Mosul, Sheikh Issa is alive and is believed to be based in Damascus and is protected by the Mukhabarat, Syria's secret intelligence service...

Nevertheless, according to Philip Crowley, the appointment of Robert Ford should not be viewed as a "reward" to Syria for supporting Al Qaeda and eliminating Rafik Hariri. But rather, the appointment is just one more indication of Barack Obama's profound diplomatic prowess.

Sigh....