down with murder inc

DOWN WITH MURDER INC.

Syria, Lebanon

State of the union 2005 - Deja vu?

Bush singled out Syria, a country that the Bush administration has repeatedly accused of harboring terrorists and abetting the Iraqi insurgents.
"Syria still allows its territory, and parts of Lebanon, to be used by terrorists who seek to destroy every chance of peace in the region," he said.
"You have passed, and we are applying, the Syrian Accountability Act -- and we expect the Syrian government to end all support for terror and open the door to freedom.
"Today, Iran remains the world's primary state sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve. We are working with European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium enrichment program and any plutonium re-processing, and end its support for terror," said Bush.
"And the victory of freedom in Iraq will strengthen a new ally in the war on terror, inspire democratic reformers from Damascus to Tehran, bring more hope and progress to a troubled region, and thereby lift a terrible threat from the lives of our children and grandchildren." - Washington Times

Iran did not buy uranium from mine: Namibia
Records show Namibia's Rossing mine has not sold uranium to Iran, accused by the United States of secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, in the past 15 years although Tehran has a stake in the firm, Namibia
"As far as Iran buying Namibian uranium, our data indicate not a single ounce of uranium bought by Iran,"
...there were no contracts with Iran for the sale of milled uranium oxide, better known as "yellowcake". The company did not respond to a question on whether Tehran had purchased any Rossing uranium in the past.
Yellowcake cannot be used directly in bombs. It must be processed into uranium hexafluoride and fed into centrifuges for high-speed purification before it can be used to make nuclear weapons - a complicated and time-consuming process. - quotes taken from here

Rafiq Hariri Assassinated - An Archduke Ferdinand moment? NAH!!!
Just another staged assassination...

The primary source of Franz Ferdinand's unpopularity however related to the policies he intended to apply once he assumed the throne. He proposed to replace Austro-Hungarian dualism with 'Trialism,' a triple monarchy in which the empire's Slavs would have an equal voice in government with the Germans and Magyars.
Ferdinand was also considering the idea of a federalism made up of 16 states; the aim being to avoid disintegration of the fading Austro-Hungarian empire. However these ideas were not popular among the ruling elite.
[snip]
The assassination provided Austria-Hungary with an excuse to take action against Serbia. During July 1914 the situation escalated, pulling in the major European powers via the complex alliance relationships each had struck up with one another. The result was world war. - WW1

The former Prime-Minister of Lebanon, a billionaire and a man who helped the Lebanese to recover from the civil war of the 1980s - Sheikh Rafiq al-Hariri (60) was assassinated in Ein-Mreisseh neighborhood of Beirut on Monday, February 14, 2005. A huge bomb (an equivalent of some 300 kg TNT) exploded, when his heavily guarded motorcade passed in front of the St. George's Hotel. Apart from Mr. Hariri, 16 other people were killed and about 100 were wounded. A mysterious, unknown Jihadist group called "Aid and Jihad in the Lands of Syria" claimed responsibility for the killing (in a videotape shown on al-Jazeerah TV).
The life of Rafiq al-Hariri, a self-made man from Saida in Lebanon, had much in common with the career of Sheikh Mohammed bin Laden, who emigrated from Yemen to Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the past century and then founded one of the richest clans in the Kingdom. OCNUS

In Saudi Arabia he had found employment in a construction company and later on, he was able to start his own construction company which was named Saudi Oger. He became a personal contractor to the then Prince Fahd, who would eventually become the king of Saudi Arabia. His hard work, intelligence and connections enabled him to amass a huge personal fortune for himself in the desert kingdom. He made it to the Forbes magazine's list of the hundred richest men in the world. source
was Hariri an insider to 9-11 Saudi connections?
Or was he keeper of the knowledge that Al Queda is a SHAM?
Shortly after Bush's father was appointed director of the CIA, Salem bin Laden appointed Bath as his business representative in Texas. According to The Houston Chronicle, Salem bin Laden, heir to one of the largest building companies in the Middle East, signed a trust agreement appointing Bath as his Houston representative in 1976.
In 1978 Bath purchased Houston Gulf Airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden. When Salem bin Laden died in 1988, his interest in the airfield passed to bin Mahfouz.
There was also a political aspect to Salem bin Laden's financial activities, which played a role in U.S. operations in the Middle East and Central America during the 1980s, according to Public Broadcasting's Frontline report.
As head of Bin Laden Brothers Construction (now the Bin Laden Group), a company that later helped build U.S. airfields during Operation Desert Storm, bin Laden was close to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and "a good friend of the U.S. government," a San Antonio attorney, Wayne Fagan, who represented Salem bin Laden from 1982 to 1988, told the San Antonio Express-News. - Al Jazeera

"...precisely how has Syria benefited from the murder?
Its immediate concrete consequences are mass demonstrations organized by anti-Syrian political forces in Lebanon demanding that Damascus withdraw its troops from the country, a ratcheting up of Washington's threats of anti-Syrian military aggression, and the prospect of Lebanon descending into civil war.
That the assassination of Hariri would produce such consequences-all of them extremely threatening to the Syrian government of Bashar Assad-was hardly unforeseeable. Whatever else may be said about the Baathist regime in Damascus, it is committed to its own survival and its leaders are not insane." - WSWS
Flashback: 2002 - Hariri refuted Lebanese Bin Laden allegations...
"Almost as bemused as Rafiq Hariri, the Lebanese Prime Minister, who has been expressing his outrage at American claims that Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida are planning to set up a base in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, which a Yemeni al-Qa'ida leader has secretly visited. It's a smear campaign, he says. "We regularly find in Israeli and American newspapers references linking Lebanon to terrorism," he told the Lebanese parliament on Monday. "One time, we read about terrorist camps in the Bekaa, other times they refer to negotiations with al-Qa'ida for moving the organisation to Lebanon. These are malicious allegations and pure lies." - Fisk

In a show of mass support for the opposition in Monday's parliamentary debate, about 25,000 people demonstrated calling for Syria to withdraw its army from Lebanon.
The Cedar revolution: After Iraq, Georgia, Ukraine: Is this more US meddling?
Lebanese government resigns amid protests
BEIRUT - Apparently responding to unprecedented protests, Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami handed in his resignation Monday, effectively terminating the rule of the pro-Syrian government.
The announcement, which aired live on television, was greeted with jubilation by tens of thousands of protesters. They had gathered in defiance of an official ban on protests near the parliament building, where the government was debating who was responsible for the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14. - USA Today

who paid for this??? The CIA?
With the multi-partisan crowds largely complying with orders to abjure their party banners - Lebanese Forces, Free Patriotic Movement, Progressive Socialist Party - in favour of the Lebanese flag, and with many adorned with the same red and white "revolutionary cockade" being worn scarf-like by opposition deputies these last weeks, the emulation of recent events in Kiev was obvious.
Also evocative of the Ukrainian precedent were the carnival-like atmosphere around Martyr's Square for the last two weeks, the cordial relations between the crowds and the ubiquitous security services, and the popular euphoria ignited by this unusual demonstration of Lebanese solidarity - and its apparent (virtually unprecedented) impact on the government.
The United States State Department obliged by dubbing Karami's resignation a "Cedar Revolution", filing it alongside Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution, Georgia's Rose Revolution and Ukraine's Orange Revolution.
As was the case in Kiev, though, this day inspired some scepticism. Equally significant is the uncertainty as to what exactly the state and the opposition will do next. - source

Media hype IS PSYOPS
Syria's "Cedar Revolution" is a case in point, one that illustrates the entirely illusory nature of the media hype – which is, unsurprisingly, identical to the U.S. government's official line. The official story is that the long-suffering peoples of Lebanon have had enough, and – drunk with the mere promise of the magical elixir of Democracy – are at last rising up, seizing their liberty, and throwing off their Syrian oppressors. It's a pretty story, albeit a bit simple-minded and hackneyed, but there's just one problem: it isn't true.
The reality is that Lebanon has had democracy for quite some time: or, at least, more so than any other Middle Eastern Arab nation. But instead of being a panacea for the country's problems, this relative excess of democracy has merely exacerbated them. Divided into a bewildering array of ethno-religious and political fiefdoms, Lebanon has managed to survive the foibles of majority rule largely by avoiding centralization and devolving power back to the various clans, parties, and religious groups that constitute, in effect, a collection of mini-states. - Raimondo
Bush Says World Demands That Syria Pull Out of Lebanon
Blair Warns Syria the World Is Watching

