Syria Strikes Back

Whoa, I didn't see this one coming!

Syria handed over a highly wanted half-brother of Saddam Hussein who is suspected of funding and planning the post-war insurgency, Iraqi sources say.

Iraq's government announced the capture of the former Saddam Hussein aide Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti.

Iraq did not comment on Syria's role but the Iraqi sources said Damascus had acted under international pressure.

Between that bombing two weeks ago in Beirut and Friday's business in Tel Aviv, the Syrians have overextended themselves. If they'd kept a low profile, they could have probably kept under the international radar, affording themselves relative immunity.

Part of the dividend of Operation Iraqi Freedom has been that nations like Syria and Iran are under far greater scrutiny now, so that when Iran signs a deal to buy nuclear fuel from Russia, or Syria sponsors a bombing in Lebanon, people actually hear about it. I guarantee you that three weeks ago, most Americans didn't know that Syria had troops in Lebanon; now most of them still don't, but a lot more do than did before.

Operation Iraqi Freedom has put state sponsors of terrorism on notice that if they don't cooperate with their commitments and obligations, there will be a price to pay. It's almost entertaining to see that Assad in Syria and Khatami in Iran aren't smart enough to figure that out.