The sixth exchange has begun with President Bush finally imposing the established deadline Syria's Bashar Assad would not acknowledge:

President George W. Bush said in an interview published on Friday that Syria should pull all of its troops out of Lebanon by May to clear the way for fair elections. "The subject that is most on my mind right now is getting Syria out of Lebanon, and I don't mean just the troops out of Lebanon, I mean all of them out of Lebanon, particularly the secret service out of Lebanon — the intelligence services," Bush said in an interview with the New York Post.

"This is non-negotiable. It is time to get out. ... I think we've got a good chance to achieve that objective and to make sure that the May elections (in Lebanon) are fair. I don't think you can have fair elections with Syrian troops there," the president said.

As before, the president is in no mood for partial compliance:

"When the United States says something, it must mean it. That's what I meant when I said, 'Remove all your troops,' not remove 94 percent of them," the president said.

Asked if there was a threat of military action if Syria refused, Bush told the Post: "No. The 'or else' is further isolation from the world. You know, the president should never take any options off the table, (but) my last choice is military."

Until now, the most senior White House official to flatly guarantee the show or use of force in event of Syrian defiance was the secretary of state. Now it is the President of the United States, who has made war everywhere he said he would. Bush has also confiscated Syria's bag full of tricks, spelling out every dupe and decoy Damascus planned to drop into play. Another level of Congressional sanctions is in preparation, and though Damascus could find ways to wriggle around economic and political conviction, this White House's sanctions are means and not ends. In this meeting, maybe penultimate.

President Bush has invited the break from the last three weeks' circumstances just as they were becoming repetitious and perhaps turning to Damascus' favor, and in fact written most of Assad's Saturday address for the dictator. Where does Assad take his troops? Nowhere but home, where he is sure to soon face a Syrian imitation of Martyrs' Square and Independence Square. Only his weakness will be foremost on the minds of those within and without his crumbling fief.

That day will be something to behold. It must be a terrifying moment when an operator finds himself without the druthers, the lies, the back hatches, the escape chutes, the power built on intimidation and the rule drawn from whim — through which he has lived his entire life — suddenly staring at the gavel and the noose. An evil man shatters as he realizes the people he once took as credulous were simply decent; and, though aware of his heartfelt fear, don't confuse compassion with justice. Bashar Assad should have known that President Bush was among those people.

THE CONSUMMATE SHADE: Tony at Across the Bay relates a Syrian democrat's report of Bashar Assad's henchmen rounding up known or suspected dissidents in an effort to cut the hamstrings of any revolt. "Not likely to generate much notice abroad" is how it's put, and it smacks of a coward who stalks the alleyway: Bashar Assad tolerates the Cedar Revolution only because it's visible to all and enjoys a guardian far more powerful than Syria. Diminutive as he is, this is how Assad would prefer to work. A pity Syrians need suffer additionally: the Ba'athists can't cow them all, and without Lebanon, Syria will lay open.