1.5 Million pro-Syria demonstrators gather in Beirut
3/8/2005 - At least 1.5 million pro-Syrian protesters gather in a central Beirut square, Lebanon
Following a nationwide call by the head of Hezbollah for a pro-Syria demonstration, 1.5 million demonstrators gathered in a central Beirut square Tuesday to counter weeks of massive rallies demanding Syrian forces leave Lebanon.
Resistance songs blared out of loudspeakers as organizers handed out Lebanese flags and directed the men and women to separate sections of the square. Hezbollah guards handled security, lining the perimeter of the square and taking position on rooftops, while trained dogs sniffed for bombs.
Large cranes hoisted two giant white and red flags bearing Lebanon's cedar tree. On one, the words "Thank you Syria" were written in English; on the other, "No to foreign interference."
Hezbollah has been mobilizing its followers from across the country for the protest which is also meant to denounce a UN resolution which in addition to its demand for Syrian withdrawal calls for the dismantling of groups - a point which Hezbollah sees as being aimed at its well-armed military wing. - Al Jazeera

Hizbollah warns U.S. of Lebanese civil unrest
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The chief of Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group warned on Friday that U.S. pressure on Lebanon could lead to turmoil and urged the Lebanese to unite and reject Washington's demands.
The United States is leading calls for Lebanon to disarm pro-Syrian Hizbollah in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution last year which also called for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon, which they have now done.
"The Americans will push the country to strife if it doesn't go along with their priorities, agenda and arrangements. They want strife (in Lebanon)," Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told a meeting to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the death of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
He said the Lebanese should think for themselves what to do after the May 29-June 19 parliamentary elections. Hizbollah runs on a joint ticket with Amal, the other main Shi'ite Muslim group in the second stage of the poll on Sunday.
"If we don't all stand up as Lebanese to express our national interests and national will, the colonial and tyrant American will try to impose its priorities on us and push us to confront each other," he said.
Hizbollah, which helped drive Israeli troops from south Lebanon in 2000, has vowed to fight to the death any attempts to take away its weapons.
Nasrallah urged the Lebanese not to jump to accusing Syria of every act of violence - swiss info
Israelis say Syria test fired missiles
3rd June, 2005 (UPI) - Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday [3rd June 2005], the first such tests since 2001, Israeli military officials say.
One of the missiles, officials say, broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers, the New York Times reported Friday.
Israelis said the tests were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and reportedly designed to deliver air-burst chemical weapons. The missiles included one older Scud B, with a range of about 185 miles, and two Scud D's, the Israelis say they believe, with a range of about 435 miles.
Israeli military officials said they interpreted the launchings as a gesture of defiance to the United States and the United Nations by Syrian President Bashir Assad, who was pushed to remove Syrian troops from Lebanon after the assassination of the anti-Syrian politician, Rafik Hariri. - BNN

US - Isreali alliance...

"Key personnel who worked in both Pentagon Near East and South Asia and the Office of Special Plans (OSP) were part of a broader network of neoconservative ideologues and activists who worked with other Bush political appointees scattered around the national-security bureaucracy to move the country to war, according to retired Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, who was assigned to NESA from May 2002 through February 2003. The heads of NESA and OSP were Deputy Undersecretary William Luti and Abram Shulsky, respectively. Other appointees who worked with them in both offices included Michael Rubin, a Middle East specialist previously with the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI); David Schenker, previously with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP); and Michael Makovsky; an expert on neocon icon Winston Churchill and the younger brother of David Makovsky, a senior WINEP fellow and former executive editor of pro-Likud Jerusalem Post. Along with Feith, all of the political appointees have in common a close identification with the views of the right-wing Likud Party in Israel." - Jim Lobe

AIPAC's Overt and Covert Ops

Syrian minister hints at Israel, US, involvement in Harari killing
The Syrian Minister of Expatriates has hit back at claims her country was behind the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
When the blast hit, locals looked up into the sky for Israeli warplanes, Bouthaina Shaaban was quoted as saying by UPI.
Shaaben said Israeli planes violate Lebanese airspace almost daily.
She said Arabs were horrified watching the scenes of smoke and fire, burnt bodies, and damaged buildings in what she described as the most beautiful of Arab capitals. 'We have become quite accustomed to watching such scenes every day in Iraqi cities under American occupation, in the Palestinian territories over a century now, and in Beirut itself during the civil war that the Syrian cooperation with the Lebanese national forces put an end to,' she said.
'For Arabs, this atrocious murder looked like a shift planned and executed by the enemies of the nation, with utmost precision in identifying the target, the time and type of killing,' Shaaban told UPI.
She added it was 'a shift that was meant to transport instability and chaos from Palestine and Iraq to Lebanon and Syria.'
Shaaban, who was educated in the U.S., said Hariri's killing brought to memory a series of assassinations committed by international intelligence agencies and their allies in the region to get rid of Arab leaders. 'Those assassinations claimed the lives of leaders such as Rene Moawad, Abbas al-Mousawi, and a long list of others murdered at the hands of international apparatuses equipped with professional killers specialized in plotting and executing assassinations with careful precision that leaves no evidence behind. All in the service of certain regional and international interests,' she said.
Shaaban also pointed to an announcement made by the European Peace Movement, which was holding a meeting in Berlin Feb. 15, attended by European generals and experts, that the Movement found that the explosives used in the bombing that claimed the life of Hariri were 'in direct connection with the disappearance of 4,000 tons of strong explosives that disappeared from Iraq after the American occupation.' The movement had reminded the media at the time, she said, that the U.S. was silent about the suspicious disappearance and about confirmed information regarding the handing over of the location to an Israeli force and that the explosives were transferred to Israel.
Shaaban pointed out that analysts had confirmed explosives used in the car bombing could only have come from international and regional parties that enjoyed high capabilities and expertise in the field.
'Everyone knows which international parties have the planning capabilities to bring down democratic governments,' she said. 'We all know who masterminded and executed the assassinations of president Karami, Rene Mouawad, Abbas Mousawi and others in Lebanon. And we know which countries gave their intelligence apparatuses the authority to carry out assassinations, and which countries discuss and announce lists of assassination operations before their execution, and then carry them out in the cities of Palestine, and the streets of Beirut and Damascus under the sight of the whole world. We all know which countries can organize civil disturbance in Iran, Chile, Venezuela, and a long list of other countries where democracy was buried under tyrants appointed just because they were 'friends.''
As to motive, Shaaban said, 'The main incentive behind the assassination is the strategic objective of continuous military presence in all the countries in the region. It has become clear to everyone today that the rationale behind the U.S. expedition into Iraq is neither 'freedom,' nor 'Democracy,' nor even 'weapons of mass destruction.' Certainly, the reason was neither the 'Iraqi people,' out of whom more than a hundred thousand civilians have been killed to the moment in massacres in Falluja, Najaf, Samerra and other cities, as well as in the torture cellars of Abu Gharib and similar prisons,' she said.
'The real rationale is building permanent military bases in Iraq and in other countries which are still out of the foreign bondage in the region. Since the beginning of the Iraq occupation, many such permanent bases have been built costing billions of dollars up till now. The objective is controlling the oil, the resources of the region and putting a limit to the freedom, independence and sovereignty that Arabs enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century,' she added.
Shaaban continued, 'These bases need 'secure' ports to receive their supplies and connect them with the mother bases in Europe. This is why pressure today is building up towards infiltrating Lebanon, and placing the country under enemy guardianship to secure the military ports and end resistance. In this context, the Syrian-Lebanese relationship stands as an obstacle to controlling Lebanon and spreading military bases all over the world including the Arab region,' she said.
Meantime King Abdullah II of Jordan has called for a "neutral" investigation into Hariri's death, which he said had targeted stability in the entire region.
"This great crime that has hit us all at the core should not pass without a complete, comprehensive and neutral investigation to uncover the criminals who were behind it so that they get their punishment," he told Future TV, the Lebanese network owned by the late Hariri.
"This cowardly and criminal act did not only target the martyr Rafiq Hariri but was targeting the security and stability of Lebanon and the entire region," he said - BNN

