Well it looks like somebody in Damascus is hitting the panic button

The Daily Tory-Graph reports that Syria has cut a secret deal where Iran will hold Iraqi atomic weapons scientists that have become too hot (dare I say radioactive?) for Syria to handle.

Syria's President Bashir al-Asad is in secret negotiations with Iran to secure a safe haven for a group of Iraqi nuclear scientists who were sent to Damascus before last year's war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Western intelligence officials believe that President Asad is desperate to get the Iraqi scientists out of his country before their presence prompts America to target Syria as part of the war on terrorism.

BU-WHA-HAHAHAHAHA! I love it when these self-esteemed tough-guys begin cracking.

There’s a lot of intestinal infortitude going around recently. Just last year Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi decided to give up his nuclear weapons program after he saw where it got Saddam: in a U.S. cage.

Isn’t it a wonder how these same guys are so much more self-confident when a Democrat is U.S. president? Today Syria's President Asad is assuredly cursing his wretched luck that that Kerry wasn’t elected president in 2004.

This just hasn’t been Asad’s year. First of all, Bush was reelected. This is not good, not if you’re Syrian President Asad. In fact, if you’re President Asad then that has the potential to be fatal. Second, Bush calls him out—in major speeches such at the State of the Union Address—for “creating instability” in the Middle East. Instability is a code word for providing support for the al Qaeda and Baathist death squads operating in Iraq. Then the Syrian instigated assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister has backfired real badly and created yet another justification for Bush to change the regime in Damascus. And now he’s being busted holding Iraqi nuclear weapon scientists.

Way to go Bashir! If you’re trying to bump yourself to the head of the “regime change” line you’re certainly going about it the right way!

Anyway, the Daily Telegraph article has even more interesting points:

The Iraqis, who brought with them CDs crammed with research data on Saddam's nuclear programme, were given new identities, including Syrian citizenship papers and falsified birth, education and health certificates. Since then they have been hidden away at a secret Syrian military installation where they have been conducting research on behalf of their hosts.

Growing political concern in Washington about Syria's undeclared weapons of mass destruction programmes, however, has prompted President Asad to reconsider harbouring the Iraqis.

American intelligence officials are concerned that Syria is secretly working on a number of WMD programmes.

They have also uncovered evidence that Damascus has acquired a number of gas centrifuges - probably from North Korea - that can be used to enrich uranium for a nuclear bomb.

Yup, Asad is showing himself to be a such a fast learner. NOT! This exactly how Saddam got himself free room, free board and free attorneys to defend him in his upcoming crimes-against-humanity trials.

Sheesh, Muammar Gadhafi is crazier than a tree full of coons and he figured this one out last year. Bush is blessed with unusually stupid enemies—and I’m not just referring to his political opponents.

Under the terms of the deal President Asad offered the Iranians, the Iraqi scientists and their families would be transferred to Teheran together with a small amount of essential materials. The Iraqi team would then assist Iranian scientists to develop a nuclear weapon.

Apart from paying the relocation expenses, President Asad also wants the Iranians to agree to share the results of their atomic weapons research with Damascus.

So he thinks the Iranians will help him develop his bomb after they get theirs working? That’s really stupid. Nobody every wants the nuclear club to get any bigger once they join it and the Iranians are no different.

And just what Asad is going to do about it if the Iranians develop a nuke with the assistance of the Iraqi weapon scientists and Iran reneges on the agreement to reciprocate? Sue them? Invade a nuclear Iran? HA!

The Syrian offer comes at a time when Iran is under close scrutiny from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which is investigating claims that Iran is maintaining a secret nuclear bomb programme.

The Iranians couldn’t care less about the UN. For them it is “go nuclear or bust!”

And now this late-breaking new: The Scotsman reports that Syria handed Saddam’s half-brother over to us as a “good will” gesture. (Too late for you, Asad!) Anyway, here the details on this:

A HALF-BROTHER of Saddam Hussein, who was one of his most reviled enforcers, has been arrested in Syria on suspicion of bankrolling anti-coalition insurgents, Iraqi officials said yesterday.

Sabawi Ibrahim Hasan, a strongman who once served as a head of Saddam’s feared security services, was held after nearly two years on the run. Syrian authorities captured him and handed him over to Iraq in an apparent goodwill gesture.

He was number 36 on the deck of 55 most-wanted Iraqis issued by United States troops after Saddam’s fall in April 2003. He also featured in the US list of the top 30 people sought for supporting the insurgency.

Yeah, right; a “good will” gesture, huh? That was more like a “please don’t change my regime” gesture. That’s so not enough to let Asad off the hook. Saddam’s missing WMDs are believed to have been passed to Syria during the few months before the war and hidden in Lebanon's Bekaa valley and we want them--all of them.

Mark my words; in pursuit of these WMDs Bush will go through Syria and Lebanon like a Tasmanian devil—and he will find them.

Asad is doomed.