Arabs Urged To Face US Threats (REMEMBER SYRIA?)

Sky News ^ | September 1, 2002 | Sky News

[MadIvan]

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is urging Arab and Muslim countries to unite in the face of US threats and "foreign conspiracies" as Washington prepares for a possible attack on Iraq.

Iran's official IRNA newsagency said Assad reiterated Syria's opposition to any US military strike on Baghdad and called for "deeper unity and solidarity among Arab and Muslim countries in the face of American threats against the region."

Enemies of Baghdad

Assad was speaking after a meeting in Damascus with Mohammed Sader, a senior Iranian foreign ministry official.

Syria and Iran, both erstwhile enemies of Baghdad, oppose any strike on Iraq which they fear could spread to target them.

Syria, which has begun rebuilding economic ties with Baghdad in recent years, also fears losing what diplomats claim is a UN sanctions-busting oil trade.

Syria and Iraq say oil deals fall within the UN oil-for-food programme.

Sponsoring terrorism

US President George W. Bush accuses Syria, Iran and Iraq of sponsoring terrorism and has branded Baghdad and Tehran part of an axis of evil bent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

Bush has made clear Washington's determination to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but Baghdad has dismissed any suggestion of a tripartite alliance between Iraq, Iran and Syria to face US threats.

IRNA said Assad had called on the region to "challenge the conspiracies woven in foreign circles against the countries of the region."

[stevem]

I think the big anti-American alliance has already lost Kuwait (at leat by another thread hereabouts)...and Jordan. In the end, what will you wager the boys from the House of Saud come around? When Iraq falls, how long can Syria last before it collapses on its own corruption?

[Stentor]

I have become dyslexic. i meant Isaiah 17:1 "The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap."

Don't sweat it. The first citation covers a whole lot of good territory.

[WarEagle]

Now consider that Jordan is one of the best led and most rapidly modernizing states in the Arab world.

And, FWIW, it's majority Palestinian. The world somehow believes there is no Palestinian state.

Question: How is it that Palestinians do not rule a majority Palestinian state? Could it be that whatever political leadership they have is intent upon self-enrichment? Just a thought...

[Rubber Ducky]

Meanwhile Syria continues to hold hostage power generation companies like Mitsubishi, Siemens, General Electric and others who are being given generous loans for said electrification projects (as a reward for not allinging with Iraq in the Guld War) by the same infidels whom they now call for war upon.