Iran and Syria unite...
Iran and Syria heightened tension across the Middle East and directly confronted the Bush administration yesterday by declaring they had formed a mutual self-defence pact to confront the "threats" now facing them.
The move, which took the Foreign Office by surprise, was announced after a meeting in Tehran between the Iranian vice-president, Mohammed Reza Aref, and the Syrian prime minister, Naji al-Otari.
"At this sensitive point, the two countries require a united front due to numerous challenges," said Mr Otari. - source
Sunday 20th February, 2005 - Rice says Putin wrong on Iran nuclear program
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dismissed Russian leader Vladimir Putin's claim Iran was not making nuclear weapons.
"There are good reasons to be suspicious of what the Iranians are doing," she said at a joint news conference with Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot. Big News Network.com

Israel blames Syria over bombing
February 27, 2005 - ISRAELI Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz today accused Syria of involvement in the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in which five Israelis were killed.
"We have proof directly linking Syria to this attack," he said during a meeting with top security officials in Tel Aviv, according to military radio.
The suspected suicide bomber has been shown in a video, standing in front of two banners of Islamic Jihad.
He said the coming attack was "in response to the killings and destruction of homes" committed by Israel. - The Austrailian

Syria in denial as Israel fires up
February 27, 2005 - ISRAEL today ordered the resumption of military operations against the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad after evidence emerged linking it to a deadly Tel Aviv bombing.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz also hit out at Syria, which long played host to Islamic Jihad leaders, accusing it of involvement in the blast, but his comments were roundly rebuffed by Damascus. - via BNN
Israel claims that Syria was behind Tel Aviv suicide bomb

Iran to stand by Syria if attacked
26th February, 2005
Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Hasan Rohani said his country will stand by Syria if the Arab state is attacked.
"We have always maintained excellent relations with Syria, and in case it is attacked, it can always depend on the solidarity of its friends, and Iran is a faithful friend," Rohani was quoted as saying Friday in French daily Le Monde.
Asked to comment on the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Rohani said: "I do not believe Israel will take such a decision, and if it did it will regret it a lot."
"If they threaten us we will threaten them," he said, adding, "If Israeli planes can reach Iran, Iranian planes can also reach Israel." - Big News Network.com

US [Halliburton] energy deal with Iran
Feb. 16 2005 - Only weeks before Halliburton made headlines by announcing it was pulling out of Iran-a nation George W. Bush has labeled part of the "axis of evil"-the Texas-based oil services firm quietly signed a major new business deal to help develop Tehran's natural gas fields.
Halliburton's new Iran contract, moreover, appears to suggest a far closer connection with the country's hard-line government than the firm has ever acknowledged.
The deal, diplomatic sources tell NEWSWEEK, was signed with an Iranian oil company whose principals include Sirus Naseri, Tehran's chief international negotiator on matters relating to the country's hotly-disputed nuclear enrichment program-a project the Bush administration has charged is intended to develop nuclear weapons. - MSNBC
Russia and Iran sign deal
MOSCOW - Russia and Iran have signed a key deal for Russia to supply Iran with nuclear fuel to the Bushehr nuclear plant, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency has reported.
The deal, which also provides for Iran to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia, had been expected to be signed on Saturday but was delayed by 24 hours as talks continued.
Tass on Sunday said Russia's nuclear energy chief Alexander Rumyantsev and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, had signed the document at the plant in Iran.
"We signed a confidential protocol in which the schedule for delivering fuel to Bushehr is fixed," Tass quoted Rumyantsev as saying.
"Because the protocol is confidential, I can only say that the order and schedule for delivery completely correspond with the technological process of building a station."
The deal to supply fuel for Iran's Russian built 1,000-megawatt Bushehr nuclear plant was expected to pave the way for the country's only reactor to go on line later this year and reach full capacity in 2006.
The United States, strongly opposing the deal, says it fears the Bushehr reactor could be used as a cover by Tehran to build atomic weapons. Iran denies this, saying it needs nuclear power to generate electricity.
A key part of the agreement is aimed at addressing U.S. concerns, obliging Tehran to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia.
Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Tehran may use the spent fuel, which contains potentially weapons-grade uranium, to develop arms - via BNN

...and on, and on , it goes...

BOO! it's all going to happen...er, not!
Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said Sunday it was "certainly possible" Israel could strike at Syria, but Vice Premier Shimon Peres signaled Israel was likely to hold fire while Washington led its own pressure campaign.
Israel last attacked in Syria when warplanes bombed a suspected base used by Palestinian militants in October 2003 after a suicide bombing that killed 23 Israelis.
A Lebanese opposition parliamentarian called for popular protests to continue in Lebanon until Syria quits the country.
"The battle is long, and this is the first step, this is the battle for freedom, sovereignty and independence," Ghattas Kho - BNN
Iran said Sunday it refuses to permanently stop its enrichment of uranium.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told journalists in Tehran that most European countries did not agree with Britain in its call on Iran to permanently stop the enrichment of uranium.
The British foreign office has urged the Islamic Republic to declare its complete halt of its nuclear energy program.
Asefi said it was now important to reach a compromise solution with the Europeans on the issue to remove the European concern "and to achieve our legitimate rights in possessing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."
He said the two sides were working on avoiding a dead-end in their negotiations.
Asked whether Iran believed the United States would launch a military attack against the country, he said, "As the American president himself said, talk about military operations against Iran is ridiculous, and we agree with this view." - BNN
Israel adamant on Syria's 'guilt'
Israel has insisted that Syria was behind Friday's suicide bomb in Tel Aviv that killed five people.
Israeli intelligence chiefs met foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem on Monday to present their case alleging Syria's involvement in the attack.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it had foiled another plot by Islamic Jihad when it seized a car rigged with explosives in the West Bank.
Syria has denied any involvement in the nightclub bombing.
"We see Syria as responsible by allowing those extremists to have their headquarters there, their training camps there and to give them all the assistance that they're asking," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said.
Syrian fears
In the investigation following Friday's attack, Israeli military officials said they found a car packed with explosives in Arrabeh, northern West Bank on Monday.
"The car was ready for use in an attack and it was apparently prepared by the group which carried out the suicide bomb in Tel Aviv," said a military spokesman.
Islamic Jihad militants in Damascus said they staged the Tel Aviv attack, but Syria denies any involvement.
Syria said it was facing unprecedented international pressure following the attack, and feared that it was among the US' next military targets. BBC FEAR

World leaders welcome Syria's pledge of withdrawal from Lebanon
Syria's announcement Saturday that it would gradually pull out its troops from Lebanon was applauded by world leaders who have been pushing for the withdrawal after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the parliament Saturday that Syrian troops would be initially pulled back to the Bekaa valley in eastern Lebanon and then to the Syrian-Lebanese border area. But he stopped short of setting a clear timetable.
Through the move, Syria would fulfill its commitment to the Taif Accord and implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1559,which demands foreign troops be withdrawn from Lebanon, the president said.
Elaborating on Assad's announcement, Syrian cabinet minister Buthaina Shaaban said Syrian troops would withdraw to the Syrian side of the border.
"The Syrian army wants to pull out quickly ...as soon as possible logistically," Shaaban said in an interview with Lebanon's LBC television. "The political decision has been taken for a complete withdrawal."
According to Shaaban, a meeting between the two countries' leaders on Monday would agree on the details of the pledged withdrawal, including the timing.
Syrian troops have been in Lebanon since intervening in its civil war in the 1970s and it currently has about 14,000 troops there.
Syria has come under mounting Lebanese, Arab and international pressure to withdraw troops from Lebanon since the assassination of Hariri last month. Peoples Daily

