Israeli Air Force fighter jets swooped in low last week over the summer palace of the Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad, at Latakia. The next thing you know, the Syrians were talking about joining with the Palestinian Arabs in negotiations with Israel. There’s nothing like the prospect of having a palace bombed to bring a dictator to the negotiating table.

President Bush, on the other hand, seems to be dealing with the Syrians in a manner right out of Warren Christopher’s book, dispatching emissaries to Damascus while asking Congress to postpone action on sanctions. With reports that Syria is involved in the attacks against American troops in Iraq, and that Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction may have been spirited away to Syrian-controlled Lebanon, de-fanging Damascus all of a sudden becomes a Washington priority right up there with the threats posed by Iran and North Korea. In dealing with Mr. Assad, Mr. Bush, a fighter pilot himself, could do a lot worse than to keep the Israeli example in mind.