Anton Goryunov writes from Cairo: As US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta visits North Africa and the Middle East, stopping in Israel yesterday to discuss the civil war in Syria and Iran's nuclear ambitions, among other things, the question that is hanging in the air, if you pardon the graphic imagery here, is this: who the hell advises the top guns in Washington about the state of things in the world? Consider this: before arriving in Israel Mr Panetta said in an interview that President Bashar al-Assad needed 'to get the hell out' of Syria as quickly as possible, suggesting at the same time that the Syrian army should be allowed to stay put and provide security of chemical weapons and law and order generally. The US Secretary of Defence also said that it was important for America not to make the same mistake it made in Iraq where the armed forces and the police loyal to Saddam Hussein were disbanded and chaos erupted.  In his valued opinion the military and the police and even the security forces could be maintained in Syria to -- wait for it -- provide the transition to a democratic form of government. Now, let's get this straight: Mr Panetta is obviously under the impression that the Syrian army that is currently battling the rebels, who are armed from abroad, would simply carry on regardless and all the insurgents would just lay down their arms and everyone would wait till democracy kicks in. How did