Hypocricy - or a conspiracy?
In a speech he made in Belgium Monday, President Bush continued his tough talk against Syria, calling the nation an 'oppressive neighbor' to Lebanon and urging its government to stop supporting 'violence and subversion' in Iraq and stop supporting 'groups seeking to destroy the hope of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.' In calling for Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon, a country Syria has occupied for 15 years, Bush cited a United Nations resolution that demands that Lebanon's 'sovereignty be respected, that foreign troops and agents be withdrawn and that free elections be conducted without foreign interference.'
Looks like Bush is making a rhetorical case in support of possible future military action against Syria, just like he did with Iraq-and just as he failed to mention that the U.S. was friendly with Saddam Hussein back in 1988 when the former Iraqi tyrant was gassing his citizens, on Monday he didn't say anything about the apparent cooperation the U.S. and Syria have enjoyed when it comes to torture.
In response to Bush's speech in Belgium, the Syrian government lashed out at the U.S., pointing out what it sees as America's double standard: the U.S. demands the end of Syrian occupation of Lebanon but has not engaged in the same tough talk regarding Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.
But let's focus on another apparent U.S. double standard-in the realm of basic human rights, a topic about which Bush has been talking a lot lately. In his inauguration speech last month, Bush warned despotic governments around the globe that the U.S. is sick and tired of oppression and brutality. However, we've learned in the past year that U.S. Justice Department and Bush administration lawyers have rationalized the use of torture as a necessary weapon in the 'war on terror,' a policy that seemed to manifest itself in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Now comes the story of Maher Arar, a 34-year-old Syrian-Canadian software engineer who, while returning from a vacation in Tunisia, was plucked by U.S. agents from New York's Kennedy Airport back in September 2002. Because Arar's name was on a terrorist suspect watch list, he was interrogated for 13 days in the U.S., then flown to Amman, Jordan, finally ending up in Syria, where he was held for 10 months before being released, thanks to the efforts of the Canadians.
While in Syria, Arar says he was subjected to horrendous treatment-he described being whipped on the hands with 2-inch-thick electrical cables and being held in an underground cell he says was like a grave. The Syrians didn't manage to beat any terrorism evidence out of Arar before he was delivered back to Canada. He was never charged with a crime. - source

Syria fired upon?

Syria says US forces fired on troops
Friday 22 July 2005, 1:05 Makka Time, 22:05 GMT
Syria has said its border troops have been fired on by US and Iraqi forces and accused Washington, London and Baghdad of a lack of cooperation in preventing fighters infiltrating into Iraq.
It was the first time Syria, which has a 600 km desert border with Iraq, had reported cases of US troops firing on its forces.
The Foreign Ministry on Thursday told heads of diplomatic missions in Damascus in a letter that Syrian border troops had been subject to attacks "not only by infiltrators and smugglers but by the Iraqi and American forces".
"The border clashes amounted to about 100 armed clashes, some of which were carried out by American soldiers who opened fire arbitrarily at those present behind the dirt rampart due to loss of self control," said the ministry.
Border operations
"The border clashes amounted to about 100 armed clashes, some of which were carried out by American soldiers who opened fire arbitrarily"
Syrian Foreign Ministry letter
The US military in Iraq has launched several operations against anti-US fighters near the border in the past few months but has not reported any cross-border fire.
In Washington, US officials at the Pentagon said they were unaware of any shooting incidents involving Syria but were checking with US forces in Iraq.
US officials accuse Syria of not doing enough to stop the fighters from crossing into Iraq to fight US and Iraqi forces and often say that they are using Syria as a conduit for the transfer of funds to fuel the armed opposition.
"Syria ... needs to take steps to go after those ... elements that may be operating on their territory and they need to play a helpful role with their neighbours," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Accusing Syria
"Syria has been out of step with the rest of the Middle East. The Middle East has been leaning more and more in the direction of freedom and democracy," said McClellan.
Damascus said it was doing its utmost to seal its border with Iraq and stop it from being crossed by Syrian and other foreign fighters. Syria had prevented 1240 suspects from crossing into Iraq and extradited most of them to their respective countries, said the ministry.
About 4000 Syrians "who left or attempted to leave to Iraq to fight there have been investigated", it said. The United States and Britain had failed to respond to Syrian requests for night vision and radar-based monitoring systems to prevent night infiltrations, said the letter, delivered to envoys by Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed al-Mualem.
Syria said daytime infiltrations were now "a very difficult issue (for fighters) but the problem of infiltrations still persists to a certain extent during the night because of the lack of necessary technical equipment to monitor the border".
It said Iraq had so far failed to ratify a protocol for security cooperation signed in Damascus in July 2004 and subsequent agreements.
Stability in Iraq was in the interest of Syria because it paved the way for the end of the presence of US led forces in Iraq, said the letter. - aljazeera

Syria warns 'gates of hell will open' if U.S. attacks
By Leila Hatoum Daily Star staff Wednesday, October 12, 2005
BEIRUT: In the latest official Syrian comment on the increasing pressure on Damascus, Premier Naji Otari said "all the gates of hell will open on the U.S. if it attempts to attack Syria." Otari was replying to a report this week in Newsweek magazine revealing that Washington had debated launching military strikes inside Syria against camps used by insurgents operating in Iraq.
Citing unnamed government sources, the magazine reported that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had managed to block the proposal during a meeting of senior U.S. officials on October 1.
Speaking to reporters in Shanon, Ireland, on a four-nation tour, Rice said: "I am not going to comment on internal deliberations in the administration."
Otari also accused Lebanese officials of being unable to make an independent decision, saying they were answerable to the French and U.S. ambassadors to Lebanon.
Addressing his Lebanese counterpart Fouad Siniora, the Syrian premier said: "Apparently Siniora forgot all of what we have discussed when he visited Damascus after his recent return from a visit to the U.S."
Siniora had held talks with several officials in Damascus to resolve a border dispute between the two countries in June. Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reported yesterday Otari had refused to answer repeated phone calls from Siniora on Monday. The paper quoted unidentified "informed Syrian sources in Damascus" as saying the Assad regime believes Siniora has reneged on promises he made to the Syrian president during a visit on July 31.
The regime is particularly outraged over Siniora's allegation in a recent interview with The Washington Post that all of Lebanon is convinced that Syria engineered the Hariri murder. more from dailystar.com

