"Still, Mr. Riedel said Israel would not have launched the strike in Syria if it believed Damascus was merely developing more sophisticated ballistic missiles or chemical weapons." Yes, leave it to an expert (a leftover from the Clinton Middle East team headed by Martin Indyk) at the Saban Center to offer propaganda justifications for Israeli bombings anywhere in the Middle East. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Reidel once told MEQ that Arabs were not bothered by the sanctions on Iraq inthe 1990s. Such is quality of Middle East expertise at US White House (Clinton or Bush--no difference).