For all of their vehement disagreement over policy, advocates and opponents of American diplomatic engagement with Damascus typically share an underlying conviction: Syrian President Bashar Assad holds the key to achieving high priority U.S. foreign policy objectives, whether it be Israeli-Palestinian peace, stability in Iraq or the containment of Iran. Engagers and disengagers differ sharply on how to catch this golden goose, but they are chasing the same imaginary bird. Assad can neither be bribed nor intimidated into making a "strategic realignment" until he first reconciles with the Syrian people.
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