US warns Syria that 'our patience is running out'

AFX ^

[jmc1969]

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, fired a strong warning to Syria on Monday, as Washington accused the Damascus government of giving help to radical groups in Iraq.

'Our patience is running out with Syria,' Khalilzad told a press conference. When asked how the US could respond, he said 'all options are on the table', including military.

'I would not like to elaborate more, they should understand what I mean,' he added.

The US believes that Iraqi Sunnis are refusing to agree a proposed constitution because of threats from Sunni extremists who have infiltrated Iraq from Syria, where they have training camps, Khalilzad said.

'Syria has to decide what price it's willing to pay in making Iraq success difficult. And time is running out for Damascus to decide on this issue,' the ambassador warned.

'It simply must close the training camps,' he said. 'It should not allow youngsters misguided by Al-Qaeda, from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, from North Africa, to fly into Damascus international airport.'

'It shouldn't be that hard, if you see young men between the ages of 18 and 28, who are coming without a return ticket, landing in Damascus airport to control that.'

The former US ambassador to Kabul also warned that Iraq could become worse that Afghanistan under the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban if extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, were to prevail.

'If people like Zarqawi were to dominate Iraq, it will make Afghanistan under the Taliban look like a picnic, given the resources of Iraq, the location of Iraq,' Khalilzad said.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Take out the airports.... all of them, permanently. Also take out the ports.

[golfisnr1]

Go for it already.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

We've tried the "speak softly" part, when are we going to get to the "big stick" part?

[Conspiracy Guy]

Large glassy area.

[My2Cents]

What happened to, "You're either with us, or you're against us"? This low-level begging of Syria to foresake ties to terrorists is pathetic.

[defenderSD]

It's time to send some guys in there in the middle of the night to blow up Syria's terror support facilities.

[contemplator]

'It shouldn't be that hard, if you see young men between the ages of 18 and 28, who are coming without a return ticket, landing in Damascus airport to control that.'

Stopping them at the airport is a good idea, but of course once word gets out they'll simply buy a round trip ticket they never plan on fully redeeming. If Syria is beligerent enough to risk going to war by knowingly allowing these training camps to continue, then the answer is to simply blow up AQ's training camps in Syria as part of the WOT. What can they do, get mad at us for blowing up something they deny even exists?

[x5452]

I think if we can convince them to give up something sure to end in heavy losses for themselves we can conserve our forces for more productive things.

I doubt they'll head this, but they should.

[Coop]

What happened to, "You're either with us, or you're against us"? This low-level begging of Syria to foresake ties to terrorists is pathetic.

The only thing pathetic I've seen around here is the number of posters who think they're smarter and better informed than our military, the Iraqi government, and our National Command Authority/National Security Council.

[gridlock]

"My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Syria forever. The bombing begins in five minutes...."

What we'd like to hear...

[ZULU]

Syria and Iran are part of the unfinished job.

Its long past time for Syria to pay the price for operating the "insurgents" from its home territory, and Iran's nuclear capabilties must be destroyed.

Right now, if we pull out of Iraq, the Iranians and Syrians will dismember it.

[BulletBobCo]

[ordinaryguy]

'It shouldn't be that hard, if you see young men between the ages of 18 and 28,

Um, that would be profiling. The US won't do the same thing at its own airports.

[My2Cents]

The only thing I've seen is the Bush Adm. growing soft on the war on terror. We've been "warning" Syria to clean up it's act for over two years. No wonder they're ignoring us.

[jmc1969]

If we don't have enough troops to control Syria and Iraq militarily then we can't invade Syria. The Syrian government is so weak that simply bombing them might bring them down. And, then we would get a total failed state with no one to negotiate with.

[injin]

If people like Zarqawi were to dominate Iraq


There should not be a person like Zarqawi.
This guy should be face down in the dirt ,
a long time ago now.
That he is not is one of our major failures.

[SpaceBar]

I have a prediction should the US finally decide to address the Syria problem. Many interesting things will be found there from aging nazis to portable chem/bio weapons factories. Simon Weisenthal will be able to close some files, and we'll finally know where the vast quantities of WMD's from Iraq went, all in one fell swoop.

[opticks]

seriously, Syria is the closet where the Middle East hids all the skeletons.

[Marine_Uncle]

"The only thing pathetic I've seen around here is the number of posters who think they're smarter and better informed than our military, the Iraqi government, and our National Command Authority/National Security Council." WELL SAID. Some folks think one can just go in and bomb the shi! out of a soverign nation that is not outright provoking us. Bashir though a weak leader in so many ways, e.g. lets face it, he does not control the country with an iron fist, so many factions come into play in Syria, for and against the Bashir govenerment, that he does not have the luxuary to issue orders to wipe out all the training camps, terrorist cells throughout his country. This is not an easy tasks for any nation to do, as should be FULLY APPRECIATED at this point in time. For all we know, when Powell meet with Bashir's minister of the interior and him while still SoS, coming to an agreement that the Syrians would actively close down known terrorist cells and halt the incursion of foreign elements from coming into Syria, and TURN OVER the long list of Saddamist Baathist known to be residing in Syria, he may have had good intentions only to find out that the corrupt and half assed military and secret service he has where not willing to follow his commands. People just don't seem to understand this crap is not always easy to pull off. Hey Richard Clark, Sandy Berger and others did not force Clintoons hand to take out Bin Laden when given two perfectly good chances to do so. So why do we think things should be different with Syria, and country barely held together by the military and secret police. One could flatten Damascus sure. One could deliver air strikes say at the NW Syrian city of Halab (Alleppo) to take out some of the terrroist camps, but surely the problem would not go away. Good call coop.