Leave the gun. Take the Baklava.

Time columnist Joe Klein: "A few years ago, when I was about to interview Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, I asked a US intelligence expert what he most wanted to know about Syria’s President. “We’d most like to know if he’s Michael or Fredo,” he said, referring to the Alpha and Omega brothers of the Corleone crime family. I came away from my interview with Assad uncertain as to the answer to the spook’s question: He was much smarter than Fredo, but less confident and controlled than Michael." Klein says Syrians are among the "most gracious people" he has ever met. It's too bad that this beautiful country is being run by a Middle Eastern version of the Corleone family. As Klein observes, the Syrians deserve better.