OVERLOAD – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  We have so much to deal with in the news right now, and it's easy to overlook critical stories.  None is more critical than the continuing upheaval in the Middle East.  It will have a profound effect on us, and could involve us in even more military action.

No country is more important in the Mideast than ancient Syria.  Not only is Damascus one of the Arab world's cultural capitals, but Syria is the Arab nation with the closest relationship with Iran.  The great Fouad Ajami, of Johns Hopkins, gives a blunt assessment of what's going on in Syria, and how Obama has, surprise, messed it all up: 

Pity the Syrians as they face the Assad regime's tanks and artillery and snipers. Unlike in Libya, there is no Arab or international "mandate" to protect them. Grant Syria's rulers their due: Their country rides with the Iranian theocracy and provides it access to the Mediterranean. It is a patron of Hamas and Hezbollah. And still they managed to sell the outside world on the legend of their moderation.

True, Damascus was at one time or another at odds with all its neighbors—Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Israel—but it managed to remain in the good graces of the international community. It had made a mockery of Lebanon's sovereignty, murdered its leaders at will. Yet for all the brutality and audacity of the Syrian reign of terror and plunder in Lebanon, the Syrians were able to convince powers beyond that their writ was still preferable to the chaos that would engulf Lebanon were they to leave.

But get this:

Barack Obama provided the Syrian dictatorship with a diplomatic lifeline. He was keen to "engage" Tehran and Damascus, he was sure that Syrian radicalism had been a response to the heavy hand of the Bush administration. An American ambassador was dispatched to Damascus, and an influential figure in the Democratic Party, Sen. John Kerry, made it his calling to argue that the young Syrian ruler was, at heart, a "reformer" eager to sever his relations with Iran and Hezbollah.

John Kerry?  Didn't he run for president?  Didn't he pick John Edwards as his vice presidential choice?  The man has such good judgment.  Next time I buy a car, I'll ask for his advice.

Until the Arab Spring, nothing had stirred in Syria in nearly three decades. President Hafez al-Assad and his murderous younger brother Rifaat had made an example of Hama in 1982 when they stamped out a popular uprising by leveling much of the city and slaughtering thousands. Now, the circle is closed. President Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher, commander of the Republican Guard, are determined to subdue this new rebellion as their father did in Hama—one murder at a time. In today's world it's harder to turn off the lights and keep tales of repression behind closed doors, but the Assads know no other way. Massacre is a family tradition.

It took time for the diplomacy of the West to catch up with Syria's horrors. In Washington, they were waiting for Godot as the Damascus regime brutalized its children. In his much-trumpeted May 19 speech from the State Department—"Cairo II," it was dubbed—President Obama gave the Syrian ruler a choice. He could lead the transition toward democracy or "get out of the way." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has since used the same language.

But one senses this newfound bravado is too little too late.

Douglas MacArthur said that all defeats begin with those two words:  Too late. 

The refugees from the Syrian massacre are streaming across the Turkish border.  Americans, meanwhile, are preoccupied with a failing economy.  The Brits and the French bravely try to carry on in Libya, but years of gutting their defenses to pay for the welfare state are taking their toll.  All this while Mr. Obama makes pretty speeches on things he knows nothing about.

And it is only months to an election in Egypt that may well bring in the worst elements.

It is time for America to lead once more, but our team has an inexperienced, egotistical and shallow manager.  Casey Stengel could do a better job, and make a better speech.

June 13, 2011