US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday that Syria's response to US calls to clamp down on Palestinian militants was so far "totally inadequate" and would continue to sour ties with Washington.
| Anybody expect anything different? Didn't think so... |
Powell told a news conference that since his last visit to Damascus to seek cooperation in efforts to combat terrorism, the Syrians "took some limited steps. The limited steps are totally inadequate." The United States has been in contact with the Syrians over the issue, the secretary of state said. "We will continue to press them. We will work with our colleagues in the international community to put pressure on Syria," he told reporters after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He said that lacking stronger action by the Syrians, "it is clear there will not be better relations with the United States and it will ultimately affect their interest."
| That's diplotalk for "they're gonna keep screwing around until they've really cheezed us off. Then they're gonna wonder why we're thumping them." |
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq, which Damascus opposed, Washington has been urging Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to clamp down on radical Palestinian groups based in his capital, especially Hamas and Islamic Jihad. "We look for all activities of those groups out of Syria to be closed down," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on June 13.
| But Bashar's afraid that if they do that, the gunnies will turn on the Syrians. Plus he's afraid of losing face as a tough guy. |
On a Middle East visit to try to save a US-backed "road map" to Israeli-Palestinian peace that has been battered by a flare-up of violence, Powell said Syria had not stopped backing the Palestinian and Lebanese groups as requested by Washington. "They took some limited steps. Those limited steps are totally inadequate. We have gone back to the Syrians to let them know that we find their actions inadequate," Powell said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in May, Powell said Syria had closed some militant offices in Damascus. Syrian officials said later the offices served as media outlets and none had been shut down.
| "We agreed, and then did exactly the opposite, but that don't mean we're liars, does it?" |
They said they were interested in dialogue with, not ultimatums from, Washington, which lists Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism.
A "dialogue" consists of a conversation in which each side has something to say, for instance:
Side 1: "Shut down the goddamned terrorist operations in your capital or we'll kill you!"
Side 2: "Hokay."
What's so hard to understand about that? |
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday asked that the mandate of its force between Lebanon, Syria and Israel be extended by six months, calling it "essential." The United Nations Disengagement Force (UNDOF) was first put in place in 1974 after the Arab-Israeli war of October 1973. Its mandate had been scheduled to end on June 30.
| It's been around for 31 years? 31 years and it still hasn't caused a disengagement? Babies have grown from infantry to adultery in that time! |
"The situation in the Israel-Syria sector has remained generally quiet," Annan said in a report to the UN Security Council distributed at the United Nations. "Nevertheless the situation in the Middle East is very tense and is likely to remain so, unless and until a comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the Middle East problem can be reached," he continued. |