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The Forum > Article Comments > A clueless US Foreign Policy on Syria > Comments

A clueless US Foreign Policy on Syria : Comments

By Jamil Sawda, published 6/1/2011

Recent US policy on Syria is rewarding it for bad behaviour.

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Even if the initial premise of this article is correct, that Syria is somehow concealing information from the Lebanon tribunal (which is extremely doubtful) the whole emphasis is curiously misplaced.
Syria is entitled to be mistrustful of American motives given that the US completely fails to rein in its Israel ally from its periodic attacks on its neighbours, including Syria, and its wilful disregarding of UN resolutions including, inter alia, the demand that it should withdraw from the Golan Heights which it continues to illegally occupy since 1967.
There is no evidence that Syria wishes to re-occupy Lebanon, unlike Israel which has attacked and occupied Lebanon violently on more than one occasion. On each occasion the US has at best stood silent and at worst (and more often) armed and supported the Israelis in their aggression.
The Lebanese Tribunal looks likely to blame Hizbollah for the Hariri killing which is a measure of how tainted the inquiry is.
To say that Syria does not allow IAEA inspections is simply wrong, but again the emphasis is misplaced. Israel refuses to sign the non-proliferation treaty and refuses to allow any inspections at all. Despite this the Americans continue to provide nuclear material to Israel, itself a breach of the NPT.
Unless and until the writer turns his attention to the real problem in the Middle East, Israeli and American aggression, his analysis will simply lack credibility.
Posted by James O'Neill, Thursday, 6 January 2011 1:40:38 PM
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James O”Neil, thinks that it's extremely doubtful that Syria is concealing information from the Lebanon tribunal ( on what basis – because the dictator and his henchmen said so? )

Syria is one of the least free countries in the world. It is ruled by the Baath Party( in the person of dictator Bashar al Assad), the Syrian arm of the same party that gave us Saddam Hussein. Syria’ occupied Lebanon from 1976, until they were forced out in 2005 after the assassination of Hariri. They are the primary supporters of the terror organisation, Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon. Syria conducts much of its foreign policy through its terrorist proxies, who undertake actions it wants to avoid direct responsibility for.

Syrian proxies killed Rafik Hariri. They then went after other high profile Lebanese Anti-Syrian figures. Samir Kassir, George Hawi, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Amine Gemayel, and Walid Eido were assassinated Attempts were made on the lives of Elias Murr, May Chidiac, and Samir Shehade.

I wonder if you think these were ALL fortunate accidents for the Syrians. Is their alliance with Hezbollah, merely a coincidence?

“Capt. Wissam Eid of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch, had found compelling evidence for the responsibility of .. Hezbollah in the assassination. In quick succession to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon contacting Capt. Eid, in order to aid its investigation, Wissam Eid was assassinated in the explosion of a car bomb, in a similar way to Hariri.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Rafic_Hariri

The UN investigation believes that the Syrians were heavily involved in these attacks. No reasonable person could come to any other conclusion. Now we have wikileaks cables showing the desperation of the Syrian regime to have the investigation into Hariri’s death stopped.

As for the Israeli bashing, find a post that deals with Israel there are plenty of them. By pointing to the Israelis instead of arguing the case for Syrian innocence, you lower yourself to the level of rank apologist. Effectively you are saying “the facts don’t matter”. Although you are in good company. Hezbollah chief, Nasrallah also believes it’s all an Israeli conspiracy.
Posted by PaulL, Thursday, 6 January 2011 6:41:51 PM
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I do not ususually respond to anonymous attacks especially when ad hominen arguments and avoidance of the issues are their main characteristics.
If Mr "L" bothered to do the research he would quickly find that there is very good evidence upon which to doubt the integrity and veracity of the Lebanon Tribunal's investigation. The Swiss, the Russians and the French have all published well documented critiques.
We know that the US had an AWAC plane overhead at the time of the assassination. We know also that the Israelis had been tracking Hariri by use of their drones for weeks preceding the assassination. To a complete lack of surprise the Americans and the Israelis refuse to release the relevant footage for the inquiry.
We know also that the most likely cause of the explosion that killed Hariri and 23 others was a depleted uranium tipped missile likely to have been manufactured in Germany.
These are matters worthy of investigation. As a democratically elected part of the Lebanon parliament Hezbollah is entitled to have its views noted.
To dismiss them as "terrorists" and those who call for a proper inquiry as "apologists" simply reveals the intellectual poverty of the critic.
Posted by James O'Neill, Friday, 7 January 2011 9:34:35 AM
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You claim that i have not done any research. If, by that, you mean that I haven’t spent my time trolling conspiracy websites and subscribing to islamo-facist propaganda, you are right. Otherwise, not.

YOU claim that Hezbollah isn’t a terrorist organisation. But the Australian Gov’t, along with those of Canada, the UK and Egypt believe that Hezbollah IS a terrorist organisation. As does Israel and the US. Syria and Iran deny it.

Its major goal, as defined in its 1985 manifesto, is the obliteration of Israel. It uses bombings of embassies as one of its prestige military capabilities. It killed 95people in an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1994, 29 more in 1992. Singapore accused Hezbollah of recruiting locals to undertake attacks on US and Israeli ships in the Singapore Straights in 2002. In 2009 Egyptian authorities foiled a massive attack planned against targets in the Sinai. Hezbollah regularly attacks Israel with rockets and bombs, and have on numerous occasions attempted to kidnap Israeli soldiers from within Israel. Any claim that Hezbollah is purely a defensive organisation is Hezbollah propaganda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah

If they are legitimate members of the country’s political system, why are they doing military drills to takeover the country? In fact, why do they even need a military wing. Why, for that matter, do they need their own television station?

You say WE KNOW
1) “that the US had an AWAC plane overhead at the time of the assassination”
2) “Israelis had been tracking Hariri by use of their drones”
3) the most likely cause of the explosion that killed Hariri and 23 others was a depleted uranium tipped missile

This is pure and unadulterated editorializing. You haven’t demonstrated any such knowledge. Who knows these things?

Hezbollah knows them, is what I think you mean. Hasan Nasrallah has accused Israel of the attacks.
His evidence? http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/2010891991920480.html. “Intercepted Israeli reconnaissance footage of areas Hariri supposedly visited”. This is absolute nonsense.
Posted by PaulL, Friday, 7 January 2011 12:58:36 PM
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Here is the specious source, at least as far as I can find, of the claims that a DU missile was the source of the explosion. It is RANK speculation of the most egregious type. But when one looks who published the report it becomes easier to understand.
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/11/new-revelations-on-rafik-hariri%E2%80%99s-assassination/

It ignores the disintergration of the Mitsubishi canter truck which was present at the moment of attack. It ignores the further video evidence that un-sanctioned roadworks were carried out in the day prior to the assassination. It ignores the fact that after Lebanese Capt. Wissam Eid found evidence implicating Hezbollah, he was himself assasintaed. And they blame Germany for providing the weapons and the prosecutor to cover up the crimes. Its typical of the conspiracy minded fluf you see on the web. The 911 truth movement is sustained by similar analysis by untrained “commentators” with preformed opinions and flaky logic.

Its just all too convenient for Hezbollah to blame Israel for this. It is merely a continuation of the policy to blame Israel for every adverse event in the middle east. People in the region take seriously claims that Israel is behind the shark attacks which were scaring away tourists in Sharm e-Sheik. http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?ID=198286&R=R1
Posted by PaulL, Friday, 7 January 2011 1:19:07 PM
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