U.S.: SYRIA'S ASSAD FINISHED

Bush "Erased" Assad as He Did Arafat - Ben Caspit (Maariv-Hebrew)
The American government believes the Syrian regime is about to fall and that President Bashar al-Assad will not survive for long after Syria withdraws from Lebanon, according to conversations with Prime Minister Sharon in Washington this week. The conversations showed that the Americans had "erased" Assad, who no longer exists as far as the U.S. leadership is concerned. They are already looking toward the day after the fall of the Syrian regime and the end of minority Alawite rule in Damascus. The reasons for this include the Syrians' double game in everything connected to terror, the role Syria plays in Iraq, Syria's role in Lebanon, and Syria's role in general toward the Americans. In private conversations, including those with President Bush, Assad is described as a "strange man" who cannot be trusted.