knock me over with a feather| Maybe the US statement that the Syrian govt would be held responsible got someone's attention - Denmark is an ally in Iraq and attacks on an embassy can be construed as an act of war. Baby Doc Assad is pushing it very very hard and perhaps the generals don't want to give Rummy a legitimate reason to come calling. |
| The statement strikes me as pro forma: they had to say something, so they said this. Actions speak louder than words: there is no way in a totalitarian state that a group of people can burn a foreign embassy unless Pencilneck wanted it burned. |
Crowds stormed the buildings housing two embassies on Saturday, setting fire to both and pillaging the contents of the first-floor office of the Chilean embassy in one of the buildings. "The foreign ministry expresses its regret over the acts of violence which accompanied the protests yesterday, which caused damage to embassies in Damascus," the ministry said in a statement. "We understand the popular anger over the offences against the prophet but it is unacceptable for law and order to be violated in the country."
The ministry's statement echoed comments by the country's top religious leader, grand mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badreddine Hassun. "It is regrettable that certain people have poorly expressed their protest against the publication by European newspapers of images that are offensive to the prophet," he said.
Sheikh Hassun, whose comments were carried by state media, accused "elements who do not believe in dialogue who were introduced among the demonstrators" in Damascus. "We are sad about their actions which harms our dialogue with the Danish and Norwegian people," Sheikh Hassun said.
| And we really, really don't want to be invaded, please. |
| "Hokay, have we said enough? We have? Great, now piss off, infidels." |
Syrian opposition writer Michael Kilo said the publication of the cartoons, some of which depicted the prophet as a knife-wielding bedouin and wearing a time-bomb turban on his head, stirred deep emotions among Muslims. The most radical Islamists "have monopolized the street under the pretext of defending the prophet," Kilo said.
Moderate Islamists and those who support democracy have been "kept away from the scene" by Arab regimes that have clamped down on opposition and free speech, he said. "The Syrian regime forbids meetings between civil society leaders, but allows thousands of people to set fire to the embassy of an innocent country," Kilo added.
| Like I was saying ... |
The US embassy in the Syrian capital closed Sunday, according to an employee, and a French school and French cultural center also shut their doors as a "preventive measure," a source said. However, the French embassy opened, a day after protestors attempted to storm the building but were kept at bay by riot police using tear gas and water cannons.
| The French being the only friends they have who can stop an invasion, at least for now ... |