Causality rarely gets more clear than this -

Syria's Assad: 'I am not Saddam Hussein'

WASHINGTON - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, under pressure to withdraw troops from Lebanon, insisted he should not be compared to Saddam Hussein and that he wanted to cooperate with international demands, according to an interview released Sunday.

After Libya renounced its weapons, I had friends / colleagues swear up and down that the real motivation was Ghadafi's internal spiritual awakening, his son's successful lobbying, etc. -- basically anyting but George Bush -- that prompted the Dear Leader's change of heart.   I suppose that's a comforting thought for folks who'll look for any alternative than to credit Bush with anything.   But it just didn't hold water water then and it holds even less now.

Let's take a moment - not to gloat about Syria / Lebanon - but rather to make sure we're all clear about the dominant motive making Assad move.  A few short years ago, street protests of the type seen in Lebanon would've been greeted by soldiers, tanks, abductions, and even a few selective rapes of opposition leader's spouses.   This time around, with 150K of America's finest sitting next door, Syria knows what it had better do.   And the Lebanese in the streets know this too.