(excerpt) Lawrence Eagleburger, Secretary of State under George Bush Senior, said American public opinion would not tolerate action against Syria or Iran. He was speaking as Colin Powell, the current Secretary of State, ramped up the pressure on Syria not to shield Saddam Hussein or his cronies. Washington hawks are spoiling for a fight with Syria and Iran following the collapse of the Iraqi regime. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday said there was "no question" that Syria was harbouring senior Iraqi figures. But Mr Eagleburger, who accused Syria of having an outrageous record on terror, said an extension of the war was unthinkable. "You saw the furore that went on before the President got sufficient support to do this," he said. "This is still a democracy and public opinion rules. If George Bush decided he was going to turn troops on Syria now and then Iran he'd be in office about 15 minutes. "If President Bush were to try it now, even I would feel he should be impeached. You can't get away with that sort of thing in a democracy." Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien arrives in Damascus today to tell Syria it has nothing to fear if it shuns terror and refuses to harbour Iraqi leaders. President Assad denies any links to terror groups.
The above is merely the typical rhetoric of an Arab-loving loser.... God Bless Israel and USA... next target for regime change: Syria
Gosh, aren't you willing to give the "inspectors" more time? Hans and his crew wanted months more, at least, to complete their work. Just curious - why do you think the former Iraqi government refused to comply fully and proactively with UN demands, if there was nothing to hide?
Sooooo we won!! wowowowowow what a victory!! The 800 pound gorilla armed with the latest weapons technologies, goes over to the sandbox and kills the helpless child Ahhhhhh I forgot!, the child was not helpless, was holding few sticks and grains of sand to throw at the all mighty US armor. Or was it the nose thumbing??? Must have been the WWI vintage muskets and slingshots ahh yes and that mighty airforce yeah that's it!! Sooooo what the f%$k happened to those WMD's?? Didn't you idiotic warmongers say you had shitloads of proof about hundreds of thousands, litters, barrels and nukes of the nasty weapons?? WAIT WE KNOW WHERE ALL THAT SHIT IS!! Now we do!! SYRIA has them now. Yeah that's it!! Syria, how dare they??. News already started talking about chems, satellite photos, harboring sodom and other terrorists, UN resolution violations blah blah blah... Ofc IRAN should be next with all the al-queda terrorist camps.!!! I'm soooo proud of how well the master plan is working out a pic is better than few words http://www.politicalstrikes.com/.images/ps838.jpg Let's not forget, Bush's Illegal Invasion: Day 27 The cost in American soldiers 118 Dead; Zero POWs ; 5 Missing * ( * Estimate ) I will not even bother with the Iraqi dead, nobody here seems to give a crap about them Ofc the media censorship will not even show any of the dead pics to the viewing audience here. Let's enjoy our freedom fries, and don't forget to go shopping for the new 3 gallons per mile SUV's WMD discovery managed info just like economic news 1. put out news release with gross favorable assumptions that produces a likeable evidence (econ numbers), which engenders visceral emotions in support of war effect (econ recovery) 2. days later (one month later) retract the info by means of corrections after review (revisions toward reality) the benefit of emotional initial response far outweighs the correction later after careful review and push toward reality later, people will say we found evidence of WMD when we didn't they will recall the initial stories this is how the Soviet Union sob's operated disinformation We have began a new era, where questioning authority is viewed as unpatriotic, where questioning falsification of documents is viewed as obstructive where questioning Halliburton contracts is viewed as interfering with expeditious action where questioning civilian death count (and sheer willingness to tolerate such high counts) is viewed as insubordinate to the field commanders didn't Hitler operated in much the same manner?? we are fast building a fascist foundation WAKE UP AMERICA Sad times indeed:eek: :eek:
As for the topic of this thread, there will be pressure on Syria, as well there should be, but until and unless the Syrians engage in some new, intolerable provocation, or there is some new, bombshell revelation about their current or recent behavior, the odds of a military invasion of Syria seem extremely low to me. Even if the US possessed the ability to de-stabilize or bring down the regime through covert action, it's not clear to me at all that now or anytime soon would be the best time to try it.
the explanation given by an Iraqi spokesman a while back - cannot remember his name: 1) they did comply, and if they had not Blix would have simply said so. 2) they complied only reluctantly because of their belief that the US was going to attack in any case, compliance or not. therefore, to comply only makes it easier on their opposition. (1) seems up for some debate. (2) makes more sense. remains to be seen what the Syrians do now that they know they've been slated for the gallows.
do you mean it not being politically the best time to try it? could also say it's the best time - strike while hot, approval ratings still high, the American people not bored with 'patriotism' yet, and before the dust settles around Iraq. plus, the gear's already over there, and the troops are warmed up. and once the media "unembeds" some unfavorable stuff might start leaking out and dampen support.
As for 1, even Blix didn't claim that the Iraqis were complying: Do you have any doubt that he would have said so, with big bold-face capital letters, if he believed that the Iraqis were complying? All he ever said was that "progress" was being made, mostly on "procedural" matters. That was enough for the Coalition of the Unwilling, but no one claimed that the Iraqis were fully complying. As for 2, what is the it that compliance would have made easier?
The troops are busy, and many of them are exhausted. Much of the gear has been used up. A Syria operation would be a brand new thing for the public to consider. Unless some "clear and present danger" arises, there are many reasons not to take on another war right now. I haven't noticed anyone who's much worried about post-embedded media - other than CNN revealing that it had been in bed with Saddam for years.
again, that was the Iraqi position, not mine - Saddam could have avoided this whole thing by playing the compliance differently, and saved a lot of heartache and destruction and death. the *it* is war - by disarming/complying with an army that they believed would attack in any case. the choice was portrayed as dying with a fight, or dying without a fight.