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Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0224/p08s01-comv.html
The Road to Damascus
[Christian Science Monitor] Editorial - As a Middle East way station for terrorists, Syria can't be ignored. Candidate Barack Obama pledged during the campaign to engage Syria in contrast to President Bush's attempt to isolate it. Now a limited engagement has begun as Obama gave a nod of approval for trips last week to Syria by the heads of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees. The U.S. has tried soft diplomacy before with Syria, under President Clinton and pre-9/11 Bush. Both attempts revealed a Damascus unwilling to give up ties with Iran, Hamas, and Hizbullah, or to end its dark influence in Lebanon. The Assad regime, based on the rule of the minority Alawite tribe, needs the economic benefits of those ties and a perception of external threats to control internal dissent.