Syria needs to be hurt.

. . . [C]oalition forces have captured 311 foreign fighters since April. Most came from Egypt, Syria, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia. The other detainees came from more than 20 other countries, including Britain, France and Ireland. General Lynch says it appears the Zarqawi network is increasingly relying on foreigners.

"We've talked about how Zarqawi since January has lost 100 of his leaders, tier one, tier two, tier three leaders," he said. "What we find is that he's replacing these leaders with foreign fighters, primarily because they are most inclined to conduct these ruthless acts of violence against the Iraqi people."

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington says foreigners make up between four to 10 percent of Iraq's estimated 30,000 insurgents. They come from predominantly Muslim countries . . . .

* * * *

"Sometimes they seem to be recruited into cells rather than through any central organization," he said. "So they'll go to Syria, for example, and then go to the actual cell without having been passed through the organization itself. Some of the people doing the recruiting seem to have this kind of direct connection rather than a connection through the organization. But what is very clear is that most of the foreign volunteers are always Sunni Islamic extremists and the number is rising it is not declining."

. . . [M]ost of these fighters share the philosophy and goals of al-Qaida: they violently reject non-Muslims and want to establish radical Islamist states in the Middle East. To accomplish this, these foreign extremists are more than willing to die for the cause.

"Some are recruited with the whole idea of martyrdom. So they come to Iraq prepared to die . . . .

Syria is believed to be a primary staging ground for these foreign fighters. They arrive in the country by plane and then sometimes receive training in clandestine camps before slipping across the border into Iraq. At a Senate hearing last week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington is pressing Damascus to stop this.^[1]

We have a suggestion. Why not have Secretary Rice press Damascus to stop after, say, we destroy 100 of Syria's air force fighters, or, a la President Reagan (pbuh), one of the presidential palaces?

Surely there's only a finite amount of hate for us in the Arab/Persian world. Why not this little educational exercise?

Notes
^[1] "Iraqi Foreign Fighters Seen as Small, But Deadly Force." By Bill Rodgers, GlobalSecurity.org, 10/25/05.