I think the present administration of the United States lacks the will, desire or ability to negotiate anything.

The issue of Palestine must be resolved to the satisfaction of those parties involved. Without pressure from the United States the zealots in Israel will continue to ignore resolving the issue of Palestine. However, they will antagonize the Palestinians, who will retaliate. The Israel majority seems to like to elect leaders that want to irritate the Israeli/Palestine issue.



>Americans are even more frightened about the idea than anyone else I believe. Syrians are the most dedicated and loyal fighters. The Syrians that have gone to Iraq have fought well and to the death (unlike most Iraqis). However, the Syrians are fighting for a 'cause' while the Iraqis were not really committed to fighting for a regime they wanted out and most remaining fighters are fighting for Islamic reasons only or have no hope of any future with the regime gone.
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>Both Syria and Iran are making political moves to be more friendly with the U.S. government since the war started and so quickly major military action ended. So is North Korea. I hope the U.S. takes advantage of this and starts to improve international relations and international opinion. The first thing the U.S. could do is focus on the Israel issue and 'get out of Dodge.' It's time the UN resolutions were enforced for both the Israeli and Palestine, Palestine got their land back and became a formally recognized state (big quabble coming up on where and how much of the land is theirs), and the U.S. stops blindly supporting or even silently condoning Israel's actions. I could go on, but I would only entice more arguments on the UT!
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>>In my opinion, if the US were to prepare for military action against Syria, they would find themselves extremely isolated. Yes, even more so than against Iraq - this time, not even his good mate Tony would turn up.
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>>To put it extremely bluntly, Syria is nothing like Iraq. Or more precisely, Bashar alAssad and his regime is nothing like Saddam Hussein and his. It also wouldn't be the same in terms of fighting. The US marches into Syria and it would have half the Arab world fighting back - and I don't mean standing in the desert waiting to be shot at. I would guess that the first major US casualty of such a war incidentally would be Baghdad...
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>>How do Americans feel about this whole "who's next?" thing, because it scares the hell out of us Europeans.
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>>>Numerous politicians, including Colin Powell, stated publicly yesterday the U.S. is NOT considering military action of any type with Syria.