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Bush rejects military pressure on Syria
2004-02-25
The Bush administration has rejected a proposal by the U.S. military for increased freedom of action along the Iraqi-Syrian border in an attempt to halt the flow of Muslim fighters into Iraq. U.S. officials said the White House rejected a plan by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff that would permit U.S. forces that operate along the Iraqi-Syrian border to pursue Al Qaida-aligned fighters into Syria and attack insurgency way-stations inside Syrian territory.
It's not time for that yet...
They said the plan identified Iran and Syria as the leading sources of Muslim volunteers who seek to enter Iraq and join the insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition. The military plan was endorsed by the Defense Department, officials said. The Pentagon warned the White House that without U.S. military pressure Damascus would continue to facilitate the flow of Muslim volunteers into Iraq. They said Syrian officials have been bribed to allow the insurgents to cross the border. Officials said the Pentagon concluded that the flow of Islamic insurgents from Syria has become a key difficulty in stabilizing Iraq. They said Syria has been used by Islamic insurgents to infiltrate Iraq and join Al Qaida suicide squads.
There's probably a reason this leaked. There are some big hats sitting around Damascus right now asking each other, "But what if they are serious?"
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#10  Tony(UK) - That would float my boat quite nicely! If we added in the removal of the drug biz, by whatever means it takes - and I have to favor some variety of legalization, given the lousy WoD record - well, then they'd be bottled up rather nicely in the pig styes they've created. Rather hard to flit around the world doing jihadi deeds of derring-do without the merc-money, y'know? Dunno which would be more fitting at that point: letting them stew / wallow or whacking them in-place... ;-)
Posted by: .com   2004-2-25 6:08:30 PM  

#9  The timeline being the November election .com?

I'm assuming that if GWB wins (and I really hope he does), we can expect truly momentous changes in the ME, starting with toppling the Mullahs and finishing with annexing that 40km in Eastern Saudi Arabia?

That's what I'm hoping for anyhow.
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2004-2-25 5:42:29 PM  

#8  Garrison - Hey, I'm there, bubba. I have a few suggestions along this line I haven't posted before, cuz I'm so shy 'n retiring... Thx for posting - 'tis definitely a step in the right direction. Methinks Dubya is there, too, just hamstrung by the timeline. '->
Posted by: .com   2004-2-25 3:19:00 PM  

#7  Garrison - hmmmm....interesting thought.
Posted by: B   2004-2-25 9:55:48 AM  

#6  This is the problem when allies go to war with a common enemy in Iran, Iraq and Syria -- but knock off only the Iraqi regime. Why is the Ayatollah still breathing free? Why is Bashir al-Assad not hopping from spiderhole to spiderhole like a rabbit? Thank God the Allies did not fight WWII piecemeal: "We will knock off Italy -- but for Germany and Japan we shall threaten economic sanctions, apply diplomatic pressure and depend on the League of Nations for disarmament and pacification," according to FDR. Yeah..., that would have worked.
Posted by: Garrison   2004-2-25 5:14:11 AM  

#5   I suck, please delete.
Posted by: Dan Darling   2004-2-25 2:10:10 AM  

#4  Fred aced ya. :-)
Posted by: Steve White   2004-2-25 2:06:54 AM  

#3  Only problem, Spook, is that it continues to disrupt life for the Iraqis. The "flypaper" strategy was fine last year, but now we have to transition the Iraqis to running their own affairs (more or less). Continued infiltration of dumb jihadis makes that more difficult. I'd prefer we get the Iraqi Border Patrol up to speed, both in quality and quantity, and start nailing the infiltrators at the border.
Posted by: Steve White   2004-2-25 1:30:20 AM  

#2  Don't close the borders. We want them coming in where we have the advantage.

Restrict the flow of terrorist wannabees Syrian visitors - to a point where we can track them. And follow them to the "nest". Then kill the whole rats nest.

Sounds like a plan to me.
Posted by: OldSpook   2004-2-25 12:45:40 AM  

#1  Saw John Podherotz at his book signing on Broadway/82nd, Upper West Side (Manhattan) -- despite the heckling of who I assume was a Democratic plant, the C-SPAN-filmed event went okay, and he pointed out that Iraq is not an isolated case. He did not elaborate on a Saddam-al-Qaeda connection, but noted that the "international community" is a crock when our enemies are onboard ...
Posted by: Lu Baihu   2004-2-25 12:37:00 AM  

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