Syria backs Middle Eastern WMD-free zone

Saw this coming a mile away. . .

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara has said his government is willing to sign a treaty making the entire Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.

“The Syrian government is ready to sign a treaty under U.N. supervision to make the whole Middle East a zone free from all mass destruction weapons, nuclear, chemical and biological,” he told SBS in Damascus.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday the United States favoured a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction but linked any possible inspection of Israel’s arsenal to peace with Syria and Lebanon.

“It is better for the Americans, for the Israelis, for every citizen on earth, especially in the Middle East, and it is good for the American forces in Iraq, to see that the whole Middle East is a zone free from all mass destruction weapons,” Shara said.

Should we take a vote as to whether or not the Israelis will agree? It would be a noble effort, but if I were Israel I sure wouldn’t give up the nuclear option. In the end it’s a great political move by the Syrian government, because after all if the UN mandate can be enforced in Baghdad, why not in Tel Aviv?