Tartarin, had to check it out. Sounds like typical Powell stuff, fuzzy around the edges with mixed reviews - can go either of many different ways depending on who has the upper hand that day:
Quote:'SYRIA SAFE FROM ATTACK'
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the US has no war plan to attack either Syria or Iran.
"We have concerns about Syria," he said. "We also have concerns about some of the policies of Iran.
"But there is no list, there is no war plan right now to go attack someone else."
But Mr Powell stressed that the Bush Administration still had major worries about the Syrian regime.
Justice Awaits
"In recent weeks we have been concerned about the flow of individuals and materials across the Iraqi/Syrian border," he said.
"Some Iraqi officials from Saddam's regime may be seeking haven in Syria. We will continue to make these points strongly.
"Syria has to realise that there is a new environment in the region now that Saddam's regime has fallen. These officials must face the justice to be meted out by their countrymen."
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12287864,00.html
Just opinion here ... But I think both Iran and North Korea are "Considering their options" in light of recent developments ... a resolute and militant US is something rather novel in recent history, and calls for a bit of re-examination on the parts of many States. Syria and, incidentally, Libya, may be expected to become more amenable to diplomatic pressure to lessen their support for terrorism and terrorists as they see increasing financial difficulties and growing isolation as undeniable consequences of their current stance in the matter. In the near term, I expect International Law Enforcement, truly International, will come into play, and that terrorists and their enablers will find their profession decidedly unprofitable and encumbered by a dismal retirement plan.
timber, tremendously optomistic and horribly expensive - unless the charade works without having to continually "roll" countries. I don't think that Syria, Lybia, China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, Columbia, Laos, Viet Nam etc are apt to just let America come in and do a bit of International Law Enforcement at our whim! But, I could be wrong -
steissd wrote:Monsieur Tartarin, it seems to me that one more military victory would, on the contrary, increase Mr. Bush's chances to be re-elected for four years more.
Remember his father. He also had won the war. And one year later people send him home because his national policy was a failure. Bush wants to avoid this and will focus on the national problem for a while. After 2004 he might attack some other souvereign nations. The plan for Syria is ready so it wont take that long after his reelection.
Syrian foreign minister calls for Middle East to be a WMD-free zone
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said his government was willing to sign a treaty making the entire Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, an Australian broadcaster reported on Wednesday.
In an interview with the Australian government-owned Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Shara also vigorously denied U.S. allegations that Syria had chemical weapons or had allowed Iraq to hide banned weapons on its soil during the Iraq war.
"The Syrian government is ready to sign a treaty under UN supervision to make the whole Middle East a zone free from all mass destruction weapons, nuclear, chemical and biological," he told SBS in an interview in Damascus.
frolic, Syria has for years said We will disarm ifr you guys make Israel disarm". Syria also ignores her own occupation of Lebanon while calling for Israel to relenquish the Occupied Territories, which, incidentally, were originally part of Israel by the 1947/48 UN establishment of that State. A few red herrings, there.
Hé Timber, Rome wasn't build in one day. And a world without dreaming isn't worth living.
I find this a good initiative. With the backing of the US and UN this could work.
The fact that top officials of this administration actually have to go public with comments like "We're not going to attack anyone else for a while" tell the story better than any words I can bring to the foray.
I will say this: Once you get the taste of being a bully and imposing your will on others -- it is a very hard habit to break -- NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE IS SAYING.
That's a home truth, Frank Apisa. For sure.
max what happened to your retort? It was funny.
They may be "asking for it" -- but only a bully would look at it that way. Seems to me if a person asks for asylum in an independent country -- no one other country (even in conjunction with a "coalition") should be able to dictate that the asylum cannot stand.
We have become bullies.
People like you, Max, are cheerleaders for this bullying.
The bullying sucks.
So does your cheerleading -- and the cheerleading of all the other people who honor bullying.
All I can do is to hope the next election will straighten this mess out. The people now running our country are beneath contempt.
People seem to forget Syria was on our side during the Second Gulf war. Syria also backed Iran through the Iran-Iraq war. So they are not a natural ally of Iraq.
OK, USSR was on the side of the USA during the WWII(or vice versa, since the USSR entered the war earlier than the USA did, though, in the same year), but in '60s there was a Carribean Crisis that might have led to mutual annihilation of these two countries...
Syria is not a natural ally of Iraq, its leaders consider Iraqi version of Baathism perverted; but if the USA invaded the hell in order to expell the Devil, Syrians would sign with the latter treaty on "anti-imperialist" grounds.
frolic, you seem to neglect the fact that Bashar Assad's father, who led Syria during Gulf War I, was considered by many to have been more politically adept than his son. Syria's ruling party is The Ba'ath Party as well, and Bashar hitched himself to Saddam's star. Many are disturbed by Syria's recent raprochment with Saddam's Iraq, her occupation of Lebanon, her support for International Terrorism, and by Bashar's politico-diplomatic ham-handedness. By and large, the Syria of Bashar Assad had but one staunch ally.
Assad-jr., just as his father, belongs to the Alawite minority that is usually despised by the Muslims, both Sunnis and Shiites. Like his father, he tries to gain popularity by means of "firm anti-Israeli and anti-American stance"; but being less experienced in politics than Hafez el-Assad was, he exaggerates, appearing to be more radical than the late butcher from Damascus was.
frank: That's your opinion.
It will only be "bullying" to those countries who have supported terrorists and their activities against the US and it's allies in the past, or presently planning or plan to in the future, and you know what, I don't care if they think we are bullies.
Those who support freedom get behind us.
frank, get another crying towel, that one is soaked!
Wet towels have their uses
I always thought frank was one of those guys that snapped you coming out of the shower!!!
