im still trying to understand the rationale for israel entering another country to destroy an islamic jihad facility...
Syria is a sponsor of Islamic Jihad, which conducts terror attacks in Israel. They offer Islam Jihad safe haven, diplomatic cover, bases, and logistical support, in return for a proxy fighting force they can use against Isreal. Isreal is too powerful for Syria to attack direcly, so they seek to weaken them using third party terrorist groups such as JI, Hamas, etc. (Iran is actually the grandmaster of this game, but Syria is close and equally guilty)
im also trying to understand bush making that comment about "defending oneself"...
The attacks against Israel would not have been possible without Syrian support. Israel is attacking the command and control center of a hostile organization, which would constitute self defense.
im also interested in knowing if syria condemned the attacks on israel and what they are doing to prevent future attacks...
Syria does not make a habit of condeming terrorist attacks. They usually make the arguement that Israel had it coming, and can expect more of the same, while denying any responsibility themselves. They have no interest in preventing further attacks permently, however Syria will often restrict their subordinate groups from action, or tell them to increase their attacks, depending on Syria's political needs.
i understand that israel was attacked in a most gruesome way, but shouldnt they have at least consulted with syria before just launching an attack in its territories?
So they could ready their air defenses? What for? The official position of the Syrian government is that there are no terrorist groups in Syria. The persons and organizations that are considered terrorists by us are not by Syria. The only terrorist organization they believe exists in the middle east is the IDF.
consistent with bush's foreign policy history, after going in and kicking afghanistan & iraq regimes out for defending terrorists, i guess he's trying to make a point to syria as well...
if syria wont at least condemn these attacks on israel then they are no better than terrorists and should be considered that way, and dealt with.
Words are words, actions are actions. Syria is clearly known to all as a sponsor of these groups, whether or not anyone agrees on the definition of 'terrorist'.
im on bush's side, but i think he's starting to lose control of the situation that 9/11 created...</>
On the contrary, he's warmed up and working wonders.