Syria's regime prepares for looming UN report on Hariri killing
12 October 2005 DAMASCUS - Syria's regime is quietly preparing for the possibility that a UN investigation will implicate it in a Lebanese leader's murder - consolidating its power, preparing a public relations counteroffensive and even taking steps to guard against possible tough sanctions. The moves are viewed by many opposition figures and analysts as a sign that the regime, while not very popular, is determined to stay in power even if a UN investigation implicates it in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Many Syrians, however, wonder how long the regime can last, especially if the probe's findings, due to be released by Oct. 21, hit close to home. Some believe President Bashar Assad would turn over officers who served in Lebanon during Syria's 29-year military presence there - if the report offers irrefutable evidence of their involvement. But most believe he would stop at handing over family members.
"The family is a red line," said Joshua Landis, a University of Oklahoma professor who is spending the year in Damascus as a Fulbright scholar. "There's no doubt about that."
Despite gloating by some Syrians about the regime's current troubles, most believe it can survive, whatever happens. A weak opposition, and the fact that any revolt would likely be seen as spearheaded by the United States, lead many Syrians and analysts to believe the regime is safe for now. Many Syrians feel the United States caused a disaster when it invaded neighboring Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, leading to a bloody insurgency.
"Syrians do not want to have the same fate as Iraqis," said Yassin Haj Saleh, an outspoken dissident. "One of the regime's strongest points is the weakness of the Iraq model." "Had that model succeeded," he added, "there would have been less hostility toward America and what it could offer."
But some say the danger to the regime could come from within - from someone seizing power in a bloodless palace coup that would keep the minority Alawites in power.
Visitors who have seen Assad recently report he is relaxed, upbeat and confident the investigation will not find any criminal evidence against his country in the Feb. 14 Beirut bombing that killed Hariri and 20 others. But he recently told Jihad Al Khazen, a senior columnist for the London-based, pan-Arab daily Al Hayat, that some countries may try to "politicize" the probe to step up the pressure on Syria. He said if that happens, Syria will be targeted because the ultimate aim of those countries - which he did not name but are believed to include the United States - is Iran. Syria is Iran's closest Arab ally. "What we are seeing is an attempt to weaken (Iran's) allies or alienate them," he told Al Khazen.
Analysts say that, mindful of the sensitivity of the next few weeks, Damascus is working on two tracks.
On the first track, it projects a facade of confidence and nonchalance. Officials reach out to investors, the Cabinet discusses issues not relevant to its predicament, such as violence against children, and the country has put out more than 20 TV serials for Ramadan, the fasting month.
"Syria wants to show it has time to think about such issues," said analyst Ayman Abdel-Nour.
On the other track, the regime is preparing for the possibility the report will implicate Syria.
Syria is reportedly planning a diplomatic offensive to discredit the report, which would include reaching out to China, India and the Soviet Union to help block a UN resolution and possible sanctions against it. Damascus will also likely use US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia as channels for a deal with Washington.
Abdel-Nour said the regime is also consolidating the power of the ruling Baath party, the only tool it has to defend itself.
Economically, the government is bracing for possible troubles ahead, Syria's minister of economy, Amer Lutfi, told The Associated Press. He did not say what measures are being taken but stressed Syria has achieved "food security."
Dennis Ross, a former US Middle East mediator, said the Bush administration's response will depend on whether the blame goes to the top of the regime, or to less-senior Syrian officials who acted on their own.
Either way, he said, Syria will have to do more than Libya did in the case of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people - turning over a couple of suspects.
"It's in Syria's interest to remove any cloud, any stigma, any questioning about where it's coming from, and what it's doing," said Ross.
That would include reassessing its policies on Iraq, and its links with militant Palestinians and with the Iranian-backed Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, which Washington brands as terrorist.
"These cards have not exactly given Syria a very strong hand," said Ross. "The more the regime has tried to play the cards, the weaker they've become." - khaleejtimes.com

Syrian interior minister commits suicide
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria's interior minister, one of several top officials caught up in the U.N. investigation into the slaying of Lebanon's former prime minister, died Wednesday. The country's official news agency said he committed suicide in his office.
By Joseph Barrak, AFP/Getty Images
The death - just days before the final U.N. investigation report is due - was a new and startling sign of turmoil in Syria, whose authoritarian regime is girding for the chance that the U.N. report might implicate high-ranking officials in the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. He was killed by a bomb in February as his convoy drove through Beirut.
"Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Ghazi Kenaan committed suicide in his office before noon," the Syrian Arab News Agency reported. "Authorities are carrying out the necessary investigation into the incident."
The news agency did not mention the U.N. investigation, which is due to issue its report by Oct. 25.
Hours before he died, Kenaan contacted a Lebanese radio station and gave a statement, concluding with the words: "I believe this is the last statement that I could make." He asked the interviewer to pass his comments to other media.
The interior minister in Syria controls the police, but before he was promoted to this position in 2003, Kenaan was Syria's intelligence chief in Lebanon, presiding over Syria's control of its western neighbor.
Lebanese newspapers have reported that he was among seven senior Syrian officials questioned last month by the U.N. team investigating Hariri's murder. The other officials included Syria's last intelligence chief in Lebanon, Brig. Gen. Rustum Ghazale and his two aides.
The investigators have named as suspects four Lebanese generals who are close to Syria; they are under arrest.
Many Lebanese believe Syria played a role in Hariri's killing. The Syrian government has denied any involvement, but Syria dominated Lebanese political life until mass demonstrations and international pressure forced it to withdraw its troops from Lebanon at the end of April.
The big question in Syria is how long President Bashar Assad can last if the probe indicates his government played a part in Hariri's death.
The regime is not very popular, but it has little opposition and any revolt would likely be pinned on the United States, which Syrians blame for the bloody insurgency in neighboring Iraq.
The potential suspects, according to Arab media reports, include senior Syrian security officials, members of Assad's inner circle or even relatives. Some Assad family members hold powerful positions in the intelligence and security services.
Syria is reportedly planning a diplomatic offensive to discredit the report, which would include reaching out to China, India and Russia to help block a U.N. resolution and possible sanctions. - usatoday.com

UN investigator Detlev Mehlis has demanded Syrian permission to perform an autopsy on the body of interior minister Ghazi Kenaan whom Damascus reported committed suicide last Wednesday
October 15, 2005, 12:01 PM (GMT+02:00) Mehlis is due to submit his findings on the murder of Lebanese leader Rafiq Hariri to the UN Security Council in one week. His latest action came amid the cloud of suspicion hanging over the death of the former Lebanon strongman as the investigation closed in on Damascus. Kenaan was a longtime repository of the Assad regime’s innermost secrets and boss of its security and intelligence agencies. If not complicit, the dead man would certainly have possessed dangerous knowledge about the mechanics of a Syrian involvement in the Hariri murder plot. He was one of the seven Syrian senior officials Mehlev questioned in his inquiry. - debka.com

Syria killed Hariri? were their own 'Special ops' planting the bombs as a set up?

Syria implicated in plot to kill Lebanon leader
By Evelyn Leopold and Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - A U.N. investigation accusing senior Syrian and Lebanese officials of an intricate plot to kill former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was expected to prompt calls for action against Damascus.
Lebanon and Syria both distanced themselves from the contents of the 53-page report by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis and his 30 investigators.
Hariri and 20 others were killed last Feb. 14 by a bomb blast in Beirut that Mehlis said "could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials and could not have been further organised without the collusion of their counterparts in the Lebanese security forces."
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's office said some information in the report was part of a campaign against him, while Syria said the report was politically motivated and untrue. "The report is far from the truth. It was not professional and will not arrive at the truth but will be part of a deception and a great tension in this region," Syria's information minister, Mahdi Dakhl-Allah told Al Jazeera television.
The report said the probe was still incomplete and in an accompanying letter, released late on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan extended the team's work until Dec. 15. One witness quoted in the report said Gen. Assef Shawkat, the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, set up an Islamic militant, Ahmed Abu Adass, as a decoy to claim responsibility for the plot. Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief, allegedly forced Adass to confess on a videotape two weeks before the assassination. But the suicide bomber was probably an Iraqi who thought he was killing Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a visitor in Beirut shortly before the bombing, the report said.
LEBANESE PRESIDENT GOT A CALL
Mehlis' report was the first official document to link Syria to the killing and was bound to heighten tensions in the region. Two anti-Syrian members of the Lebanese parliament immediately called for Lahoud to resign. Lahoud, an ally of Syria, received a phone call minutes before the blast from the brother of a key figure in the plot, Ahmad Abdel-Al, who had phoned "all the important figures in this investigation." Abdel-Al is a leader of a pro-Syrian Lebanese charity group.
The United States has been talking to France and Britain on possible U.N. Security Council resolutions critical of Syria over its alleged involvement in the killing and other meddling in Lebanon, despite the withdrawal of its troops last April. After the report's release, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Washington would decide what to do in a few days but "obviously" had "considered various contingencies."
But Syria's Assad insisted last week that his country was "100 percent innocent" in the assassination. However, Mehlis concluded the sophisticated plot took months of preparation and the motive was primarily political because of Hariri's opposition to Syrian domination of Lebanon. But it said some of the participants may have been motivated by "fraud, corruption, and money-laundering."
"Given the infiltration of Lebanese institutions and society by the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence working in tandem, it would be difficult to envisage a scenario whereby such a complex assassination plot could have been carried out without their knowledge," Mehlis wrote. He said several Syrians interviewed had given false or inaccurate statements, including Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara and his deputy, Walid al-Mualem.
According to one witness, a senior Lebanese security official went several times to Syria to plan the crime, meeting once at the Meridian Hotel in Damascus and several times at the Presidential Palace and the office of a senior Syrian security official. The last meeting was held 7-10 days before the assassination, the report said.
The report presented damning evidence on the four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals arrested and charged earlier in connection with Hariri's killing, on Mehlis' recommendation. One witness approached investigators to say he had met one of the four, Gen. Mustapha Hamdan, commander of the Republican Guard Brigade, in October 2004.
'BYE, BYE HARIRI'
Hamdan talked very negatively about Hariri, accusing him of being pro-Israeli, the witness said. The general then ended the conversation by stating, "We are going to send him on a trip -- bye, bye Hariri," the report said.
The Mehlis commission interviewed more than 400 people, reviewed 60,000 documents, identified several suspects and established numerous important leads in its first four months. Other figures that unidentified witnesses linked to the assassination plot included Gen. Rustom Ghazali, head of the Syrian military intelligence service in Lebanon and Brig. Gen. Jamil al-Sayyed, head of a Lebanese security force.
The report did not, however, mention Gen, Ghazi Kanaan, the former head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, who Syrian officials said committed suicide on Oct. 12. (Additional reporting by Nadim Ladki in Beirut) - alertnet.org

Here we go...er...again!

