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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:14 pm Post subject: CNN: Bush demands Syria be 'good neighbor' |
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I found the ironies in this story to be amusing in a sort of bitter and misanthropic way...
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Bush demands Syria be 'good neighbor'
Damascus told to control Iraq border, not interfere with Lebanon
Wednesday, October 12, 2005 Posted: 2044 GMT (0444 HKT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Wednesday called on Syria's government to be a "good neighbor" in the Middle East, warning Damascus not to interfere in Lebanon, incite Palestinian militants or allow insurgents to cross into Iraq.
"We're making good progress toward peace in the Holy Land, but one of the areas of concern is that foreign countries such as Syria might try to disrupt the peace process by encouraging terrorist activities," Bush said.
Bush said the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad must let Lebanon rule itself after 30 years under pro-Syrian governments and "not to agitate killers in the Palestinian territory." (Watch CNN's interview with Syria's president -- 22:40)
He also demanded that Damascus pay closer attention to its border with Iraq, where U.S. troops have battled an insurgency since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
"We expect Syria to do everything in her power to shut down the transshipment of suiciders and killers into Iraq," Bush told reporters at the White House. "We expect Syria to be a good neighbor to Iraq."
U.S. officials have complained that insurgents, including Islamic militants linked to waves of suicide bombings, have been crossing into Iraq from Syria.
U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched recent offensives in towns near the border to crack down on insurgents, who have killed hundreds of U.S. troops since Bush declared an end to "major combat" in May 2003.
Bush's remarks came the same day that Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan committed suicide after Lebanese television accused him of taking payoffs as commander of Syria's military intelligence corps in Lebanon.
U.N. investigators also had investigated Kanaan in connection with the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who had begun to urge a withdrawal of Syrian troops.
Hours before his death, Kanaan denied the bribery allegations in an interview with a Lebanese radio station and said he had no involvement in Hariri's death.
Protests sparked by Hariri's killing helped end the decades-long Syrian presence in Lebanon, with a withdrawal in April.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Al-Assad denied his government had played a role in the death and said any Syrian official who did would be guilty of "treason." |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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syria is a very nice country to visit; best in the m.east i'd say.
Not to hijack the thread or anything. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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I nearly got thrown in jail there, 3 times. Nice if you don't mind being scared sh*tless most of the time. And then there were the roundabouts of death...
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Not to defend Syria - why would I? - but the border thing is a bit ridiculous: The US can't stop uneducated, disorganized Hispanics crossing the southern border, but Syria should be able to stop trained, organized, determined jihadists? How does one measure the success or failure of such an undertaking? |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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Syria is a totalitarian police state. Mideast regimes have close to absolute power within their own borders.
In reality they are not a whole lot different from North Korea.
Who pays the salary of the clerics in most mideast states? the government. Who controls the media? The goverment. They know who gets funded and who does the funding.
The security services are mideast regimes are very, very effective.
They have TOTAL power. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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| How can anyone take an admonishment from the Bush Administration to 'be a good neighbour' seriously? What a shame that Bush foolishly blew all credibility the US had through Iraqi adventuring. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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Does anyone think Syria would be making nice if Clinton was president?
The US isn't hated cause of Bush the US is hated because it is a hyperpower, and the US was hated before Bush was president.
And Syria was acting the same was as it does now when Clinton was president. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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Bush has credibility issues.
Syria needs to respect its neighbors (esp. Leb.), although it doesn't look too "terroristic" to me in general, at least according to State's 2003 data.
In any case, I can easily have it both ways.
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The Syrian Government in 2003 continued to provide political and material support to Palestinian rejectionist groups. HAMAS, the PIJ, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine operate from Syria, although they have lowered their public profiles since May, when Damascus announced that the groups had voluntarily closed their offices. Many of these groups claimed responsibility for anti-Israeli terrorist acts in 2003; the Syrian Government insists that their Damascus offices undertake only political and informational activities. Syria also continued to permit Iran to use Damascus as a transshipment point for resupplying Hizballah in Lebanon.
Syrian officials have publicly condemned international terrorism but continue to make a distinction between terrorism and what they consider to be the legitimate armed resistance of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and of Lebanese Hizballah. The Syrian Government has not been implicated directly in an act of terrorism since 1986.
During the past five years, there have been no acts of terrorism against US citizens in Syria. Despite tensions between the United States and Syria about the war in Iraq and Syrian support for terrorism, Damascus has repeatedly assured the United States that it will take every possible measure to protect US citizens and facilities. Damascus has cooperated with the United States and other foreign governments against al-Qaida, the Taliban, and other terrorist organizations and individuals; it also has discouraged signs of public support for al-Qaida, including in the media and at mosques.
In 2003, Syria was instrumental in returning a sought-after terrorist planner to US custody. Since the end of the war in Iraq, Syria has made efforts to tighten its borders with Iraq to limit the movement of anti-Coalition foreign fighters into Iraq, a move that has not been completely successful.
Syria is a party to seven of the 12 international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism. |
I don't know enough about the Mid-East to evaluate Syria's inclusion on this list. But I know something of Latin American affairs, and it is absurd to place Cuba on this list, by the way.
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2003/31644.htm
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2003/31638.htm |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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Syrian minister 'commits suicide'
Kanaan was Syria's top official in Lebanon for years Syria's Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan has 'committed suicide', the official news agency in Damascus says. He was reportedly questioned by a UN investigator last month over the murder of ex-Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri.
For many years Kanaan was Syria's powerful intelligence chief in Lebanon, which was dominated by Syria until its military withdrawal earlier this year.
Hours before his death, he gave what he called his "last" interview, saying he had served Lebanon with honesty.
Mr Kanaan's chief aide said that he had shot himself in the mouth at his office in the interior ministry.
"Gen Kanaan left his office to go home, then he came back after three quarters of an hour, took a gun from the drawer and fired a bullet into his mouth," General Walid Abaza told the AFP news agency.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4334442.stm |
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