Rethinking Pelosi's Visit, British Naval Discipline

This has been a seriously bad week for the West's image — or whatever is left of it — in the Middle East.

The speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, traveled all the way to Damascus to play domestic American politics, while the Iranians made a spectacle of the British army, whose soldiers were tripping over one another after a mere 13 days in captivity to express regret over entering Iranian waters.

Of course, these are early days, and we may discover that the disgraceful behavior of these British sailors — overtaken in open sea without firing a single shot, only to issue statements denouncing their country and themselves — was the result of some kind of torture.

Similarly, we may find out that our House speaker had a weighty plan in the Middle East, one with more depth than merely transmitting messages to Damascus from Jerusalem in these days of the Internet, world press outlets, satellites, and instant communication.

Still, it kind of makes one yearn for politicians of the caliber of Margaret Thatcher and soldiers such as George Patton, who did not confuse a state of war with making nice.

Iran did not hedge or hesitate when it ordered its Revolutionary Guards to move in on British sailors and capture them in open sea as they performed inspections of the border between Iraq and Iran mandated by the United Nations back in the 1990s.

Tehran sent several messages, one of which was — the presence of American and British naval forces in the Persian Gulf notwithstanding — that it alone sets the agenda for peace and confrontation in those waters. Tehran also signaled to the Arabs of the Gulf that the presence of the Western military cannot protect them. Indeed, the West couldn't even protect coalition soldiers in the region when they were faced with the Revolutinary Guards. The choice presented to the West in this confrontation was to go to war to liberate its captives or make a deal.

Clearly, deals were the choice. A missing Iranian diplomat (read: intelligence agent) in Iraq has now suddenly resurfaced and is traveling back home to Iran, and several other Iranian Revolutionary Guards (read: bomb makers) held by American forces in Iraq will receive consular visits from Iranian diplomats. There is probably more to come.

As for Ms. Pelosi, Senator Kerry, and other American politicians — both Republican and Democrat — who have already made a pilgrimage to Damascus, the only question is: "What were you thinking?"

There is nothing wrong with talking to the enemy, but a lot wrong with doing it as a photo opportunity.

The man who greeted our eager politicians, President Al-Assad of Syria, stands accused by two U.N. investigators of organizing murders and bombings in Lebanon, including the 2005 assassination in Beirut of a former pro-American prime minister, Rafik Hariri, and several other figures since then.

If the U.N. investigations proceed in an international court of law, as they should, a warrant for Mr. Assad's arrest — as well as those for his brother and brother-in-law — will be issued. This is not happening precisely because folks like Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Kerry, and all the other American politicians waiting to visit Damascus create the false impression that Syria wants peace and stability in the Middle East.

Syria and the Syrians may indeed want peace and stability, but Mr. Assad and his cronies do not. These are killers.

When decent Syrians come to power, we can have a dialogue.

Prime Minister Blair's lame response to a serious act of aggression against Britain's navy has certainly provided Iran an incentive to kidnap and hold more hostages. Diplomacy via kidnapping and blackmail is, lest anyone forget, an art Iran developed in 1979–81, in the infamous 444 days it held American diplomats blindfolded and shackled, and during the 1980s, when its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, kidnapped and imprisoned Americans and Britons in underground dark rooms for years.

When the dust settles, one hopes two things will happen: Ms. Pelosi will show she has returned to Washington with more than beatific smiles and new additions to her expensive wardrobe, as Mr. Assad & Co. plot their next nefarious deed. And that a British military commission will rethink the training of British soldiers in order to discover what is it in their discipline that makes it perfectly all right to cave in just two days after capture and shower the enemy with lavish praise and thanks.