Bush calls for meeting on Hariri assassination
21/10/2005 - US President George Bush tonight called on the United Nations to convene a session as soon as possible to deal with a UN report implicating Syrian officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Bush said after helping dedicate a new pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Southern California.
The UN investigative report, which Bush called "deeply disturbing," established a link between high-ranking Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in Hariri's murder on February 14 in Beirut. - IOL

dodgy dossier?

REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION COMMISSION ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1595 (2005)
Detlev Mehlis Beirut Commissioner UNIIIC
19 October 2005
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The Security Council, by its resolution 1595 of 7 April 2005, decided to establish an international independent investigation Commission based in Lebanon to assist the Lebanese authorities in their investigation of all aspects of the terrorist attack which took place on 14 February 2005 in Beirut that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and others, including to help identify its perpetrators, sponsors, organizers and accomplices.
2. The Secretary-General notified the Council that the Commission began its full operations with effect from 16 June 2005. The Commission was granted an extension to the initial period of investigation mandated by the Council, until 26 October 2005.
3. During the course of its investigation, the Commission received extensive support from the Government of Lebanon and benefited from expert inputs from a number of national and international entities.
4. The main lines of investigation of the Commission focused on the crime scene, technical aspects of the crime, analysis of telephone intercepts, the testimony of more than 500 witnesses and sources, as well as the institutional context in which the crime took place.
5. The full case file of the investigation was transmitted to the Lebanese authorities during October 2005.
6. The present report sets out the main lines of enquiry of the investigation conducted by the Commission, its observations thereon, and its conclusions, for the consideration of the Security Council. It also identifies those matters on which further investigation may be necessary.
7. It is the Commission's view that the assassination of 14 February 2005 was carried out by a group with an extensive organization and considerable resources and capabilities. The crime had been prepared over the course of several months. For this purpose, the timing and location of Mr. Rafik Hariri's movements had been monitored and the itineraries of his convoy recorded in detail.
8. Building on the findings of the Commission and Lebanese investigations to date and on the basis of the material and documentary evidence collected, and the leads pursued until now, there is converging evidence pointing at both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in this terrorist act. It is a well known fact that Syrian Military Intelligence had a pervasive presence in Lebanon at the least until the withdrawal of the Syrian forces pursuant to resolution 1559. The former senior security officials of Lebanon were their appointees. Given the infiltration of Lebanese institutions and society by the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services working in tandem, it would be difficult to envisage a scenario whereby such a complex assassination plot could have been carried out without their knowledge.
9. It is the Commission's conclusion that the continuing investigation should be carried forward by the appropriate Lebanese judicial and security authorities, who have proved during the investigation that with international assistance and support, they can move ahead and at times take the lead in an effective and professional manner. At the same time, the Lebanese authorities should look into all the case's ramifications including bank transactions. The 14 February explosion needs to be assessed clearly against the sequence of explosions which preceded and followed it, since there could be links between some, if not all, of them.
10. The Commission is therefore of the view that a sustained effort on the part of the international community to establish an assistance and cooperation platform together with the Lebanese authorities in the field of security and justice is essential. This will considerably boost the trust of the Lebanese people in their security system, while building self-confidence in their capabilities. - tayyar.org

Mehlis report: Full transcript
Mehlis report: Chronology of events
Mehlis report: I. Preface
Mehlis report: II. Background
Mehlis report: III. The Crime

People cited in UN probe of Lebanon killing
Oct 25 (Reuters) - A U.N. report issued last week accused high-ranking Syrian security officials and their allies in Lebanon of involvement in the plot to kill former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on Feb. 14. The United States and France, in a draft U.N. Security Council resolution circulated on Tuesday, threatened sanctions if Syria does not cooperate in the probe and detain officials for interviews with U.N. investigators.
Syria has denied all the allegations.
Following are some of the personalities cited by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who heads the U.N. investigation.
-- Emile Lahoud, Lebanon's Syrian-backed president, alleged to have been called by a man linked to the plot minutes before the bomb blast. Mehlis said he was not a suspect because taking a call was not illegal.
-- Ahmed Abdel-Al, member of an Islamic militant group in Lebanon who allegedly telephoned all "important figures" involved in the plotting. His brother Mahmoud called Lahoud.
-- Ahmad Abu Adass, a member of a militant Islamic group, seen in a video confessing to the Hariri killing. Investigators say there is no evidence at the crime scene linking him to the killing and there was evidence the video had been made at gunpoint. He was alleged to have gone to Syria on Jan. 16.
-- Syrian Maj. Gen. Assef Shawkat, brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad and head of military intelligence, alleged to have forced Adass to record a confession to the assassination 15 days before it happened. He was named by a witness as an accomplice in the plot.
-- Maj. Gen. General Jamil al-Sayyed, head of a Lebanese security force, told a Lebanese judge the videotape of Adass was authentic. He is accused of being a plotter.
-- Brig. Gen. Mustapha Hamdan, commander of the Lebanese Guard Brigade, arrested and charged in Beirut in connection with the killing. He was said to have told a witness, "We are going to send him on a trip -- bye bye Hariri."
-- Syrian Lt. Gen. Rustom Ghazali, head of the Syrian Military Intelligence Service in Lebanon, allegedly involved in the assassination plot, one witness said. Mehlis said he told investigators Hariri was his friend but called him a "dog" in a taped telephone conversation.
-- Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara, who investigators said gave false statements about meetings with Hariri.
-- Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al-Mualem was reported by witnesses to have told Hariri: "We and the [security] services here have put you into a corner. Please do not take things lightly."
-- President Bashar al-Assad, alleged to have told Hariri, "You either do as you are told or we will get you and your family wherever you are." Syrian officials have denied the account and the president did not agree to an interview. - alertnet

dodgy dossier?

Grasping a UN report that uses unreliable witnesses to implicate Syria in the assassination of a former Lebanese government official, Condi Rice told the BBC on October 23 that Syria's crime cannot be "left lying on the table. This really has to be dealt with."
This is amazing for many reasons. Here is the person in charge of US diplomacy acting as if she is the secretary of war unsheathing military force. Whoever heard of an American diplomat wanting to start a war because a former Middle Eastern government official was assassinated?
The UN investigator, Detlev Mehlis, has no more idea who assassinated the former official than the US knows who is responsible for assassinating the many Iraqi officials under its protection. After more than two and one-half years of war in Iraq, the US still doesn't know exactly who the enemy is that it is fighting. Yet Mehlis blames Syria for an assassination on the strength of an informer described by the German news magazine, Der Spiegal, as a convicted felon and swindler.
On the basis of the word of a convicted felon and swindler, Condi Rice wants a high level UN Security Council meeting to condemn Syria so the Bush administration can bring about "regime change" in Syria. - Paul Craig Roberts

