♦ Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently said that Washington and Turkey are discussing a range of steps, including a no-fly zone over parts of Syria. But in an AP interview on Monday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said plans to set up a no-fly zone over Syria are "not on the front burner" (see below).Yes/No/Maybe, guess that clarifies everything and sends a clear message to whomever. [BTW: Does Mr. Panetta bring his golden retriever, Bravo, to work every day or just on interview days?]

♦ In another matter, Panetta said the U.S. is providing additional military assistance to peacekeeping forces in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to “strengthen security in the region,” i.e., a truck-mounted tracking system sent to the Sinai will allow troops to follow friendly forces. Yep, follow friendly forces. That oughta do it!

♦ Re those so-called "peacekeeping forces": Aren't these the folk who have a habit of running for cover, or moving aside whenever an Arab country/terrorist group wants to attack Israel? [Egypt expelled peacekeeping forces stationed in the Sinai just prior to the 1967 Six Day War; UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon stood by, watched and videotaped Hezbollah terrorists, who illegally crossed the Israeli border with Lebanon (through a UN patrolled area) and kidnapped three Israeli soldiers.]

♦ Meanwhile "masked militants” killed 16 Egyptian soldiers last week at a checkpoint along the border with Gaza and Israel, and then burst through a security fence into Israel. Israel detected the infiltration and launched an airstrike to stop the assault. So we (the U.S.) track friendly forces, and Israel eliminates not-so-friendly forces. Quite the division of labor... (BTW, anyone tracking the hundreds of al-Qaida folk currently operating in Syria?)

♦ On another "U.S. frustration," i.e., Afghanistan: Panetta said the accelerating pattern of attacks on American and coalition troops by Afghan army and police members is a sign “the Taliban is grasping for success.” He argued that Afghan insider attacks "may reflect efforts by the Taliban to use unconventional tactics against a coalition force that it cannot defeat on the battlefield." Aren’t “unconventional tactics” precisely the kind of tactics used by the unconventional enemy we’ve been fighting for the past 10+ years?!