In a NYT op-ed this morning, Joshua Landis, a Middle Eastern studies professor, claims that the U.S. and Syria “share a common interest in subduing jihadism and helping Iraq build stability.”

Excuse me, but if Syrian dictator Bashar Assad wants to “subdue jihadism,” why is he – along with the jihadist mullahs of Iran — supporting the jihadist Hizbollah in Lebanon?

And how can anyone believe Assad wants stability in Iraq? Prior to the American intervention, he threatened to help turn a post-Saddam Iraq into Beirut at its worst. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has been very outspoken about the degree to which the insurgency in Iraqi is being supported from Syria. (Ludicrously, Prof. Landis claims that Assad has to look the other way as Baathists plot to kill Americans and Iraqis in order to keep Syrian Sunni Arabs “content.”)

Finally, is there anyone who really does not understand that the last thing Assad would ever want is a free country on his eastern border?

The claims that Assad wants to subdue jihadism and build stability in Iraq are so obviously false that only a professor of “Middle Eastern studies” could believe them.

Landis’ I.D. notes that he’s currently on a Fulbright in Damascus. This op-ed, and the generosity of the NY Times in publishing it, should guarantee him a more pleasant stay. Maybe that was the idea?