In the Middle East, Focus on Iran, Not the Syrian Rebels

"Focus on Iran," Newsday, May 24, 2013, not available online. "On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 15-3 for a bill that would provide U.S. weapons to Syrian rebels. An Assad victory in that war would indeed be its worst possible outcome. But the conditions the bill attaches to U.S. aid show how tough it will be to help the right rebels. Rather than focus on the rebels, we should focus on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s friends in Iran. If we had been tougher on Tehran since 2009, we might not be worrying about Assad now."