(Wall Street Journal) Fouad Ajami - A struggle rages for a large swath of the Fertile Crescent, perhaps the most serious challenge to the borders of that slice of the Arab world since the European map makers stood up the states of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon in the aftermath of World War I. During the Iraq War, the Alawite rulers in Damascus aided and abetted Sunni jihadists keen to do battle against the Americans and their Shiite supporters. With Syria ablaze, those jihadists, who see a chance to throw off the Alawite yoke, now war against Assad. If the people in the Fertile Crescent had expected help and deliverance from the pre-eminent liberal power in the world, they now know better. The writer is a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.
2013-01-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive