NRO's Corner -- Where John Podhoretz is the voice of reason! International Man of Mystery Michael Ledeen has been raving about how, to protect Israel, the U.S. must instantly democratize Syria and Iran, a notion so loony that even JPod sounds sensible in contrast:

Like I Say, Michael... [John Podhoretz] ...a wonderful notion, that — America helping to take the lead in destroying Hezbollah and taking down the regime in Syria even as we fight a difficult war in Iraq. Wonderful. And science-fictional.

Isn't it about time for the National Review Board of Trustees to clean house?

The odds are going up, now that Berlusconi has gone down and Ledeen's spook pals at SISMI are under investigation by the new center-left Italian government, that Ledeen will be linked to something bad (something new and bad, as opposed to all the bad things he's been exposed as being involved with in the past). Sure, NR should fire a half dozen people, but if there is something blocking them from getting rid of even Michael Ledeen, then there must be something going on that I don't begin to understand.

Washington, Hamilton, and Madison foresaw the present day clearly in Washington's Farewell Address:

"Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite [foreign country] are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests."

P.S., One of the funny things about the "Islamofascist" Assad dynasty in Syria is that the Assads aren't even genuinely Islamic. The Alawites who rule Syria are considered quasi-Christian heretics by real Muslims. That's why Syria is one of the most religiously tolerant countries in the region. Lots of Iraqi Christians have recently fled to Syria now that Islamic extremism is the norm in the wonderful post-Saddam Iraq we've created. Of course, that's also why the Alawite minority that runs the country brutally can't allow democracy in Syria, because if the will of the voters ever was implemented in Syria, the Alawite heretics would be ripped to shreds.

God, how I hate the Middle East. And how I hate poor naive America being so heavily involved in it, getting yanked around by interested parties (have I mentioned Ahmad Chalabi lately?) for reasons we dumb hicks can't begin to fathom.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer