Secretary of State Colin Powell reported after yesterday’s meeting with Bashar al-Assad that Syria had begun closing down the Damascus offices of terror gangs Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizb’Allah. Bullshit.

Powell visited Syria and Lebanon Saturday, telling reporters that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had begun closing the Damascus offices of terrorist organizations.

But the offices appeared to be open for business as usual Sunday, Channel 2 Television reported, and Syrian state television made no mention of the closures.

And in Lebanon, puppet president Emile Lahoud (the Arab world’s most thoroughly dhimmi-ized Christian) basically told Powell to buzz off.

Emile Lahoud told Powell, who visited Beirut Saturday, that Hezbollah is a “legal political party,” whose guerrilla war helped end Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, a leading independent daily newspaper, An-Nahar, reported.

The Arabic-language paper said Lahoud told Powell that Lebanon appreciated Hezbollah’s role in bringing Israel’s occupation to an end in May 2000.

Lahoud also rejected US demands for Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, telling Powell Syria’s military presence is “legitimate,” An-Nahar quoted unidentified “well-informed sources” as saying.

And in a stunning example of willful blindness, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns is telling Israel to ease up on the Palestinians.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official, launching talks on a peace “road map,” said on Sunday Israel should ease a harsh military clampdown on Palestinians to encourage them to reject violence.

The State Department should be renamed the Department of Arab Appeasement.