John Uskglass
Venerable Relic of the Wastes
About Goddamned fucking time
Then there's this. War in Syria? France+Friends would be relitivley likely to join in, as this would not do any damage to Euroeconomy. Syria also lacks the terrain and an embattled, ruling minority like the Sunnis in Iraq (the Druze are somewhat similar, but they are more academic than brutish, Fascistic thugs). Frankly, the war should have been in Syria in the first place.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=525013
Lebanon's Syrian-backed PM says he's ready to resign
Wed Feb 23, 1:42 PM ET
BEIRUT (AFP) - Beleaguered Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karameh said he was ready to quit in the face of intense pressure to end Syrian domination of his country and find the killers of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
Karameh spoke as US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) kept up the heat, repeating a joint demand he and French President Jacques Chirac made earlier this week for Syria to withdraw its troops immediately.
"I am ready for the resignation once we agree on a new government in order to avoid a vacuum," Karameh told AFP.
The prime minister spoke before the opposition announced it would put a censure motion before parliament Monday, but he insisted he was unfazed by the prospect and would himself have sought a vote of confidence in his government.
After a meeting in the home of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt later, opposition MPs announced they were demanding the "departure of the entire (pro-Syrian) regime."
They called for the dismissal of Lebanon's intelligence chiefs and an independent international inquiry into Hariri's assassination.
They welcomed a call by business leaders for the country's banking and commercial sectors to shut down for Monday's debate to back opposition demands.
The opposition has blamed the government and its political masters in Damascus for Hariri's killing and is demanding an end to Syria's dominant role in Lebanon, where it has about 14,000 troops stationed.
Karameh's Syrian-backed government has faced mounting calls to resign since the February 14 assassination of Hariri, a five-time prime minister and billionaire who spearheaded Lebanon's revival after the 1975-1990 civil war.
"This government has to resign, we cannot continue like that. We want to stop this dictatorship," opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh told AFP.
"The best thing to do is a transitional government which ensures security, fires the heads of Lebanese intelligence services, votes a new electoral law and oversees the legislative elections" due in May.
"It has to be a neutral transitional government in which there will be no members of the opposition or pro-Syrians. Then, after the elections, we can have a national union government," he said.
Elias Attallah, head of the Democratic Left opposition movement, said the resignation of Karameh's government was "already a fait accompli."
"Effectively, the entire regime is considered as having resigned."
He said the opposition was more interested in the shape of a transitional government, which "should cooperate with an international probe into Hariri's killing, take a clear position from the Syrian pullout ... and oversee free and transparent elections."
Speaking during a visit to Germany Wednesday, Bush said "Syria must withdraw not only the troops but its secret services from Lebanon."
He added that Damascus must not try to influence the parliamentary elections due this spring.
Chirac warned that the UN Security Council could slap sanctions on Syria if it failed to comply with a French- and US-sponsored resolution passed last September demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon.
He and Bush made a joint call on Monday for Syrian soldiers to pull out.
US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield was due in Lebanon later in the week to discuss the fallout from Hariri's killing and press the Security Council's demands.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud dismissed the renewed calls for a Syrian pullout as "nothing new".
But after a meeting with the minister, Saudi ambassador Abdulaziz Khoja said Syria was ready to redeploy its forces.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) sent intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to Syria for talks Wednesday amid the growing pressure on Damascus, a spokesman said in Cairo.
Then there's this. War in Syria? France+Friends would be relitivley likely to join in, as this would not do any damage to Euroeconomy. Syria also lacks the terrain and an embattled, ruling minority like the Sunnis in Iraq (the Druze are somewhat similar, but they are more academic than brutish, Fascistic thugs). Frankly, the war should have been in Syria in the first place.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=525013
Iraqi TV Airs Tape of Purported ConfessionIraqi TV Airs Tape of Purported Confession of Captured Syrian Officer Who Siad He Trained Insurgents
Local residents look on at an oil pipeline fire they say was caused by an early morning bomb blast, which injured six people, in Yousifiya south of Baghdad in Iraq, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005. (AP Photo/Haidar Fatehi)
By MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq Feb 23, 2005 — Iraqi state television aired a video Wednesday showing what the U.S.-funded channel said was the confession of a captured Syrian officer who said he trained Iraqi insurgents to behead people and build car bombs to attack American and Iraqi troops.
The video also showed an Iraqi who said the insurgents practiced beheading animals to train for decapitating hostages.
Syrian officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the claims.
The video comes at a time when the Bush administration has stepped up pressure on Syria to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs by allowing insurgents to cross into the country to fight coalition troops and by harboring former Iraqi regime members. Syria has denied the charges.
President Bush also repeated Wednesday that Syria must remove its 15,000 troops from neighboring Lebanon but did not threaten any action against Damascus for now.
In the video, the man, identified as Lt. Anas Ahmed al-Essa of the Syrian intelligence service, said his group had been recruited to "cause chaos in Iraq … to bar America from reaching Syria."
"We received all the instructions from Syrian intelligence," al-Essa, 30, said on a video broadcast by state-run Iraqiya TV, which can be seen nationwide.
The tape was apparently made in the northern city of Mosul but no date was provided. It was not possible to authenticate the claims.
An unidentified Iraqi officer introduced the video, saying all insurgent groups in Iraq were covers for Syrian intelligence. He named a number of well-known groups, including one which has killed and beheaded foreigners.
Iraqiya TV is believed to be widely watched by Iraqis mainly those who cannot afford satellite dishes offering the Gulf-based Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya stations. But the station, which went on the air in May 2003 with help from the Pentagon, is viewed by many Iraqis as an American propaganda tool having a pro-American slant.
Top officials in Iraq's interim government have called on Syria to hand over former Iraqi Baathists who fled there after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, which Syria vehemently opposed.
In the video, the bearded al-Essa, dressed in a gray jacket and shirt, claimed to be leader of the al-Fateh Army, which has not been heard of before.
He was one of 11 men claiming in front of the camera that they were recruited by Syrian intelligence officers. The other 10 were identified as Iraqis.
Al-Essa said his need for money was the motive for accepting an offer by a Syrian intelligence colonel he identified as Fady Abdullah to carry out attacks inside Iraq.
"I was trained on explosives, killing, spying, kidnapping … and after one year I went to Iraq with Fady Abdullah," al-Essa said.
He claimed he infiltrated into Iraq in 2001, about two years before the U.S. invasion, because Syrian intelligence was convinced that American military action loomed.
Another man, Shawan al-Sabaawi, was identified as a former lieutenant colonel in Saddam Hussein's army. He claimed to have received training from Syrian intelligence on how to behead hostages.
He said the group started by making car bombs targeting American troops and Iraqi National Guardsmen before beginning a campaign of kidnapping and beheading Iraqis.
Al-Essa said the group used animals for training in beheadings. He said it required "at least 10 beheadings" for a member to be promoted to a group leader.
"I had to send a report to Syria about how the operations are going," he said.
Weapons, explosives and equipment were all provided by Syrian intelligence, al-Essa claimed. He added the group members received $1,500 a month.
International pressure on Syria has grown since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, who died along with 16 others in a massive explosion in Beirut.
The Lebanese opposition blames the killing on the Damascus government and its Syrian backers. Both governments have denied involvement. Syria has 15,000 soldiers in Lebanon and is under growing international pressure to withdraw.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.