Document security flap at U.N. causes uproar
By Patience Wait and Dawn S. Onley GCN Staff
A "technical fault" in a U.N. report on the assassination of the prime minister of Lebanon that was posted to the Internet has led to a crisis at the world body and heightened tensions in the international community. The report, summarizing the investigation by Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor heading up the U.N. International Independent Investigation Commission into the Valentine's Day assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was presented Oct. 20 to the U.N. Security Council.
The report did not identify specific suspects by name but when the electronic document was posted online, readers quickly discovered that the "track changes" function of the file could be enabled-revealing any revisions made to the document. While the report confirmed international suspicions about Syria's involvement in the assassination, controversy arose when journalists and others discovered that the report originally named several suspects, including the brother and brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Revisions made in the document showed that the names had been removed at approximately the same time as a meeting Mehlis had with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Annan had promised repeatedly during the course of Mehlis' investigation that it was an independent process and that he would not change the report when it was issued. At a press conference Oct. 21, Mehlis insisted he deleted the names from the document when he learned that the report was going to be released publicly.
"Since the report was to be made public, I decided the names should not be there because it could give the idea of an established fact. The presumption of innocence stands," Mehlis said. "Some of the staff who were working in terms of transmitting the report weren't aware of the track changes option, [and that] the last day's worth of editing being made showed up," said Farhan Haq, a spokesman in the Office of Secretary-General.
Document insecurity not new
The Hariri investigation flap is the latest high-profile international incident arising out of problems with securing the visible contents of an electronic document released to the public. Earlier this year, just days after the Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) concluded an investigation into the shooting death of an Italian special agent in Baghdad, officials posted the results of that investigation on the MNF-I Web site. But they were unaware that the Adobe Portable Document Format memo, posted April 30, exposed blocks of classified information that had been redacted.
That was human error, says Army Lt. Col. Steven A. Boylan, MNF-I strategic effects director. Boylan said MNF-I has conducted an investigation into the slip-up, and found that it "was a case where individuals misunderstood the capability of the Adobe program." "It was believed that once a document was converted to a .pdf, it would not be able to be reversed [to] allow the information to be viewed," Boylan said. "Processes have been put into place to ensure that type of inadvertent release of information does not occur in the future."
He added that in the future, documents will be redacted physically and then scanned so that classified information does not get into the wrong hands.
In this case, redacted classified information-discovered by an Italian blogger who copied and pasted the text into another file format-indicated that U.S. troops had set up a checkpoint en route to the Baghdad airport as part of preparations for a VIP traveling to Camp Victory outside Baghdad. U.S. troops fired on a car carrying Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist who had just been released after being held hostage, and Italian special agent Nicola Calipari. Calipari died in the incident, while Sgrena and the car's driver were wounded.
Joe Fantuzzi, president and CEO of Workshare Inc., a San Francisco company that provides document security solutions, said these two incidents demonstrate a common problem throughout government agencies and private-sector firms. Many computer users are unaware of the risk, he added.
There are software products on the market which will remove hidden data, such as editing changes to documents, before they are e-mailed, Fantuzzi said. There also are tools that will alert users to the presence of hidden information in documents they receive, he said.
"An ounce of prevention is really what's called for here," added Ken Rutsky, Workshare's vice president for worldwide marketing. "That's a lot easier than trying to put in a large education programs and hoping people will learn and follow" document guidelines.
As for the U.N. incident, "We are considering ways of handling this better in the future," Haq said. "We are looking for ways to make sure … transmittal is done differently so only the final authoritative version is released." - gcn.com

Flashback July 1 2005: China, Russia issue joint statement on new world order
"Differences and disputes must be solved through peaceful means rather than through unilateralism or coercion. There should be no use or threatened use of force, says the joint statement. Only on the basis of universally recognized tenents and norms of international law, and under an impartial and rational world order, can problems facing mankind be solved, says the document. All countries should strictly observe the principles of mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence..." - xinhuanet.com

So what will happen if US/UK coalition attacks Iran?
...Will Russia & China intercede?
Double whammy!

Russia is ready to expand cooperation with Iran - Fradkov
MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - Russia is ready to continue its political dialogue with Iran and expand cooperation in all areas, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said at a Wednesday meeting with Iranian First Vice President Parviz Dadwoodi in Moscow.
"We are convinced that under the new Iranian leadership, we will maintain and advance our friendly relations," he said.
"Relations with Iran rely on a solid legal groundwork and have developed into a multifaceted partnership," he said. - interfax.ru

Russia says will defend Syria against UN sanctions
MOSCOW Oct 26 (Reuters) - Russia, Syria's close ally since Cold War times, will do all it takes to block any attempt to slap economic sanctions against Damascus, a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
The United States and France threatened Syria with economic sanctions earlier this week if Damascus did not cooperate fully with a U.N. probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"Russia will do everything necessary to stop attempts to introduce sanctions against Syria," spokesman Mikhail Kalmynin told Interfax news agency and other Russian media on the sidelines of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's trip to Israel.
Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, angered the United States earlier this year by announcing plans to sell advanced missile systems to Syria, which Washington has accused of having links to terrorism. - reuters

Russia defends its UN stance on Syria
MOSCOW, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Russia on Tuesday defended its stance on Syria at the United Nations, saying its action at the Security Council had spared Damascus the threat of sanctions and being linked, without proof, with terrorist activities.
The Security Council voted unanimously on Monday for a resolution ordering Syria to cooperate fully with a U.N. investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri or face possible "further action."
But unanimity was achieved only after the United States, France and Britain, sponsors of the resolution, agreed at the last minute to drop an explicit threat of economic sanctions against Syria. Otherwise Russia, China and Algeria may have abstained, diplomats said.
A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry said: "Thanks to the efforts of the Russian side and other delegations politicised stances, that had nothing to do with the investigation of Hariri's death, were withdrawn."
"The threat of automatic sanctions against Syria as a state was removed. Attempts to accuse Damascus, without proof, of involvement in terrorist activities were rejected," it said.
Russia, a close ally of Syria since Cold War times, said the Security Council resolution, as passed, opened the way for "broad and effective dialogue of the Syrian side with international investigators".
"We are convinced in Moscow that responsible cooperation of Damascus with the (international investigating) committee will help answer the outstanding questions in the Hariri affair, establish the truth and ensure that justice prevails," it said.
Russia, already at odds with the United States over nuclear ties with Iran, has said that U.S. terror accusations against Syria are hurting the Middle East peace process, and it agreed to write off a huge chunk of Soviet-era debt held by Damascus earlier this year. - alertnet

U.S. tells Syria to cooperate, threatens UN action
WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened on Wednesday to send the inquiry into the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister back to the U.N. Security Council if Syrian "obstruction" continued.
In a strongly worded statement, Rice also voiced grave concerns about what she said was Syria's "destabilizing behavior and sponsorship of terrorism" and said Damascus must stop interfering in the affairs of neighboring Lebanon.
"Syria must cease obstructing the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri and instead cooperate fully and unconditionally as required by U.N. Security Council resolutions," said Rice in a statement.
U.N. investigators have been trying to interview Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of an inquiry into the Feb. 14 Beirut murder of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, an opponent of Syrian domination of his country.
The United Nations announced on Wednesday that Serge Brammertz, a Belgian prosecutor with the International Criminal Court, will be the new head of its investigation.
Rice urged Damascus to respond positively to the request by U.N. investigators to interview key officials.
"We intend to refer this matter back to the Security Council if Syrian obstruction continues," she said.
U.N. investigators have made clear in their reports to the Security Council that senior Syrian intelligence officials and their Lebanese allies were probably behind the killing of Hariri and 22 others. Syria has denied that Assad's government was involved in the assassination.
Rice said Washington rejected any deals or compromises that would undermine the U.N. investigation. "We are firmly committed to seeking justice and pursuing the investigation to its ultimate conclusion," Rice said She also called for the full implementation of U.N. resolutions calling for the disarmament and disbanding of Hizbollah and other militias. "Syria must once and for all end its interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon," she said.
Continued assassinations in Lebanon of opponents of Syrian domination, including the murder of journalist Gebran Tueni last month, created an atmosphere of fear that Syria used to intimidate Lebanon, she said. "Syria must cease this intimidation and immediately come into compliance with all relevant Security Council resolutions," said Rice. - alertnet.org

