From Beirut to the Beltway

Over 2 million Muslims stoned a big pillar symbolizing Satan today, after praying for mercy and forgiveness yesterday at the scene of the Prophet's last sermon.

The pillar, known as Jamarat al-Aqabah, has stood firm despite millions of pebbles hurled against it over the years. The pillar is ironically better maintained than many other Islamic sites in the holy city, which are being destroyed by the Wahabis in charge.

Maintaining the devil's symbol for the sake of a yearly stoning ritual seems to be consistent with the Kingdom's policy towards Bashar Assad: stone the devil left and right but keep him in good shape to withstand the pressure. And yeah, to preserve "stability" in the region.

For the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques had this to say after meeting a desperate Bashar on Sunday:

A joint Saudi-Syrian statement issued after the summit in the Red Sea city of Jeddah said Abdullah "asserted the need to consolidate and strengthen Syrian-Lebanese relations."

Lebanese-Syrian relations should be improved "in all sectors in order to protect the interests of the two brotherly countries and the security of the region," said the statement read on Saudi state television.

Taking this at face value, it is quite insulting to hear a joint Saudi-Syrian statement on "Syrian-Lebanese relations" in the absence of Lebanon. It is also amazing that Abdullah is suggesting a new penal code: Punish murder by improving relations between killers and their dying victims. Saudi Arabia will no longer be beheading murder convicts!

And then there was this from a Saudi official who singled out the "voices in Lebanon calling for regime change":

In Riyadh, a Saudi official on Sunday slammed the war or words between Lebanon and Syria, "particularly the voices in Lebanon which have called for regime change in Syria". "Regime change in Syria is not required. Even the United States and France do not call for regime change in Syria ... the aim is to find the assassins of Rafik Hariri and bring them to justice," he said.

The details of the Saudi-Egyptian efforts are still sketchy, but it is becoming apparent that the Saudis and the Egyptians are trying to invent a formula for full Syrian cooperation with the UNIIIC, end to Syrian terrorism and interference in Lebanon, demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border, disarming the pro-Syrian Palestinian factions—all that without bringing about regime change.

Can the devil really change his ways? Can Satan renounce Satanism? Metaphors aside, can Bashar cooperate fully without putting himself in jail?

Jumblatt has given up on him. And with Khaddam testifying that he is fully convinced Bashar ordered Hariri's murder, I don't see what Saudi Arabia and Egypt can do for the butcher-in-training.

It is no longer a question of whether a regime change is required or not. Regime change is inevitable. And all this talk of mediation is hollow and lacks genuineness. What can the custodian of Mecca and the devil's pillar do to prevent the self-inflicted collapse of the criminal?

Even Bashar knows that he is in purgatory and that sooner or later, he will have to negotiate a safe passage to… hell. No amount of begging for "Arab support" can help him find the road to paradise. After all, he has already handed over some of his responsibilities to his step-brother in satanism, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

See what happens when you put your faith in murderers and hope for "a change in behavior?" Perhaps now the Saudis and the Egyptians can convince al-Qaeda to renounce terrorism.