The reactions to the most recent leak (Secret US Embassy Cables) by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks continue to flood the media in all its forms.
One of the leaked secret cables was sent from the US Embassy in Damascus Jan 4, 2010 at 9:09 AM with the reference ID 10DAMASCUS8. Its subject was the December 30, 2009 meeting in Damascus between Dr. Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria and 6 visiting US Senators. Paragraph 4 of this cable quotes Dr. al-Assad (an ophthalmologist by training) as follows:
Calling for a fact-based approach to identifying the obstacles to peace, Asad likened the process to how a doctor should treat cancer. Condemnations and mutual recriminations might be self-satisfying, but the cancer still grows unless the doctor is able to treat the root illness.
The title that the cable gave for paragraphs 2, 3 & 4 is "Doctor Asad: Treat, Don't Condemn, the Illness".
I will have to say that it does not seem to me that the Americans are in any way heeding the doctor's advice. The patient remains in denial of the illness as we speak.
