Trust Us

I thought it was shameful that we urged Iraqis to rise up against Saddam at the conclusion of Desert Storm, and then when the Shias rose up just watched Saddam shoot the uprising down even though we had an army still sitting there.

I guess memories are short in Washington. Or perhaps shame is just in short supply:

Syrians in the military and business who still support President Bashar Assad should turn against him, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.

"The longer you support the regime's campaign of violence against your brothers and sisters, the more it will stain your honor. If you refuse, however, to prop up the regime or take part in attacks on your fellow citizens, your countrymen and women will hail you as heroes," Clinton said at a news conference in Morocco as she conveyed a message to those holdouts backers of the embattled leader.

So if Syrians stand by their honor and resist Assad, but Assad takes exception to that standing up for honor, what do we do?

At least Bush had the excuse that nobody was fighting Saddam and who knew that people would actually rise up?