AS LONG AS WE'RE THERE, WE MAY AS WELL:

Bush's advisers debating military force against Syria (Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott, 1/10/04,
Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Senior aides to President Bush are vigorously debating what to do about Syria as evidence mounts that the government in Damascus is stepping up support for the terror group Hezbollah and allowing anti-American insurgents to reach Iraq, according to U.S. officials.

Civilians in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office are pushing for military action and have drawn up plans for punitive airstrikes and cross-border incursions by U.S. forces, according to three officials.

But Bush's White House advisers, backed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department, are arguing against a new military venture with much of the U.S. military tied down in Iraq and a presidential-election year under way.

That view appears to have prevailed, for now.

"We've got all we can handle, and then some, in Iraq, and our military is either stretched to the breaking point or already broken," said a senior administration official. He and others spoke on condition of anonymity.

That's why God made the Predator.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 11, 2004 8:25 AM