Slaying the Syrian dragon

Raphael's "Saint George Slaying the Dragon," a parable of good destroying evil

Former Lebanese Prime Minister General Michel Aoun, in exile in France since his country was occupied by Syria in 1989, couldn't have known how prophetic his words would be when he sat for a Haaretz interview in 1999:

Syria is like the legendary dragon that asked for another maiden as a sacrifice every morning. Until Saint George shows up in the Middle East, it's going to go on that way.

Now look what The New York Times -- Yes, the Gray Lady herself -- is reporting: "The myth of having to live under despots for eternity collapsed," says a Syrian filmmaker:

A year ago, it would have been inconceivable for a citizen of Syria, run by the Baath Party of President Bashar al-Assad, to make a documentary film with the working title, "Fifteen Reasons Why I Hate the Baath."

Yet watching the overthrow of Saddam Hussein across the border in Iraq prompted Omar Amiralay to do just that. "It gave me the courage to do it," he said.

"When you see one of the two Baath parties broken, collapsing, you can only hope that it will be the turn of the Syrian Baath next," he added, having just completed the film, eventually called "A Flood in Baath Country," for a European arts channel.

It's Bush's fault.

[via OxBlog]