Just think of Lucy promising to hold the football for Charley Brown...
Posted on 07/06/2008 7:37:39 AM PDT by Fennie
Syria is ready to break off its close links with Iran if America gives it financial and military backing, a former Israeli diplomat involved in unofficial peace talks has revealed to The Sunday Telegraph.
According to the offical, who has been engaged in low-key "second track" discussions with Syrian representatives for many months, Syria's President Bashar Assad is increasingly open to a deal which would greatly weaken Iranian influence in the region.
Alon Liel, a former director of Israel's foreign ministry, said the prospect of a peace agreement with Syria was growing, though it might require a new American president before a deal could be agreed. Syria's support for radical groups including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbollah, both also backed by Iran, has played a large part in fomenting trouble in the Middle East...
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Just think of Lucy promising to hold the football for Charley Brown...
Just like how all Christians believe the inquisition was a good thing right?
We should offer the handful of Syrian leaders a deal. They get to live well in France for the rest of their lives, and the Alawite Shiite minority that rules Syria will be peacefully displaced, so that the Sunni majority can rule with a secular, democratic government.
In exchange, the only troops sent in to Syria to insure a peaceful transition of power are Iraqi and Egyptian. The Egyptians will be in charge of the Sunni areas, and the Iraqis will be in charge of the Shiite and Kurdish areas, using Shiite, Sunni and Kurd soldiers.
The Kurds will assure the integration of Kurdish Syria into “greater Kurdistan”, joining it with Iraqi Kurdistan.
Syria will end all military and diplomatic relations with Iran for 10 years, and its major Russian weapons systems will be destroyed. At that point, Israel may freely return the Golan Heights, with assurances that they will remain demilitarized.
All economic sanctions against Syria will be lifted, though terrorists and criminals currently residing in Syria will be turned over to the ICC for disposition.
Massive amounts of international and US aid will then assure that Syria remains peaceful, and develops a prosperous economy in parallel cooperation with Iraq, including a major oil pipeline project through Syria to the Mediterranean.
BINGO!
That sort of insane equivocation of Christian Western culture with Islam's steady history of war for religious submission has no place on a conservative forum. That is pure politically correct deconstructionist anti-Western culture poppycock better served up on a leftist forum where Christian and Western hating is part of the dogma.
Btw....right now. How many folks in the world are being murdered by Christians for being infidels?
Now, how many by Islamists for being Infidels?
But back to the original question here....were Syria genuine to some degree I would not discount working with them if it could put them more in our camp. Who woulda thought Egypt's Nasser or Qaddafi or even the Hashemites would one day decide to roll with Uncle Sam at least at the top?
We have made deals with tyrants before versus the alternatives...
Somoza or Sandies?
Pinochet or Allende?
Brasilian Junta or Leftists?
Colombian Paramilitary rovers or FARC/ELN?
Heavy handed Fujimora or maniacal Senderos and Tupacs?
and so forth..
I thought that Syria was a secular state.
Exactly. All the bad actors are going to roll over like dogs and let us scratch their bellies from here til November.
This will neutralize McCain’s foreign policy advantage and assist Obama greatly. Which, of course, is exactly what they want.
I smell the Rope-a-Dope.
Me too. Don’t trust any of them.
I’ve never wanted to visit Tatooine in the springtime. Or anytime for that matter. Syria is Tatooine. It’s Pirate City.
Uh-huh. This is just a scheme by Assad to get money from the US and then use it to a.) rebuild their reactor, b.) give to Iran, or c.) buy some more missiles from the Russians and ship them to Hezbollah
Yep. Syria feels like attacking Israel with American weapons instead of Russian weapons now.
Easy tiger easy.
I have no doubt that a certain type of Muslim has waged war in the name of religion like no other religion in all of history.
But I wasn’t trying to make that arguement.
Not all muslims are terrorists and suicide bombers. To say so is has you say “poppycock”.
While there is no doubt a large section of Muslims that wish to wage war in the name of striking down the infidels, the point is Christianity has had it’s own battles with zealots.
In western culture the witch burning and inquisitions didn’t swollow up our culture. They now and rightfuly so are looked down at has black marks on our history.
The war of idea’s in Muslim culture unfortunately hasn’t exactly been pushing them away from bombing en mass. That doesn’t mean that the war for ideas will not push the Muslim culture to look back at this time with contempt.
Simple: Publically stand-up Assad and recognize Israel’s right to exist as a nation and I am sure we could accomadate you. Until then, have fun with your suicidal friends. The Burden of Damascus comes to mind...
Great response and I almost chimed in with the same. The real point is that half the globe now recognizes that all men are created equal and should have equal rights. Islam does not recognize such rights. It will reform on it’s own or be eradicated in the nuclear age as it begins playing with fire. Those leaders whom wish to adopt a neutral policy away from naked aggression should always be given the chance but it shouldn’t take many years to see valid first steps taken as it did with North Korea.
Mark my words, that one will blow up in our face someday and dwarf the problems/confrontations of the Middle East.
If it’s you and Obama on the ticket, I may think about Obama. They don’t want to live in France and there is zero luck of that happening with no threat of defensive war on the part of Syria. Not gonna happen. Likewise they are not going to allow Egyptian, Iraqi or for that matter Smurf troops in their country while they stand down their army.
