Posted on 11/30/2001 2:20:04 PM PST by Enemy Of The State
Syria bluntly warns US not to attack Iraq ...
By George Baghdadi
DAMASCUS - Syria has sent a strong signal to the United States that it risks an Arab walkout from the anti-terrorism campaign if Washington's military strikes against Afghanistan expanded to Iraq as implied by President George W Bush.
Such a venture would deal a "fatal" blow to the international consensus that Washington has mustered since the September 11 suicide attacks on its soil, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said this week after his more-than-two-hour talks in Beirut with Lebanese President Emil Lahoud.
"Any threat to an Arab country would not be tolerated. Any attack on an Arab country would create an endless chain of problems. Any harm to an Arab country would be a fatal mistake," cautioned the veteran Syrian diplomat, whose country had joined the US-led coalition that routed Iraq from Kuwait in the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.
Syria has long been on the US State Department list of nations suspected of sponsoring terrorism, but was not singled out in Bush's warning.
"Washington would be wrong if it was making plans to hit Iraq. Every Arab country would absolutely be against the move," Fayez Sayegh, head of Syria's state-run TV and Radio station, said in Damascus.
Bush has said that the next phase of Operation Enduring Freedom could target countries producing weapons of mass destruction, pointing at Iraq and North Korea as two countries that needed to produce a clean bill of health. He demanded that President Saddam Hussein allow United Nations experts back into Iraq or face the consequences, which he did not spell out. But Baghdad emphasized it would not be bullied by Washington, raising the specter of a showdown that could spell an end to Arab sympathy and support for the United States in the wake of the September 11 events.
"Iraq is prepared to defend itself. We will not be terrified by any arrogant party," Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said on Tuesday.
The refusal comes as the UN Security Council debates a resolution to renew the oil-for-food program, including US and British modifications that would ease sanctions on civilian goods reaching Iraq while tightening controls on weapons - so-called "smart sanctions".
The economic embargo against Iraq has been in place since the end of the Gulf War in 1991 but has come under mounting criticism for harming ordinary Iraqis. The oil-for-food program expired on Friday.
Significantly, Arab League secretary general Amr Mousa echoed Sharaa's view in remarks in Cairo on Tuesday. "Any attack against an Arab country will mean the end of Arab participation in the coalition against terrorism," Mousa said at the league's headquarters. Arab leaders have repeatedly said they oppose expanding the US campaign, which has focused on removing the Taliban Islamic militia from power in Afghanistan, to include any Arab state.
Egypt and Jordan, important US allies and supporters of the campaign against terrorism, both fear that a US strike on Iraq, coupled with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, would send the whole region up in flames.
Cracks began also to appear in the international anti-terrorism coalition, as Bush's partners reacted with unease to heavy hints that Washington was set to add Iraq to its list of military targets. Britain, Bush's staunchest backer in the anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan, said it had no evidence linking Iraq to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, while two other key allies, France and Germany, said outright that attacks on other countries were not necessary.
No US official has, as yet, said there are any links between bin Laden and Saddam. But there have clearly been differences within the administration about where Bush's campaign will proceed after Afghanistan, with some senior figures such as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his hawkish deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, urging retribution on Saddam, who has defied the Americans since Bush's father elected to leave the Iraqi leader in power in 1991.
According to Western diplomats, the hawks advocate taking Saddam down for good this time. "In the long run, some see Saddam as far more dangerous than bin Laden and infinitely more of a threat to US interests," one diplomat said on condition his name would not be used.
US officials, however, admit that Saddam, for all his sins, has not been involved in terrorism for several years and that they have nothing to implicate him in the events of September 11.
"But US intelligence has begun to take a hard look at reports from Czech authorities that Mohammed Atta, suspected leader of the terrorists who hijacked four US airliners and turned them into flying bombs, met the chief of Iraq's intelligence network in Prague in June, the last of several such meetings," another diplomat said. "Moreover, the Americans have lost three unmanned reconnaissance craft over Iraq in the last few weeks, with the Iraqis boasting they shot down all of them," he added.
Saddam has found himself in an unusual situation, inasmuch as bin Laden, by linking his war against the Americans to the Palestinians and other causes, has stolen the Iraqi leader's thunder. On October 16, Saddam chastised Arab leaders for not doing enough to oppose the US attacks on Afghanistan, and the Babil newspaper, owned by Saddam's eldest son Odai, praised bin Laden, signaling a shift in Baghdad's attitude.
Not a problem.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Heard it all before. Please don't declare a holy war, whatever you do (that would be about number 8,762). Better start worrying about your own fatality.
They SAY he was western educated. In reality, he is nearly retarded, speaks very little in public to hide the fact, usually only speaking to his chief advisor. Assad had chosen his eldest son to succeed him. Bashar was nearly nonexistent as far as Assad was concerned because he considered him to be a great burden and embarrassment.
Suddenly, his brother *died* in an automobile accident which put the loose cannon, Bashar, on the throne. The West believed they could exercise some control over him and did their best to give him a westernized profile. Unfortunately, once he gained the throne, his advisors had much more access to him and they were Hamas.
Even his glasses were part of a charade. He is supposed to be an optometrist. And I am Queen Latifah
The only Arab army even theoretically capable of winning the next Arab-Israeli war. If the Ba'ath regime gets replaced with a moderate government, the Arab League will have to give up all its dearly-held hopes and dreams about pushing the Jews into the sea.
Nothing like false bravado when you are cr#pping in your pants. Oh wait, this is Iraq. Check that, they don't get the picture until the sledgehammer hits their thick collective skull.
Sounds good to me. Let the flames begin. Fewer Muslims equal greater world stability.
IMO, Bush will reconsider this plan.
Take a ticket, Syria. We'll call you when it's your turn.
....so what?!
They would have to worry about the flames if they hadn't flung around the Palistinian gasoline for the last 20 years.
Nuclear weapons plants.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.