The Road to Damascus:

will it be paved with the bones of a bunch of young Americans and Syrians who probably didn't know that they were put the on this earth to give George W. Bush a chance to show the world what a godly, liberating, and all-around swell guy he is? Our state department's homepage presently has this quote from Condaleeza Rice:

"The spread of freedom is the work of generations, but it is also urgent work that cannot be deferred."

That doesn't strike me as promising, especially after last month's creepily Orwellian inauguration speech.

A racheting up:
Monday: former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri killed by Feb. 14 car bomb in Beirut.(along with 16 others killed.)

Tuesday: the Bush Administration demands that Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon,

Wednesday: the US recalls its ambassador to Syria to protest what it sees as that country's role in the murder of the former prime minister of Lebanon.,

And today: "Rice Says Syria Is at Least Indirectly Responsible for the Blast"

I'm really getting tired of this.

Some additional links:

1. the US embassy in Syria,

2. a fairly useful timeline of events from Lebanon's history (Newsday-AP),

3."The assassination of Rafiq Hariri: who benefited?" from the World Socialist News; this was on google news' 1st page of results for "demands syria withdraw troops" so maybe I've been too hard on them in the past.