Libya down, Syria next?

Ran into this little gem at Instapundit From The Australian comes the news of several months of negotiations, the planned opening of two embassies and visits of high people. From the article: bq. Syria has appealed to Australia to use its close ties with Washington to help the Arab nation shake off its reputation as a terrorist haven and repair its relations with the US. bq. Secret talks between the two nations have been under way for months but have become more urgent as rogue nations reconsider their role in allowing terrorists to thrive, in light of the US determination to take pre-emptive military action. bq. A Syrian embassy will be opened in Canberra in weeks and Australia is considering reopening its mission in Damascus. bq. Australia's close relationship with Washington, and its much higher profile in the Middle East, have prompted Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara'a and parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Al-Ibrache to appeal to Canberra to help bring their country back in from a US-imposed diplomatic freeze. This is incredibly cool - Syria is the place where Saddam's WMD's were supposed to have been moved to. They have been a hardline terrorist sponsor. The grace with which we treated Libya has shown to the Arab world that we are willing to work with those nations who can prove that they are willing to work with us. National defense is one thing but waging a 1930's Soviet style "Cold War" against the west is not the way to win friends or to have a vital economy. The wonderful thing is that this will open these areas up to travel again. Afghanistan used to be a major backpacking destination 30 years ago and it would be great to go and visit some of the places you read about in the Bible. To walk on the places these people walked. The militancy is a recent thing, fostered by the Soviets who wanted instability (check out Arafat's origins if you don't believe me) and when the Soviet government collapsed, the fundamentals continued lurching along like some Frankenstein's Monster fueled by Saudi oil money and their personal sense of cultural failure coupled to an inability to look within for the cause. Blame the West is not the solution... Hate is not the A.N.S.W.E.R.