Syria's Assad: Between Iraq and a Hard Place

“Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns.” -Kurt Vonnegut 'Cat's Cradle'

As the second entry in my 'ruthless despot' series, I hereby present Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

It seems like only yesterday that South Korea's Kim Jong Un was grabbing all the headlines for his nuclear threats against the west and his nearby neighbors. But no sooner had ambassador Dennis Rodman defused the situation there, than, like a endless game of Whack-a-Mole, another dictator pops up to grab the world's attention.

Already, just a few weeks after Assad's military launched a sarin gas attack on his own people, here in the U.S., the media's focus has shifted more toward domestic budget issues for the time being.

Let's hope the latest UN/Russian/US plan to destroy Syria's chemical weapons doesn't go up in smoke and the middle east can get back to it's conventional mayhem.