U.S. orders ambassador to Syria to return to Washington for consultations

[da_chimperor]

No link yet, it's on the top of the CNN main page.

Edit: Not sure what this means yet, but in the normal scope of international relations, as I understand them, recalling an ambassador is usually a sign that something is up.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=542&e=1&u=/ap/20050215/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_syria
Link, courtesy of maddezmom

[Avalux]

1. Beirut Bombing

Rummie's Pentagon SS did it - Syria gets the blame. How convenient.

[da_chimperor]

3. Oh, duh. I didn't even think of that.

Well, now we get to play whodunnit for a few days . . . yay . . .

[BR_Parkway]

2. Well damn, I thought we were invading Iran next.

How was I to know that when Condi said it wasn't on the table YET, that she actually meant it?

[Walt Starr]

4. The Iranian invasion made the news

so they'll redirect with a Syrian Excursion.

Both are PNAC targets.

[Avalux]

5. The goal remains the same

regardless of how it gets done.

[SpiralHawk]

12. Now, now, now, they won't call it "The Syrian Excursion"

That's just not explicit enough for proppagannon purposes.

They'll probably call the invasion of Syria something like:

Operation MegaFreedom.

[Chico Man]

19. Operation MegaFreedom

Nice One :7

[okieinpain]

13. iran has the bomb, syria doesn't.

[Morose]

36. Almost makes one thing that they floated Iran

so that when they invade Syria on some shallow pretense everyone will say "Oh, since Iran was the goal, we must be invading Syria for a REAL reason".

Sounds far fetched if you read it but it's amazing the lengths to which people go to rationalize their bad actions.

No one is safe with these arrogant fools in office.

[maddezmom]

6. AP Link here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=542&e=1&u=/ap/20050215/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_syria

[da_chimperor]

7. Thanks! n/t

[Avalux]

8. They are so damn transparent -

"The United States will consult with other governments in the region and on the Security Council today about measures that can be taken to punish those responsible for this terrorist attack, to end the use of violence and intimidation against the Lebanese people and to restore Lebanon's independence, sovereignty and democracy by freeing it from foreign occupation," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

Here we go.

[AFSCME girl]

14. Pardon my ignorance,

but is there oil in Lebanon? :shrug:

[Avalux]

15. No but it's strategically located

the Bushco/PNAC goal is control of the Middle East via military force. If you aren't familiar with PNAC, check out this DU group http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=307 for a lot of good info. :hi:

[AFSCME girl]

16. Aha! thank you

sparosnare :) That makes perfect sense. Thank you also for the link, cuz that was gonna be my next question - info on PNAC :hi:

[Avalux]

20. You're welcome

and happy reading!

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[allemand]

9. Solana says he sees no immediate need to change EU relations with Syria

19:55 EU foreign policy chief Solana says he sees no immediate need to change EU relations with Syria over the Hariri`s death (AP)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/ShTickers.html

In an interview with The Associated Press, Solana said he would also support an international investigation into the bombing. Asked if Hariri's killing Monday in Beirut would change EU relations with Syria, Solana said: "At the moment we have not any reason why it should."

He said that could change, depending on the results of investigations into the bombing.

"At the end of the day, it depends on how the responsibilities on the assassination of Mr. Hariri are resolved," Solana said.

"I hope very much that no country, no state has been involved in that terrible criminal act," he added.

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-21/110849073569670.xml&storylist=international


Also interesting in this context:

Sharon: Russia to go ahead with missile sales to Syria
By The Associated Press

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday he has been informed by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia will go ahead with the sale of anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, despite Israel's misgivings.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/540685.html


Ed. to add information.

[ewagner]

10. When diplomacy still mattered

the act of recalling an ambassador "for consultation" was a punishment to the country to which the ambassador was assigned. In these days I don't know that it means anything.

In addition, there is no evidence that Syria had ANYTHING to do with the assassination in Lebanon but it looks like Dubya and company are hell-bent on blaming Syria and ratcheting up the tension between the US and Syria.....

[Johnyawl]

11. You'd never know it from reading DU....

...but there ARE other bad people in this world besides bush. And Syria is one of them.

[Arwennick]

17. Follow the money and you'll find a inside job on this one.

JMO but the target had quite a few business enemys besides the political ones.In fact if one remembers most Lebanese assinations in the distant past where over business dealings,just the past 40 years did it become political or Religious related.

[candy]

18. I agree with you! The Bush bashing is so constant now it has

become meaningless.

After a while people will just stop listening.

[Arwennick]

21. As for beating on lame ducks

I'm all for it

I hate ducks with all that quacking

[Johnyawl]

22. I don't mind bashing bush when he's got it coming...

...which is most if the time, but there's something quite ridiculous about American liberals defending a brutal dictatorship like Assads. If bush can undermine, or get rid of Assad WITHOUT COSTING ANY AMERICAN LIFES, more power to him. The excuse for Syria's occupation of Lebanon is long gone, they SHOULD be made to get out and to quit meddeling in Lebanese affairs. Just like we should get out of Iraq and quit meddeling in their affairs.

