A dispatch from Damascus in the international section of today's New York Times reports: "Lacking any credible military threat as a result of its creaky Soviet hardware and with no means of tempering Israeli measures against the Palestinians, Syria instead maintains its hard-line credentials by acting as host to radical Palestinian groups and ramping up its tough talk."
It's just ostrich-like to pretend that Syria does not pose "any credible military threat" to Israel. According to an unclassified summary of a December 2001 National Intelligence Estimate prepared by the U.S. government, "Syria maintains a ballistic missile and rocket force of hundreds of FROG rockets, Scuds, and SS-21 SRBMs. With considerable foreign assistance, Syria progressed to Scud production using primarily locally manufactured parts." The same U.S. government report says that Syria "has developed" chemical weapons warheads for its Scud missiles and also has an offensive biological weapons program. One wonders what it would take -- short of a full-scale chemical obliteration by Syria of the population of an Israeli or American city -- for the New York Times to acknowledge that Syria presents a credible military threat.
Why Agree?: An article in the business section of today's New York Times reports on a new "reality" television program that shows the family life of Ozzy Osbourne. "Just why, the family was asked, did it agree? Mr. Osbourne said he wanted to showcase his version of family values," the Times reports. The article studiously avoids the question of whether Mr. Osbourne is being paid to appear on the program. If he is, that might be another answer to the question of why he and his family agreed to let the television cameras move into their house.