Posted on 10/06/2004 6:57:33 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON - Syrian President Bashar Assad is offering to make peace with Israel and says he is ready to cooperate with the United States in stabilizing Iraq, a former senior State Department official said Wednesday. "Something is going on in Syria and it is time for us to pay attention," said Martin Indyk, assistant secretary of state for the Near East and U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration.
In a three-hour meeting with the Syrian president last month in Damascus, Indyk said he detected a "clear change" in Assad's views on a number of fronts.
On peacemaking, Assad offered to hold talks with Israel without preconditions, Indyk said, and had made several overtures to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the latter rebuffed.
In the past, Indyk said, Syria had insisted that any peace talks should resume where they left off during the Clinton administration - with Israel offering to give up all of the Golan Heights, a strategic area Israel won in the 1967 Mideast war.
And, Indyk said, Assad had dropped a demand that Israel reach an agreement with the Palestinians before Israel could resume negotiations with Syria.
Need to Reform
On the domestic side, Indyk said, Assad spoke "about the need to reform the government."
"It's worth watching and it is worth testing," Indyk said at a seminar at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, of which Indyk is the director.
Indyk said Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa was not at his meeting with Assad, evidence the former American diplomat said that change was under way and that al-Sharaa "and others in the old guard are being systematically silenced."
On Monday, Assad shuffled his Cabinet. Ghazi Kenaan, 62, until two years ago Syria's top intelligence general in neighboring Lebanon, was named interior minister. Al-Sharaa retained his post.
Assad switches to cooperation with U.S. over Iraq On Iraq, Assad "figured out he was on the wrong side" and has switched to cooperation with the U.S. occupation forces in the country, Indyk said.
On support for terrorism, Assad was responding to U.S. demands by moving some leaders of militant Palestinian groups out of Damascus, Indyk said.
Last month, Syria was praised publicly by Secretary of State Colin Powell for dismantling military camps in the hills near Beirut, Lebanon.
Powell told reporters after a meeting with Al-Sharaa that the redeployment of Syrian occupation forces in Lebanon was "a positive step."
At the same time, the State Department has continued to call for a crackdown on terror. And Syria remains one of seven countries branded by the department as sponsors of terror.
Thousands of Syrian troops also remain in Lebanon despite passage on September 2nd of a UN Security Council resolution calling for a withdrawal and for Syria to respect Lebanon's sovereignty.
Also, President George W. Bush's administration has accused Syria of pursuing biological and chemical weapons programs as well as nuclear weapons.
Maybe you are right. I took it that the first job listed was current (asst Sec of State). Perhaps this is wrong.
Maybe he was asked to be a go between, keeps it informal but maintains credibility as he's a former ambassador. Wouldn't be the first time for this sort of thing
Maybe this is the anti-"October surprise"!. Maybe Syria got wind of some activity on our President's part for this month in their neck of the woods. So, Syria acts like it wants to cooperate and stalls Bush's tactic until after the election.
"Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry’s newly appointed Middle East advisor, Martin Indyk, has been working for years to garner American support for Yasser Arafat and his terrorist regime."
Looks like this guy's working for Kerry.
"Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry’s newly appointed Middle East advisor, Martin Indyk, has been working for years to garner American support for Yasser Arafat and his terrorist regime."
Looks like this guy's working for Kerry.
I know guys who worked in Saudi & the Gulf in the 60s and Beirut was a favorite for R&R.
Oooh! Hey Israel! If they offer you a large wooden horse as a peace gift, don't take it!
BTTT
From another post: "Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry’s newly appointed Middle East advisor, Martin Indyk, has been working for years to garner American support for Yasser Arafat and his terrorist regime."
The guy is negotiating for Kerrystan.
"And just where are those WMDs from Iraq?"
If Syria turns over the WMD in exchange for peace talks with Israel, doors will magically open up for the Syrians.
Bush gets put back into office, the UN gets undermined, Israel gets a peace deal, the Syrians get Golan back, Lebanon gets their country back, Israel gets to kill terrorists and Syria gets back into the good graces like LIbya.
Works for me.
"Works for me."
Forgot one, the Iranians start pooping chiclets.
That second quote was posted by me. I found the info at frontpagemag.com
Indyk is with Kerry
IF THIS DOESN'T SEND A SHIVER UP ONE'S SPINE
ABOUT BIBLICAL PROPHECY BEING FULFILLED BEFORE OUR EYES AND THE UNDOUBTEDLY SOON APPROACH OF THE EVIL WORLD RULER,
I DON'T KNOW WHAT WOULD.
Sheesh!
What a shock!
Amazing.
Thanks much for this post.
You can fool American Jews most of the time. . .
and we're about to find if you can fool us all of the time. David Bedein in FrontPageMagazine calls out John Kerry's newly appointed Middle East advisor, Martin Indyk. According to Bedein, "The very mention of Indyk, who served two stints as ambassador to Israel, sends shudders down the spine of senior members of the Israel defense and foreign policy establishment. For the past year, Indyk, in his new capacity as the head of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, has conducted a campaign to dispatch U.S. troops to intervene in the Middle East conflict. Indyk has gone so far as to say that the U.S. should sent troops or create a protectorate over the West Bank and Gaza. Such a step would place the U.S. in a virtual state of war with the Israeli army, which has always viewed some of the West Bank and Gaza as vital to the security concerns of the state of Israel."
Bedein also shows that Indyk "has been working for years to garner American support for Yasser Arafat and his terrorist regime." Indeed, Indyk "is generally looked upon as the man who planned the Oslo process that gave Yassir Arafat and the PLO armed control over most of the Palestinian Arab population." Bedein shows that, since Oslo, Indyk has repeatedly provided cover for Arafat while the wily terrorist violated his commitment to cancel the PLO's covenant to eradicate the Jewish state and then launched the second intifada. For example, "in late November 2000, when Israel issued a 'white paper' on intercepted intelligence from Arafat’s headquarters that showed documentary evidence that Arafat and his mainstream PLO gangs were indeed facilitating the campaign of terror, Indyk made a special trip to Jerusalem to demand that the Israeli government withdraw its report. Indyk had just reported to the U.S. Congress that the Palestinian groups organizing the terror campaign were NOT under Arafat’s control."
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