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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/12/opinion/12SAFI.html
"Spinning Into Control"
(New York Times) William Safire - In Libya, Colonel Qaddafi took one look at our army massing for the invasion of Iraq and decided to get out of the mass-destruction business. In Afghanistan, supposedly intractable warlords in a formerly radical Islamist, female-repressing culture of conflicting tribes and languages have come together. In Syria, a hiding place for Saddam's finances, henchmen, and weaponry - and exporter of Hizballah and Hamas terrorism - dictator Bashar al-Assad is nervously seeking to re-open negotiations with Israel. On the West Bank, incipient Israeli negotiations with Syria - on top of the overthrow of the despot who rewarded Palestinian suicide bombers - further isolates the terror organizations behind Yasser Arafat. In Iran, the presence of 130,000 U.S. troops near the border was not lost on the despot-clerics in power, who suddenly seemed reasonable to European diplomats seeking guarantees that Russian-built nuclear plants would be inspected.