WASHINGTON, April 10: Emboldened by the demise of the Iraqi government, hawks in Washington are setting their sights on regime change in Iran and Syria.

“It’s time to bring down the other terror masters,” Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute wrote in a piece entitled “Syria and Iran Must Get Their Turn.”

“Iran, at least, offers Americans the possibility of a memorable victory, because the Iranian people openly loath the regime, and will enthusiastically combat it, if only the United States supports them in their just struggle,” he added. “Syria cannot stand alone against a successful democratic revolution that topples tyrannical regimes in Kabul, Tehran and Iraq.”

No one is explicitly advocating force against Syria or Iran but conservatives in and out of the US government hope the Iraq war will signal to Damascus and Tehran that seeking weapons of mass destruction could be hazardous to their health.

“I hope we could change the regimes without military force and I would not contemplate using military force in those places,” said Kenneth Adelman, a former Pentagon aide and early advocate of toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by force.

“The combination of totalitarianism and weapons of mass destruction is a deadly combination for the world.”

While some conservatives believe the example of Iraq could serve to undermine the governments of some of its nondemocratic neighbors, others simply hope it will dissuade them from seeking biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

John Bolton, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, told reporters in Rome he hoped Iran, Syria and North Korea — which the United States believes is pursuing a nuclear weapons program — will get the message.—Reuters