Integrating the only near perfect politically functioning part of Iraq to Syria? You must smoke crack, because I smoke pot and it doesn’t get you that high.
Good thing you thought this out well. Next after not having their soveregnty threatened they will destroy the air defenses of a hostile nation next door to the region’s premier air force. They will follow this up with rendering all thier commercial and military supporters obsolete and at this point having to rearm with M-4 rifles paid for in my taxes. If they don’t mind, I can’t afford an m-4 I pay taxes. I would like one too, where’s mine? You end it with a carrot from a 3rd party who has frequently said they were not going to do the action you propose.
Let’s assume they give up all the terrorists without getting deposed first. Then we give them to the ICC? How about our money, our investment (except from that gift from the Israeli’s) our tribunal, and if you killed Americans, God help you.....
Were it not for oil money, Iraq would be needing FAR more support. Syria, right next door does not have oil to export, now or when Jihadi’s are attacking the economic infrastructure which will happen if you did what you proposed.
A pipeline! What a great idea. We could orchestrate a solution to Iraq’s Strait of Hormuz problem! Did you know there is a pipeline from Iraq to a Turkish port on the Med? Oh wait that is in Kurdistan, which you are giving (assuming the Iraqi’s go with this.) to Syria...
I think it will always continue because there is 95% of teaching that promotes decent values towards oneself and others and there is 5% that advocates murder, Jews as below pigs and apes and that if you don’t believe and convert, you are an enemy combatant that can and should be lied to, betrayed, etc. etc. etc. It is the foundation of the religion itself that must change but don’t you dare question Mohamad or we’ll kill you!
The inquisition had no biblical foundation for such behavior, it preyed on the ignorance and lack of printed editions of the bible to attempt to get away with obvious politically inspired behavior. No foundation, no long-term practice or behavior.
Totally different set of circumstances. While we hope Islam looks back and think about the wisdom or self-adjustment, to me they will be looking back like the Japanese do with how they viewed Emporer Hirohito. Biblically speaking, both seeds of Abraham were told they would become great nations. In Islam, the first-born son of the Israeli nation is despised and is lower then pigs and apes. It’s wishful thinking they will self-adjust on there own and that indeed is a shame.
HUH??????? Is this a summary or do you have a poor command of “you”?
AND
In western culture the witch burning and inquisitions didn’t swollow up our culture.
Ahh, the old liberal moral equivalence argument. Why are you living the liberal lie? 60-90% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. What percentage of them actually are majority Sunday attenders, believe the Apostles' Creed (or can recite it), and can explain their relationship with Christ.
Adherent Muslims are either terrorists, suicide bombers, sympathizers of both, or will refuse to reject the former. Disagree? Name the moderate Islamic organization that is fighting to be the voice of Islam. Therefore, it doesn't really matter, does it, if every Mo doesn't wear a TNT belt? The West will begin winning the "WOT," in a longterm and meaningful way, once these facts our recognized publicly.
With regards to the inquistion/witch burning, you are comparing apples and oranges: Afterall, there is quite a bit of difference between Islamist killing Westerners, and Westerners killing their own. I hope you recognize this... please read the liberal media if you doubt me on the shared friendship between Shiites and Sunnis. Additionally, parroting the secularist talking points is also disingenuine regarding the eeevilll Christians and the Inquistion/Witchburning. The last scholarly work I read estimated that it is unlikely that more than two thousand people were executed for heresy by the Inquisition [The Inquisition edited by Brenda Stalcup and Henry Kamen's The Spanish Inquisition]. Nothing to be proud of, but consider it in light of 911.
Honestly, I'm not trying to make this personal, but rather, plead with others to recognize these arguments that we see all too often, coming from both the left and, unfortunately, the right. It may very well be a matter of our own survival.
You may smoke a lot of pot, but you write like you smoke meth.
To start with, what I wrote was firmly tongue in cheek. However, there were grains of truth in there. If the top half dozen oligopoly dictator leaders were “gone”, and some military assistance rendered to remove the Alawite from power, that would not cause a single tear to be shed in the Sunni nations.
The rest was to point out how the two nations of Egypt and Iraq, if through some amazing diplomacy, were to replace US forces in Syria, might help mollify the situation.
But the bottom line is that the mighty Syrian military is two farts in a handkerchief, and could be reduced in a few hours by a US attack. But this leaves a basket case of a country thrashing around like 20 years of Lebanon in a week. An epileptic mouse, by US standards, but one below our interests, if not those of France and the Sunni nations.
The Iraqi army alone could easily occupy Syria to help restore order and to keep the Sunni from slaughtering the Alawite.
As far as the terrorists would go, we would probably be more than happy to ship them off to Europe’s ICC, as they are not worthy of import to the US. Some of the cream of the crop might end up in Tel Aviv, to experience some fine quality hemp, but the bulk of them aren’t worth the powder and lead to blow up.
They wanted the ICC to harass the US, then fine, let’s all see the mighty ICC in action doing something useful. Not our problem.
All told, Syria is hardly worth consideration except as a nuisance to Israel. If remade in a democratic model with majority rule, everyone, especially the Syrians, would benefit, even if the Alawite were bitter as hell about no longer being in charge. Tears shed. Tough.
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