I can't believe you are still writing about isolating Syria.

Did you forget the Reagan and Thatcher years? American and British hawks did a solid job trying to demonize and isolate Syria. After eight years of trying, they failed.

Time magazine wrote about Syria and the Untied states in 19 Dec 1983 the following:

"A more serious threat to the regime may be the country's worsening economy. Plummeting oil revenues and bad harvests have drained foreign reserves. According to an International Monetary Fund report, Syria's total reserves (excluding gold) dropped from $927 million in mid-1981 to $40 million by early 1982. Electricity is now rationed nationwide."

Today, Syria has almost 20 billion dollars in savings... and just like 1983, some of you are still writing about the oil reserves which are "about to run out" ...

When will you stop advocating isolating and weakening Syria?

Camille Alexandre, Montreal, Canada

Strange, I was from 1991--1992 and again from 1994 until 2001 in Syria for 10 months of all those years, working on their gas process plants, travelling through-out Syria, in association with my work, Damascus is a cosmopoliton city where numerous nations of the world gather, travelling through and across Syria you are "aware" of certain locations, proberly ever "location" is known to the Americans, as they are on bases north/south/east and west of Syria, the thousands of Syrian troops pulled out of Lebenon, were very happy to leave, but de-moralised returning to their own country. I feel that my time in Syria was unique as I took the gas plant contract from the Americans, which gave me some dealings with people in Damascus, in all of my time in Syria, I was never restricted in any movement through-out their country, from the oil ministry and the Prime Minister office I received special agreement, during me times inside Syria.

Ian Foote, immingham/N.E Lincolnshire, united kingdom

Imagine for a second if they treated us like we treat them. If they cut off our oil and froze our assets. If they bombed and invaded our countries because they didn't approve of our leaders. We have to walk a mile in their shoes to understand their anger and resentment. We have to leave them to work out their own problems without interference. All war ends in peace. The only variable is how many die in the interim. Peoples evolve at different rates and that's normal. We just have to let it happen. The quest for freedom and peace is in our nature and I think we'll achieve it by many different paths. A little revolution every once in a while is a good thing.

Nasty Celt, Calgary, Canada