At least partially.
NATO aircraft have been flying over Syria’s borders in order to send a strong warning to Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad, according to the Kuwaiti A-Siyasah.
The over-flights are taking place above the borders with Turkey and Iraq, and include photographing the areas. The Syrian coastal region is also included in the flights.
“European diplomatic sources” said the flights are a warning to the Syrian regime indicating what can happen if President Al-Asad does not comply with international demands.
And from yesterday, in case you missed it…
Within the past several weeks, President Bush has come within hours of ordering U.S. military forces to conduct aerial bombing raids against insurgent training camps inside Syrian territory that are being used by foreign fighters as a staging ground in which to enter Iraq and kill American soldiers. But Secretary of State, Condeleeza Rice and representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency have until now prevailed in convincing President Bush that Syrian President Bashar Assad can be reasoned with, according to high ranking officials within the Bush administration.
Heretofore Secretary of State Rice and the CIA have advocated patience in dealing with the Syrian leader on two accounts. For one, following September ll, 2001 Syrian officials, particularly its chief of military intelligence, Asef Shawkat, Assad’s brother-in-law, now a key suspect in the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, worked closely with U.S. counter-terrorism agencies. Secondly, CIA officials have told the White House that a U.S. military attack inside Syria may destabilize the Assad government and there is no guarantee that a worse government, possibly an Islamist fundamentalist one, might replace it. Israeli intelligence officials have also expressed similar concerns to their Western counterparts.White House insiders, however, report the reservoir of patience for Syria is all but evaporating by the hour. One official known to be strongly advocating a strike against Syria is President Bush’s national intelligence director, John Negroponte….
“The problem with any U.S. aerial strike inside Syria is that we are not a thousand percent sure where all of these camps are located,” explains one U.S. intelligence official. “But any such attack would surely bolster President Bush’s sagging popularity in the short term.” ….
Those yellow magnet factories in China better put on some extra shifts to accomodate the coming groundswell of American Resolve.
Let’s get on to some out sourcing. I’ve got an idea for a subcontracting corporation we could setup, DF. Perhaps we could act as PR men for the coming invasion. I don’t know. I’m just spitballing here, as I am new to the global economy that allows illegal invasions and supports globalized torture. But I’m sure we could profit in all of this.
They put an ad in one of those “weapons wanted” sites, somebody here had a link to it, but any old congressoaf should be able to hook you up.
This is going to be so bipartisan. Everybody at Raytheon is really excited.
I’ll start looking around for something to patent so they’ll give us more money and try to buy us out as soon as we look good.
Is this the circular justification he uses so well?
The justification for not bombing Syria is due in part to Syria’s cooperation in torturing and interrogating suspects and travelers caught unaware.
Heretofore Secretary of State Rice and the CIA have advocated patience in dealing with the Syrian leader on two accounts.
For one, following September ll, 2001 Syrian officials, particularly its chief of military intelligence, Asef Shawkat, Assad's brother-in-law, now a key suspect in the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, worked closely with U.S. counter-terrorism agencies.
——————–
That boy can’t learn nothing for nothing. If he can’t see how he’s destabilized Iraq to make it more dangerous then he sure as well doesn’t care about Syria.
Secondly, CIA officials have told the White House that a U.S. military attack inside Syria may destabilize the Assad government and there is no guarantee that a worse government, possibly an Islamist fundamentalist one, might replace it. Israeli intelligence officials have also expressed similar concerns to their Western counterparts.
I’ll bet Karl goads him into it when the time is right.
I guess that Bush staffers had better put in a call to Judith Miller, her expertise might be needed. Oh, the money quote here:
“But any such attack would surely bolster President Bush’s sagging popularity in the short term.” ….
Sure, what’s a few lives if Bush’s popularity is at stake.
but I’m sick of seeing pictures of people living in bombed out homes with no water and food and half their relatives blown to fuck courtesy of team USA. When will some politician of any party just say we cant keep bombing people back to the stone age? Or have all of our politicians lost their humanity? Or do we all hate foreigners so much we dont care if their babies are blown to pieces by our “precision guided” munitions?
Yes, they have lost whatever humanity they once had. If they had any left, they would be able to put themselves in the shoes of Joe and Suzie Syria and guess what will happen if we start bombing them.
I don’t know about you, but if the Americans bombed my country and killed my relatives, friends, and countrymen, and it so happened that there were a whole bunch of under-armored, under-armed, outnumbered American troops flailing about aimlessly in the ruins of the country next door, and if it happened that I could just load up my weapons and gear and walk right across the fucking border, you can bet your sweet ass there would be more than a couple dead Americans before I went on to a martyr’s paradise at the right hand of Mohammed.
The folks crossing over the border to fight Americans right now are not Syrian government soldiers. They are civilian volunteers. And right now, they are a trickle. Bomb Syria, and what was a fringe phenomenon will become a mainstream flood.
Sooner or later, American leaders need to clue in to the fact that no one, and I do mean no one, has ever or will ever take the kind of shit we’re dishing out lying down. Our message to the world is essentially, “Shut up and die.” And somehow, we wonder why “they” hate us. Being murderous, arrogant, grasping swine couldn’t possibly have anything to do with it.
They’ll bomb Syria. Especailly those parts of it that house our outsources torture centers.
Bush is a lunatic, a fucking lunatic. Negroponte is advising him to do this, eh? Where’s daddy? He may be the only one who can put an end to this insanity.
Not only am I sick and tired of seeing “made in the US” corpses, I am sick and tired of watching the Bush family psychosis play out on a global stage.
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