This page is a narrow-focus warblog. In fact, it's a blog of a war that is only verbal, so far. The content consists primarily of pronouncements by various government officials in the US, Syria and around the world, as well as analysis and commentary from media outlets.

Archive

Sources (non-exhaustive)

AFP -- France
Al Bawaba -- Jordon, UK
Al Jazeera -- Qatar
Arab News -- Saudi Arabia
Arabic News
Asia Times -- Hong Kong
Associated Press (AP) -- USA
BBC -- UK
CNN -- USA
The Daily Star -- Lebanon
Financial Times -- UK
Forward -- USA
The Guardian -- UK
--- The Observer
Google News
Ha'aretz -- Israel
.......... Ha'aretz vs. haaretz.com
The Hindu -- India
IRNA -- Iran
IslamOnline -- Qatar
Maariv -- now in English -- Israel
Monday Morning -- Lebanon
New York Post -- USA
New York Times -- USA
Reuters -- UK
Scoop -- New Zealand
United Press International (UPI) -- USA
US DoD Defense Link
US Dept. of State Int'l Information Programs
US White House, Press Briefing Archive
Washington Post

Cast of Characters

Syria
.......... CIA Factbook
.......... Global Security, Syria Special Weapons News Archive
.......... BBC, profile
Bashar al-Assad, President
.......... BBC, profile
.......... Slate, profile
.......... Arabic News, biography
.......... Forward, profile
Farouk al-Shara, Foreign Minister
Imad Moustapha, Deputy Syrian Ambassador to the US
.......... Boston Globe, profile
.......... personal page?
.......... Greta's Fox News show, photo

USA
George W. Bush
.......... US White House, biography
.......... A&E, biography
.......... Iraqi News, biography
.......... Realchange.org, Skeletons
.......... awolbush.com
.......... bushwatch.com
.......... whitehouse.org, biography, may contain satire
.......... bartcop, profile of Bush's military career
Ari Fleischer, Press Secretary
.......... A & E, biography
.......... The New Republic, profile
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
.......... US DoD, biography
.......... Wikipedia, biography
.......... ABC News, profile
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
.......... US White House, biography
.......... Behind Colin Powell's Legend
Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense
.......... US DoD, biography
.......... US DoD, transcripts
.......... American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, biography
.......... Slate, profile
.......... Foreign Policy in Focus, track record in Asia
.......... The Australian, profile
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor
.......... US White House, biography
.......... Hoover Institution, profile
.......... BBC, profile
John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State, Arms Control and International Security
.......... US Dept. of State, biography
.......... Foreign Policy in Focus, profile
Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy
.......... US DoD, biography
.......... Middle East Infromation Center, profile
.......... American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, biography
Richard Perle, Defense Advisory Board
.......... AEI, biography
.......... Center for Cooperative Research, biography -- scroll down
.......... Slate, profile
Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State

NGOs
AEI
AIPAC
PNAC
.......... PNAC's website
.......... pnac.info

UK
Tony Blair, Prime Minister
.......... 10 Downing St., biography
Jack Straw, Foreign Minister
.......... 10 Downing St., biography


Israel
Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister
.......... Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, biography
.......... Electronic Intifada, biography
Shaul Mofaz, Defense Minister
Silvan Shalom, Foreign Minister
Dov Weisglass, Sharon's chief of staff
Ephriam Halevy, National Security Adviser

Palestine
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen)
.......... Middle East Information Center, profile
Hamas
.......... UPI, background on Hamas/Israel connection
.......... Terrorism Research Center, profile

Lebanon
.......... CIA, profile
.......... Dept. of State, profile
Emile Lahoud, President
.......... Lebanese Embassy to the US, biography
.......... American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, profile
Rafiq Hariri, Prime Minister
.......... Lebanese Embassy to the US, biography
.......... BBC, profile
.......... The Estimate profile
Nabih Berri, Speaker of the Parliament
.......... Lebanese Embassy to the US, biography
.......... Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, biography
.......... Encyclopedia of the Orient, biography
Jean Obeid, Foreign Minister
Hizbullah
.......... Hizbullah's website
.......... US Dept. of State, profile
.......... Momkey Media Report, Hezbollah links
.......... Yellow Times The History of Hizbullah

Multi-national Organizations
United Nations
European Union
Gulf Cooperation Council
Arab League

Reciprocity

::: wood s lot :::
Providence Journal
random walks
blogs against war
The Memory Hole


War (of Words) with Syria

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...more recent posts

Wednesday, Apr 30, 2003

Syria Says Lebanese Hezbollah For 'Liberation'
IslamOnline -- April 26


DAMASCUS - As The United States renewed bellicose rhetoric against Syria Saturday, April 26, calling on the Arab country to cut support to Hezbollah, Damascus said the sole objective of the Lebanese Shiite group is to liberate the Israeli-occupied land.

U.S. Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, said using the "historic opportunity" to improve Syrian-U.S. ties after the downfall of Saddam Hussein is conditioned on Damascus ending support for "terrorism."

"I hope it (Syria) will not flounder on continued misguided policies like military support for Hezbollah or the maintenance of terrorist headquarters in Damascus," Lantos told reporters after talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"Hezbollah is a political party whose sole objective is to liberate its territory from the Israeli occupation," Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bussaina Shaaban told a Washington forum.

The Syrian diplomat noted that Syria and other Middle East nations have been made nervous by the outcome of the war in Iraq and are troubled by murky U.S. motives for undertaking the invasion.

"Where are the (weapons of mass destruction) that were such a big reason for launching this war?" she asked, raising questions about long-term U.S. intentions in the Middle East.

"In many Arab countries," Shaaban added, the U.S. occupation "means the undermining of our indigenous civilization, and the bringing in (of) another, Western civilization that is not ours."

