"...Failing to recognize Syria's role..."

"... The State Department, again under Bush, continued to fail to recognize Syria's role in calming Iraq. Ambassador David Satterfield, the State Department's top official at the time on Iraq policy, claimed in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Syria was not part of the solution. In dismissing Syria, Satterfield disregarded potential liaising with, for example, Syria's Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Hassoun, with whom I met not long after the invasion of Iraq to discuss opportunities for interfaith diplomacy.
As Syria's most highly regarded Islamic leader, Sheikh Hassoun had the capacity and the legitimacy to assist in addressing salient sectarianism within Iraq. Ambassador Satterfield's decision to implicitly discount the grand mufti was detrimental not only to Iraq's future but also to US-Syria relations, laying some of the groundwork for today's severed relations.
There is no excusing Assad and the deplorable humanitarian crisis that has unfolded. But the more you ostracize a state and its leaders, the more difficult it becomes to encourage them back from the ledge, and the easier it becomes for them to make even worse decisions. Why, because they have nothing to lose, no international relations to jeopardize, and no global reputation to undo..."