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Cracking Down on Terror's Cronies
(Los Angeles Times) Max Boot - One of the keys to defeating any guerrilla movement is to cut off its outside support. The extremists attacking U.S. forces and our allies continue to receive sanctuary and support from neighboring states, notably Pakistan and Syria. Not pushing harder on Musharraf is perhaps understandable because of the widespread fear that toppling him would result in a more anti-American regime. Less explicable is our failure to apply greater pressure on Syria, whose regime is already as anti-American as it gets and which continues to act as a conduit for terrorists infiltrating Iraq. Foreign jihadis may be only a small part of the overall Iraqi insurgency, but they are its most vicious element - the monsters who drive cars filled with explosives into crowds of Shiites. How has Syria been held accountable? Have U.S. and Iraqi troops crossed the border to destroy terrorist safe houses? The U.S. economic sanctions are toothless because there is almost no trade between Syria and the U.S. in the first place. The EU, ever helpful, has actually been moving to expand economic links with Syria by granting it "associate" membership.