The only thing better than brazenly building a chemical weapons facility...

Syria has been conducting extensive construction work on a chemical weapons facility in the country's northwest, satellite images obtained by the defense analyst group Jane's reveal. The images of a chemical weapons facility identified as al-Safir were taken by several commercial sources from 2005 to 2008, the analyst group said. Imagery obtained by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1 satellite shows that extensive construction has taken place at the facility, as well as at an adjacent missile base, the group wrote. In addition, the images showed that the site contained a number of the "defining features of a chemical weapons facility."

... is brazenly building a chemical weapons facility while US Congressional delegations visit you to promise promise new, warm relations:

A delegation of US senators headed by Benjamin Cardin, a member of the foreign relations committee, arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for talks with President Bashar al-Assad. Cardin's talks with the president on Wednesday will focus on bilateral relations, the peace process and regional questions, the US embassy said. It is the second US Congressional delegation to visit Syria in less than a month and John Kerry, foreign relations committee chairman, is expected to make the country one of his stops on a current Middle East tour... Barack Obama, the new US president, has announced his intention to talk to states previously seen as hostile.

Syria isn't seen as hostile any more? They're building a chemical weapons plant, importing cutting-edge missiles missiles from Russia and Iran, and developing annihilationist school curricula - but they're not seen as hostile? Really?

Minister of Education Ali Saad said Monday that the strategic visions and viewpoints proposed by President Bashar al-Assad at Gaza emergency Summit were a work plan for the Syrian Ministry of Education to develop curriculums, and add those visions to the new books to be consolidated in the minds of generations... He called on the Conference to issue resolutions that take suitable procedures to deepen the common understanding for the Arab and Islamic coming generations on the terrorist nature of the Zionist entity in order to create a philosophy that unifies our efforts in the face of challenges.

How might one defend this kind of craven appeasement? If one was a leftist foreign policy expert one might insist that we should meet with Assad to express our concerns and influence his behavior. Cf. the justifications for engaging the planet's most vicious anti-Semites at Durban II. But since Obama has been engaging Syria for monthsand Assad has been responding by ratcheting up his intransigence - doesn't that pretext seem a bit strained?

The ongoing US-Syrian talks, in addition to being totally useless, will also keep the IAF on the sidelines and this WMD humming smoothly. At least the Syrians aren't also taking potshots at Israelis from across the border!

References and previously after the jump...