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Original Commentaries
Setting the Record Straight
Potential Partner for Regional Stability
“As long as the current radical regime is in power in Damascus, there won’t be any negotiated peace even of the most superficial variety because the conflict is indispensible to the Syrian dictatorship. And the most probably type of change in Syria—though its likelihood is still low—to a radical Islamist regime would make any such peace even less likely.”
—Barry Rubin, director, Global Research in International Affairs Center, IDC Herzliya, “Peace on the Borderline,” The Rubin Report, May 31, 2009
“The al-Asad regime in Syria continues to play the dangerous game of allowing or accepting extremist networks and terrorist facilitators to operate from and through Syrian territory. ... However, unlike Iran, Syria’s motives probably stem from short-sighted calculations rather than ideology. It is possible that over time Syria could emerge as a partner in promoting security in the Levant and in the region.”
—General David Petraeus, commander, U.S. Central Command, testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, “The Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategic Review and the Posture of U.S. Central Command,” April 2, 2009
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