To hear the Syrians tell it, last Sundays attack on its territory by US Special Forces was an act of pure, unbridled hostility.
The attack on al-Qaida insurgents and their supporters in the out-of-the-way border town of Abu Kamal exemplified, outraged Syrian authorities howled, the law of the jungle.
It was, they cried indignantly, outrageous, unjustifiable, a heinous crime and aggression.
Not surprisingly, not a single Syrian word has been heard about why American forces felt compelled to violate Syrian sovereignty.
No mention of the hard fact that until this weeks attack, Syria seemed quite uninterested in the reality that its border with Iraq has long been a major ingress route into Iraq for northern African and other international recruits for al-Qaida-backed insurgencies.
Whether that situation is due to Syrian collusion, corruption, incompetence or indifference is secondary to the fact that Syria has done absolutely nothing to alleviate the situation, despite being repeatedly asked by the US to do so.
Finally, US forces, long frustrated by their inability to enter Syrian territory to sever the terrorist rat line, decided to take matters into our own hands, as one US official said this week.
It was the right decision in tactical terms.
Several terrorists, including an important smuggling leader by the name of Abu Ghadiyah, were reportedly killed in the raid. Some witnesses say prisoners were taken as well.
Regrettably, several civilians perhaps as many as eight also died in the attack. While the US must accept its own responsibility for such collateral casualties as it has already done the primary guilt for these deaths lies with Syria itself. If it had removed the terrorist operatives from Abu Kamal itself, no civilians would have died.
The attack was also the right decision in strategic terms.
It sends yet another message to Syria, which has long relished its role as a safe haven for some of the worlds bloodiest killers. For years, it has provided protection for everyone from Nazis to Hamas, and thumbed its nose at those who protested such sanctuary.
If Israels attack on Syrias nascent nuclear weapons facility last year didnt resonate with Syrian President Bashar Assad, then perhaps this weeks strike by American Green Berets will.
Perhaps even more important, the attack sends a message to other nations in the region that are only too happy to serve as accommodating hosts or helpful facilitators for al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorists.
Iran and Pakistan must be paying close attention.
