Posted on 04/19/2003 4:10:59 PM PDT by MadIvan
AMERICAN military planners have been told to draw up options for possible retaliatory action against Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups in the event of suicide attacks on US forces in Iraq, according to official sources in Washington. Intelligence specialists have concluded that the greatest threat to US military bases in Iraq may come from groups operating out of Syria.
Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, is expected to warn Damascus that Washington will no longer tolerate the use of Syrian-controlled territory as a “safe haven” for terror groups. US officials said last week they had already acquired evidence that Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Muslim group based in southern Lebanon, plans to attack embassies and other American targets in the region.
Powell said he intended to visit Syria soon as part of a “very vigorous diplomatic exchange” that has so far focused on American complaints that Damascus has been harbouring high-ranking Iraqi fugitives and has been developing chemical weapons.
At least seven senior Iraqis were yesterday reported to be hiding in Syria, among them Kamal al-Tikriti, a senior Republican Guard commander who is number eight on the Pentagon’s most wanted list.
Amid speculation that President George W Bush was adding Syria to his “axis of evil” — making it a candidate for enforced regime change — there were signs of a climbdown in Damascus as Syrian officials welcomed Powell’s planned visit. Diplomatic talks were “much quieter and much more constructive” than public accusations, said the Syrian foreign ministry.
It was also reported that Syria had assisted in the arrest of Jaffar al-Jaffer, head of Iraq’s nuclear programme, who surrendered to US forces last week.
But Damascus has not yet responded to American demands that other Iraqi leaders be expelled. Iraqi fugitives in Syria are believed to include Farouk Hijazi, a former official in the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi intelligence service, and Saddam Hussein’s first wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah.
Syrian officials made it clear they were not planning any radical action against Hezbollah or other terror groups such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which maintain offices in Damascus.
Israel has warned Washington that any of these groups may attempt to disrupt negotiations over a promised American “road map” that could ultimately lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. But Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, the son of Hafez al-Assad, the late Syrian president, appears to have a closer relationship with Hezbollah than his father.
Encouraged by their victory in Iraq, hawks close to the Bush administration are now pressing for a crackdown on Syria to isolate Islamic radicals.
The looming showdown is heightening concern that either side could provoke an incident that might spiral into war. If Hezbollah concludes that its days in Lebanon’s Beka’a valley are numbered, it might try to provoke an American military attack on Damascus as a means of igniting international outrage.
“The opportunities for mischief-making that might make a pretext for escalation have just multiplied enormously,” said John Pike, a military specialist with globalsecurity.org, a Washington think tank.
The influx of American troops had presented the region’s terrorists with “a target-rich environment”, Pike said. Anti-American operations might include border incursions by Hezbollah guerrillas or groups operating out of Iran, and car or truck bomb attacks on US targets in Baghdad. Other sources said that if Hezbollah went on the offensive, the Pentagon would respond in kind. o Israeli forces backed by dozens of tanks, armoured vehicles and attack helicopters pushed into the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza last night.
They entered the camp from three directions. Witnesses said two Palestinians were killed and 16 injured, including a security official who was taken to hospital with a head wound.
Earlier in the day Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian cameraman during clashes with stone throwers and gunmen in the West Bank town of Nablus.
We're gonna have to take 'em on sometime, might as well do it now when we're already ready to party and we might as well do it in their own backyards so London and New York streets don't bear the brunt of their cowardly attacks.
From your keyboard to Rumsfelds ear.
As a former Marine, the Corps owes a real special kind of payback to the Syrians and Hezbollah. It's going to be a bitch...
Regards,
L
LOL. They ain't been paying attention, huh? Unlike Pee Wee Klintoon, GW doesn't particularly care what international despots and dictators or French poodles think of us. Hell, they hate us now . . . might as well give them a reason.
Why wait for them?
Well, Afghanistan used to protect Al Quaida.
Think about that Bashar.
Think about it a lot.
While you still can.
So9
And the problem is ?
One persons hawk is another person's no-nonsense, take charge visionary.
Prairie
The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement 18 August 1988 In The Name Of The Most Merciful Allah
These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?
"But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah." (The Cow - verse 120).
There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:
"The people of Syria are Allah's lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation."
Sounds good to me.
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