Even Syria needs America to tackle the bady guys.
So writes Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, in this morning's Daily Telegraph:
"What was the most fascinating news story of the last two days? It was the revelation that the American bombing of a Syrian village - which provoked angry public protest from Damascus - was in fact conducted with what appears to have been the connivance of the Syrian military intelligence. The reason? The village near the Iraqi border was the refuge of a notorious al-Qaeda chief.
It was politically difficult for the Syrians to eliminate this nuisance themselves. So they allowed the Americans to do their dirty work, and the al-Qaeda chief was killed from the air by American might.
It was one of the very greatest American presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, who said the duty of America abroad was to "speak softly but carry a big stick". George Bush forgot the "speak softly" bit. But Obama needs to remember the vital importance of continuing to carry a big stick. That is because the job of America is still pretty much what it was when Fleming wrote Goldfinger in 1959 - to take on the bad guys in a way that no other country is able or willing to do."