[loveandlight]

25. Sorry to see it is only American lives you care about

This administration doesn't care about anyone's life, American or otherwise. To think that they will somehow "solve" problems in Lebanon or Syria or Iran or any other country without more killing and violence and replacing the meddling of some other country with American meddling is naive. Bush and his gang are only interested in power and control and any method to attain that, which will definitely include more killing. And yes, it will probably include more American lives along with all the others we are killing.

[Redstone]

27. I didn't see anyone defending Assad...

just people sick of a pointless war, hoping there isn't another one.

Redstone

[Bhaisahab]

39. what are you? innocent or something?

the way i read it, you seem to say the US should invade Syria without any loss of its troops, snatch the country like it were a lollipop from Assad's hand and give it to the people, who will use their wisdom and sense of fairplay to elect a representative government that will transform Syria into another Turkey. And then the US troops leave for home.
It doesn't work that way friend. Not even JFK was so idealistic in his use of the American military. Bush is like a toxic lump of shit compared to JFK.

[Minstrel Boy]

24. Learn from history. Even from Beirut bombings.

March 8, 1985, more than 80 people were killed in a Beirut car bombing.

Know who was responsible?

Global Research:
In addition to sabotage and “demolition,” the CIA has a track record of killing innocents with suicide bombs. On March 8, 1985, 80 people were killed and 200 injured when a car bomb exploded in Beirut, Lebanon. “The bomb went off outside a block of flats and close to a mosque as worshippers were gathering for Friday night prayers in a densely populated Shia Muslim suburb … near the home of a leading fundamentalist Shia Muslim cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Husain Fadlallah,” explains the BBC. Reagan and his CIA director, William J. Casey, according to the Washington Post, were responsible for planning and executing, along with the Saudis, the terrorist attack against Fadlallah.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/NIM410B.html

William Blum (1990):
In 1985, William Casey and a Saudi prince conspired to eliminate Muslim leader Sheikh Fadlallah, believed to be connected to the attacks on the American facilities. This plot culminated in March when the men employed to carry out the elimination drove a car bomb into a Beirut suburb near Fadlallah's residence. The explosion took 80 lives, wounded 200, and left widespread devastation. Fadlallah escaped without injury.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/Reagan_CIA.html

William Blum (Oct 31 01):
The fact is that since Gerald Ford signed a presidential order in 1976, which stated that "No employee of the United States shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination", the United States has plotted, on more than a dozen occasions, to administer what the CIA at one time called "suicide involuntarily administered". The last known attempt was the firing of missiles into the home of Slobodan Milosevic in 1999; amongst other attempts during this period was the arranging by the CIA, in 1985, for a car bomb to kill one sheikh Fadlallah in Beirut; 80 people were killed in the explosion, the sheikh not being among their number.
http://www.counterpunch.org/blum1.html

[ashmanonar]

26. i'm sure there are. and i'm sure syria's done bad stuff.

but does that make us responsible for changing their regime? we're not the fucking world police.

as much as bush wants us to be.

i'd like to see diplomacy tried first...oh wait, there needs to be an actual grievance for there to be diplomatic measures....

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

33. You are absolutely right

Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, Santorum, Phelps, Frist, Fallwell, Robertson... the list is endless.

And don't get me started about Saudi Arabia. Syria is Sweden compared to THEM.

[eissa]

38. Oh come on!

No one is saying Syria is the nice guy here, but given this administrations' tendency towards pathological lying, you can't blame anyone for questioning why the US is all of sudden so upset over the assassination of the former PM of Lebanon to recall its ambassador. What's next? Another PowerPoint presentation at the UN "proving" Syria had a hand in the assassination? More bribes to other countries to join some ridiculous "coalition"? Sheesh, haven't we been down this path before?

[IrwinDC]

43. I dislike the Bush administration.....

...but I dislike the Syrian administration a hell of a lot more. Hamas is a savage group of anti-Semitic terrorists and Syria supports them all the way. But you wouldn't ever hear that from most of the people on here. Again, no wonder we have lost the last three elections in a row! What in the hell happened to my party?

[BattyDem]

23. And we all thought Iran would be next ...

Silly DUers .... what were we thinking? I guess PNAC changed the batting order. It's nice to know their plan for world domination can be adjusted as necessary. :eyes:

I feel a draft ...

[LinuxInsurgent]

28. i often wondered....

why Syria wasn't next...they are much weaker than Iran and North Korea...and would seem the logical "next step", both from the imperial logic of the neocons, and because a lot of the insurgents coming from Iraq are getting support in Syria.

If we are in the game of manufacturing illegitimate interventions...why pick on strong Iran? Pick on weak Syria...

[Llewlladdwr]

29. U.S. recalls envoy from Syria

'Deep concerns' over ex-prime minister's killing in Lebanon

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 Posted: 2:31 PM EST (1931 GMT)

(CNN) -- The United States announced Tuesday the recall of its ambassador to Syria in response to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States has "made it clear" it wants Syria, which maintains some 16,000 troops in Lebanon, to use its influence to prevent such attacks.

Investigators on Tuesday were looking through the rubble from Monday's massive bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed Hariri and 16 others.

More:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/15/beirut.explosion/index.html

[ClintonTyree]

30. Is this the prelude to.......................

Syria; The War? There have been SOOOOOO many convenient events in Lebanon, Iran etc. that have stirred the bush administration pot lately. Coincidence? :shrug:

Nothing is a coincidence with these thugs. I smell covert, wet, black
ops everywhere lately. :mad:

[FloridaPat]

31. Mossad or CIA.

[lutherj]

32. Didn't we set off a huge car bomb in Lebanon in the '80s? As I recall

it flattened an apartment building. This sounds suspiciously similar.

[mmonk]

34. So our position is

because Syrian troops are in Lebanon, there are terrorists there engaged in assassinations and bombings. Wonder if anyone thinks the same thing about American troops being in Iraq and the problems going on there with terrorists?

[Minstrel Boy]

35. Accidentally like a martyr

From my blog:

I don't know who killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. And I'd wager a guess that you don't, either, unless you had a hand in killing him. But I would like to raise a red flag or two, about false flags, before the Tehren Express gets shunted onto the Damascus Line.

There's that claim of responsibility by the "previously unknown militant group," calling itself, according to today's Globe and Mail, "Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria." ("Greater"! Why, them's a fightin' word!) It's funny how it goes: these "previously unknown" groups always seem to go for the least likely soft targets, and with dubious motives that could injure their professed causes more than aid them. Also, they tend to blow things up real good. Better than most known groups which crow about their bombings.

And there's much precedent for doubt, especially in Lebanon. We're approaching the 20th anniversary of the Beirut suburb car bomb that killed more than 80 and wounded more than 200 - mostly those ubiquitous, innocent, women and children types. The target of the March 8, 1985 blast, Shia cleric Sheikh Muhammad Husain Fadlallah, escaped unharmed. As did the perpetrator, CIA Director William Casey.

Maybe you remember the image of the "Made in USA" banner strung across the blast site. And maybe you remember reading, several months later in The Washington Post, the confirmation that the explosion was the work of US-trained intelligence operatives. And perhaps you recall Casey's confession, via Bob Woodward, that he had cooked it up with the aegis of the Saudi government.

But probably, if you're like most, you don't. That's one of the damn shames about most people.

And here's another one: most people would think "false flag" terror - state-sponsored mayhem blamed upon an adversary - to be a paranoid delusion of conspiracy theorists. That's because they don't know history. Probably because it isn't taught to them.

I've referred a few times already on this blog to Operation Gladio, and I expect I will again. So I'm happy to see a new book in English on the subject: NATO’s Secret Armies. Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe, by Dr Daniele Ganser. The "Strategy of Tension," funded by the CIA, supported vicious acts of right-wing terrorism which were in turn blamed upon the European left.

As a Gladio operative said, "You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security." (And by the way, Michael Ledeen is linked to Gladio, which ties into the Italian connection to the Yellow Cake caper. I wrote about it back in August, here.)

So maybe the Assad boy, our monstre de jour, really did have the poor fellow whacked, even though Hariri had never so much as called for Syrian troops to leave his country. Or perhaps other parties, in search of a pretext against Syria, found Hariri, out of office, more valuable dead than alive.

Like I said, I don't know. But you could say I have my suspicions.
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/02/accidentally-like-martyr.html

[chlamor]

45. Qui bono? Strategy of Tension

Sam Hamod writes:
"We must do as they do in other criminal cases, look at who had the most to gain from the assassination of Prime Minister Harriri. The Lebanese had a lot to lose, as did the Syrians (he was close to Bashir Al Assad, the leader of Syria), as did the other Arab countries in the region who saw him as a strong leader and a stabilizing force in Lebanese politics. On the other hand, Israel has wanted chaos in Lebanon, as has America, and both countries have been agitating to get Hezbollah outlawed and both America and Israel have wanted the Lebanese to oust Syria. In both cases, the Lebanese government has said, “NO,” that Hezbollah is a respected part of Lebanese life and that Syria is there to protect Lebanon from Israeli aggression. Harriri’s killing, like so many of those in Iraq, is the work of either the Israeli dark ops or American mercenaries who have been hired out to kill people who are progressive in the Arab and Muslim worlds. That is why in Lebanon today, people know that it was not some dissident “Islamist group” (that no one has heard of, nor does anyone believe actually exists) who allegedly took credit for the deed, and in Iraq, where the religious leaders among the Sunni and Shi’a are telling their people not to revenge themselves on one another, because they know the killings are professional jobs being done by people from outside Iraq, namely, Israel and America. The parallels are evident to experts, but these experts will not be allowed on American media. But, Professor Rime Allaf, of the Royal Institute in England is correct, this was the work of an intelligence agency—and we damn well know who the only two would be—because they are the only two to gain by this deed, Israel or America."
Link to:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8060.htm

[Ediacara]

37. I am taking the GREs this Friday

So..... should I not bother since I'm about to see Damascus first hand?

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lovuian]

41. Its a step toward war!!!

This sucks!!!

[shadowknows69]

44. ok who had Syria in the "to invade next" office pool? n/t