We're So Confused!

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria Thursday to consolidate an old alliance made increasingly crucial as both countries face mounting U.S. pressure and the threat of international sanctions," the Associated Press reports:

Syria is Iran's closest Arab ally. The two countries have had close relations since 1980 when Syria sided with Iran against Iraq at the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

How is this possible? Syria is a secular Baathist dictatorship, while Iran is ruled by Muslim fundamentalists. Everyone knows these groups are like oil and water; that's why Saddam Hussein's Iraq never had anything to do with al Qaeda! (Well, other than things like hosting terrorist training camps, sending officials to visit al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan, sheltering Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, publishing magazines celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks, and a few other things like that. But c'mon, that's small beer!)

Anyway, this Syria-Iran thing really makes us question some of our long-held assumptions.

From Opinion Journal