U.S. Senator Bob Graham, a Democrat from Florida, told the same forum at which Shaaban spoke that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fails to rein in the group, Washington should take action in concert "with our allies in the global coalition on terrorism,"

- mark 4-30-2003 9:54 am [link]

Beirut favours dialogue with US on Hezbollah
Lebanese FM says his country favours three-way dialogue with Syria, US about Shiite Muslim movement.
Middle East Online -- April 29


BEIRUT - Lebanon is in favor of three-way talks with Damascus and Washington about the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement, Foreign Minister Jean Obeid said here Monday after talks with the US ambassador.

Ambassador Vincent Battle called for dialogue and "no doubt he will find the door open here and with our Syrian brothers, because it is important for us to make known our views," Obeid told reporters.

- mark 4-30-2003 9:45 am [link]

Hizbollah fires at Israeli jets over south Lebanon
Reuters -- April 29


BEIRUT - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group said it unleashed a barrage of anti-aircraft fire on Tuesday at Israeli warplanes that swooped over southern Lebanon.

"The air defence unit of the Islamic Resistance... confronted Israeli enemy warplanes that violated Lebanese sovereignty over the eastern sector of south Lebanon," a statement from the Syrian and Iranian-backed group said.

- mark 4-30-2003 9:41 am [link]

FM: Syria won't interfere in Iraq
UPI -- April 29


By Thanaa Imam
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa said Tuesday his country will not interfere in Iraq's internal affairs and noted that forming a temporary administration in Baghdad was normal, but difficult.

"We don't wish to interfere in the Iraqi affairs," Sharaa said during a joint news conference with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Damascus.

He, however, said Syria and Iraq had "historical ties deriving from centuries of joint interests that no regime can cancel."

- mark 4-30-2003 9:35 am [link]

[Depends on the definition of the word "threaten".]

Rumsfeld Says United States Not Threatening Syria
Rueters -- April 29


"We have no hidden agenda," Rumsfeld told a news conference after talks in Riyadh with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz.

"I think it's a mischaracterization that we threatened Syria. We are not in the business of threatening," Rumsfeld said. "It was a fact, not a threat and that's all I have to say."

- mark 4-30-2003 9:31 am [link]

Powell to Visit Syria and Lebanon, but Delays Israel Trip
New York Times, April 29


By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
WSHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, preparing for an intensive new phase of American diplomacy in the Middle East, said today that he would travel to Syria and Lebanon this week. At the same time, administration officials said that a long-awaited plan intended to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians would be published on Wednesday.

Mr. Powell will meet with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in Damascus on Saturday and pay a visit to Lebanon the same day, the Bush administration announced.

Mr. Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that while in Syria he would press Mr. Assad further on American demands that Syria hand over any Iraqi leaders who had fled there during the war. The United States also wants Syria to end its support of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations that use Syrian territory or Syrian-held territory in Lebanon as a base for attacks on Israel.

- mark 4-30-2003 9:27 am [link]

Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003

[A story covered previously spoke of preparations to respond to Hezbollah.]

U.S. Fears Hizbullah Retaliation
Middle East News Online -- April 22


"It has a significant presence of its trained operatives inside the United States waiting for the call to action," Sen. Bob Graham, a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. "In recent years they have been infiltrating into this core in the United States people who have gone through their training camps and have the skills of terrorist activity."

via What Really Happened
- mark 4-23-2003 6:33 am [link]

Dissonance

Compare the differences in wording from two different entries in the CIA World Factbook. Current rhetoric from the Bush administration has introduced the word "occupation" to the description of the Syrian deployment in Lebanon.

Syria
Since 1976, Syrian troops have been stationed in Lebanon, ostensibly in a peacekeeping capacity.

Lebanon
Syria maintains about 20,000 troops in Lebanon based mainly in Beirut, North Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley. Syria's troop deployment was legitimized by the Arab League during Lebanon's civil war and in the Ta'if Accord. Damascus justifies its continued military presence in Lebanon by citing Beirut's requests and the failure of the Lebanese Government to implement all of the constitutional reforms in the Ta'if Accord.

- mark 4-23-2003 5:22 am [link]

Hizbollah Urges Muslims to Defend Syria Against US
Reuters -- April 22


By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT - Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah called on Arab and Muslim states on Tuesday to defend Syria if the United States launched any military action against Damascus.

- mark 4-23-2003 5:11 am [link]

Tuesday, Apr 22, 2003

[Discussion of cabinet shakeup and Syria's role in same. Report on Lahoud's speech about Lebanese security in light of regional situation.]

HARIRI’S FIFTH GOVERNMENT A CABINET OF SOLIDARITY WITH SYRIA
Monday Morning (Beirut) -- April 21


Lahoud condemned the recent US threats made against both Syria and Lebanon, “especially those focussing on Syria”, saying it was “unfair to punish the Lebanese and the Syrians for standing by Iraq and insisting on a peaceful solution”. Speaking to a delegation of Army officers visiting Baabda Palace and led by the Army commander-in-chief, General Michel Sleiman, the president said that “Israel’s way of collecting the fruits of the US victory in Iraq depends largely on discrediting Lebanon and Syria and describing them as supporting the Iraqi regime instead of the Iraqi people”.

Lebanon’s support, the president explained, was aimed at alleviating the ill-effects of the invasion on the Iraqi people, adding that Israel’s game was already known since it was under pressure to implement the ‘road map’ peace plan that promises an independent Palestinian state by 2005. But to make up for that pressure, Tel Aviv wanted to strip Lebanon and Syria of any ability to resist or of any negotiating leverage.

- mark 4-23-2003 12:24 am [link]