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Starting in late 2002 Zarqawi (who was moving back and forth from Syria and Iraq at the time) began planning a massive operation that he believed would bring down the government of Jordan and plunge the nation into chaos. Over the next two years his organization (which by the way Assad let plan, train, organize and operate freely in Syria with the agreement that they don't wage war on the Syrian government) managed to obtain the resources to plan the largest chemical weapons attack any terrorist group had ever conducted... well this NBC News video from 2004 talks about the attack and shows the chemical truck bomb that was already ready for use when the plot was foiled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wK7WIDy_WmU

Keep in mind this chemical truck bomb along with the rest was put together in Syria and the organization and planning of the attack was virtually all based out of Syria not Iraq as the video makes clear. Had the plan not been uncovered, the attack been carried out and Jordan's capital was plunged inth chaos what would have been the long term effects on the region?

Would more Western nations decide to become involved in fighting terrorism in the Middle East least such attacks occur in their country? Americans would die in the attack as well as the plan included killing everyone in the U.S. Embassy in Jordan as would many Westerners visiting Jordan's capital. Given that the attack was basically planned and carried out with the Syrian government at very least being complicit in haboring the terrorists involved would the U.S. decide to ignore Russia's warnings and come down hard on Syria?

At that point Assad's passive and at times active support of terrorist groups was key to their ability to organize, plan and wage war on U.S. troops in Iraq as well as Iraqi civilians which of course almost led to a civil war in Iraq. The Syrian government provided al-Qaeda in Iraq a safe base (until they reciently turned Assad) which was critical in allowing the groups the ability to organize, train and plan attacks on Western troops or civilians in the countries next door.

Keep in mind as the UN report on the murder of Lebanon's former PM showed al-Qaeda in Iraq gave the Syrian Mukhabarat at their request a suicide bomber to use to conduct the operation to kill Hariri so the Syrian regime was doing far more then just ignoring al-Qaeda's presence in their country... they were directly working with their leadership.
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