The United States of America has attacked Syria, Iraq's neighbor to the West. "A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq." The attack, which Syria decried as "serious aggression" resulted in the deaths of eight civilians; "The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children."

According to the MSNBC article the Syrian border is loosely controlled in comparison to the shared border's with Saudi Arabia and Jordan, two of Iraq's other neighbors. US Major General John Kelly stated that the US is helping to construct a series of sand burms and ditches between the Iraq-Syria border. He then went on to say that "there hasn't been much, in the way of a physical barrier, along that border for years."

Is the grand answer a wall? I thought Reagan's greatest accomplishment was supposed to be the destruction of the Berlin wall, where he famously declared: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." But now his party seems content to rebuild it.

Why on earth would the Bush administration order an attack on Syria nine days before the election? There are two scenarios; either Bush believes this escalation will help McCain or he believes that McCain is so far behind that his only resort is to leave Obama with a bigger problem. I'm still disregarding a possibility however; perhaps this attack was actually the right course of action. Or not. Any attack that could be carried out now, could be carried out in nine days, after the election. The timing of this attack illustrates its intention.

What made this attack imperative? The apparent reasoning follows, as quoted from the MSNBC article: "The area targeted is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency." If the US government just realized rebels were entering Iraq through the borders they are absolutely stupid. They should have known this already, and as such they could have conducted such a raid anytime within the last three years. The White House's supportive reasoning behind this attack illustrates its intention.

The intention of this attack was not in America's best interest, but rather George Bush's. This October surprise will not help John McCain, whether intended or not, for two reasons. The first is the youth vote; McCain already stands to lose by a considerable margin among this demographic, and war usually drives the youth turnout. The second issue focuses on a mindset, the anti-war mindset of most Americans. A poll conducted by CNN between 10/17 and 10/19 showed that 66% of American's already oppose the War in Iraq. If you were one of the 66% and have not decided who you are going to vote for, this attack on Syria is unlikely to push you towards McCain, regardless of his foreign policy experience.

The ramifications of this attack on Syria will not be good for America, for John McCain, and when history writes itself, for George W. Bush.