Syria accuses Israel of assassinating Arafat
Source: Reuters DAMASCUS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused Israel on Saturday of assassinating former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the cause of whose death 14 months ago remains a mystery.
"Of the many assassinations that Israel carried out in a methodical and organised way, the most dangerous thing that Israel did was the assassination of President Yasser Arafat," Assad told a gathering of Arab lawyers. "This was under the world's gaze and its silence, and not one state dared to issue a statement or stance towards this, as though nothing happened."
Arafat died in Paris on Nov. 11, 2004 at the age of 75 after being rushed from his West Bank compound to a French military hospital.
Israel has denied being responsible for the deterioration in Arafat's health before his death and has denied poisoning him.
Israeli officials said he had access to medical treatment, food, water and medication during the two years he spent in his battered compound in Ramallah, which was besieged by Israeli troops for months in 2002.
French doctors denied rumours that Arafat was poisoned but have refused to publish his medical reports, citing strict privacy laws.
Arafat aides had quoted doctors as saying he had a low count of platelets, which help the blood to clot. They later said he had gone into a coma, suffered a brain haemorrhage and lost the use of his vital organs one by one. But no definitive cause of death was announced. - alertnet.org

Did the French Connection kill Hariri?
The Daily Star Middle East | David Ignatius Beirut
Once every five or six weeks, a French presidential adviser named Maurice Gourdault-Montagne flies to Washington to meet with his American counterpart, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. They spend several hours coordinating strategy on Iran, Syria, Lebanon and other hot spots, and then the Frenchman flies home. In between trips, the two men talk often on the phone, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Welcome to the French Connection. Though the link between the top foreign-policy advisers of Presidents George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac is almost unknown to the outside world, it has emerged as an increasingly important element of United States planning. On a public level, France may still be the butt of jokes among American politicians, but in these private diplomatic contacts, the Elysee Palace has become one of the White House's most important and effective allies.
During a visit to Paris this week, I had a chance to talk with French sources who know some of the closely held details. It's an intriguing story of back channels and secret missions, but it illustrates a larger change in America's approach: Bruised by the war in Iraq, the administration is now working hard to conduct its foreign policy in tandem with international allies and, where possible, through the United Nations.
America's key intermediary in this search for international consensus has been France. Senator Hillary Clinton may have been using political hyperbole when she charged last month that the administration has been "outsourcing" its Iran policy to France and other European countries, but she wasn't entirely wrong. An administration that was blasted during its first term for being overly unilateralist has indeed decided to work more closely with allies. Contrary to Clinton, I think that's a positive development - and one that's likely to make U.S. policy more effective.
The French Connection's impact is clear from some examples. Let's start with a secret trip to Damascus by Gourdault-Montagne in November 2003 to see Syrian President Bashar Assad. At the time, French-American relations were still in the deep freeze because of Chirac's refusal to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but the French were doing some early damage control. Gourdault-Montagne brought the Syrian leader a message from Chirac and two other critics of the Iraq war, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The message to Assad was: The war has changed things in the Middle East and you have to show you have changed, too - by visiting Jerusalem or taking some other bold step for peace with Israel. The French were probably hoping to gain some diplomatic leverage with Washington by acting as a peace broker, but that's not how Assad took it. "Are you the spokesman of the Americans?" he asked Gourdault-Montagne. Worried that France, Germany and Russia were joining a U.S. pressure campaign, a nervous Assad soon began trying to consolidate his control over Lebanon. He forced the re-election of Lebanon's pliant pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, and began squeezing Syria's nemesis, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. That process culminated in Hariri's murder in February 2005.
Gourdault-Montagne began making his quiet trips to Washington in August 2004 to coordinate French-American efforts on UN Security Council Resolution 1559, calling for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. It was in the midst of a presidential campaign, and the French were obviously hedging their bets. After Hariri's murder, Washington and Paris collaborated in forcing a Syrian withdrawal under Resolution 1559. To discourage mischief by the Shiite militia Hizbullah, Gourdault-Montagne told the Iranians during a secret visit to Tehran in February 2005 to advise Hizbullah to play it cool.
In framing policy on Syria and Iran, the French and Americans have consciously played a good cop-bad cop routine. The Americans demand tough UN language; the French bring the Russians and Chinese on board for a slightly watered-down version. It's a classic diplomatic minuet, but it has probably produced tougher and better resolutions than would have emerged if either side went alone. An illustration is the compromise that came this week - to refer Iran to the Security Council for its violations of nuclear agreements, but also to give Iran another month to comply before any formal recommendation. The French argue that it's crucial now to maintain international solidarity on Iran, even at the price of a brief delay. What's interesting is that the Bush administration seems to agree. Hadley and Gourdault-Montagne even look a bit alike. Both are thin, dapper, bespectacled advisers - men for whom the term "buttoned down" was invented. Paris and Washington still disagree sharply on the substance of many issues, but they seem to have concluded that they'll get more of what they want if they collaborate rather than bicker. Indeed, the quiet partnership has probably benefited from the fact that the world still thinks France and America are enemies.
Syndicated columnist David Ignatius is published regularly by THE DAILY STAR.

Syria: Danish, Norwegian embassies set ablaze

Demonstrators stormed Danish, Norwegian embassies in Damascus, set fire to buildings in protest of offensive caricatures of Islam’s prophet; top Hamas official: We should have killed all those who defiled the Prophet Muhammad, but instead we are protesting in peace Sharon Roffe-Ofir Thousands protested in Israel and all over the world Saturday against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in a Danish newspaper.
Protest in Damascus
In Syria outraged demonstrators stormed the Danish Embassy in Damascus and set fire to the building in protest of offensive caricatures of Islam’s prophet. Thick, black smoke was still rising from the three-story building as firefighters struggled tried to put out the flames.
Holy War
London Islamists target Israel, Denmark / Yaakov Lappin Radical groups call on supporters to wage holy war against Israel and Denmark, slam Muhammad cartoon The protest started out peacefully but as anger escalated, people broke through police barriers and used the concrete barricades protecting the embassy as ladders to climb inside the building and set it on fire.
“With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God,” They chanted.
Some removed the Danish flag and replaced it with a green flag printed with the words “There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” The building also houses the embassies of Chile and Sweden.
Later it was reported that the Norwegian embassy was also set ablaze.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has instructed his trade minister to look into the possibility of annulling contracts signed with European countries that published the cartoons, according to Iran’s official news agency.
“These cartoons present the impertinence and audacity of the West’s newspapers,” Ahmadinejad said.
In Israel, more than 1,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Nazareth in protest of the cartoons. During the march, organized by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, those addressing the crown on hand said “We will not let anyone hurt the values sacred to Islam.”
‘This is a global confrontation’
Islamic Movement Chairman Sheikh Raed Salah said the anti-Islam crusade was launched by U.S. President George W. Bush, adding that he has turned to Israeli media outlets that published the cartoons demanding their apology.
In a demonstration of the Islamic Movement’s southern wing Arab MK Ahmed Tibi said, “A law should be passed in Europe punishing those who insult Islam, similar to the anti-Semitism laws.
Top Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar told Italian newspaper Il Giornale, “We should have killed all those who defiled the Prophet Muhammad, but instead we are protesting in peace.”
When asked whether the response to the cartoons may have been exaggerated, al-Zahar said “Hamas is not threatening anyone, but it seems that Denmark, France, Norway and other European countries are in complete agreement with whoever drew the cartoon. They did nothing to stop those responsible or reconcile with Islam.
“Someone (in Europe) threatened to burn a Quran and you blame us of exaggeration? Europe must be very careful. If he who promised to burn the Quran will be in a position to defile Muhammad’s name, you will be making a historic mistake; a mistake the entire West will regret dearly,” he added.
“This is a global confrontation, and Europe is responsible for it. We are not protesting as Palestinians, but as Muslims who have been insulted by the defiling of the Prophet Muhammad.
Al-Zahar told the Italian newspaper that Hamas is not interested in a violent struggle with the Christians, saying “Hamas does not want violence, especially not against our Christian and Catholic brothers; they are not responsible for this slandering. They have always respected us in Gaza, and therefore the Hamas warriors are prepared to protect their schools and churches from any attacks. I have given my word that no harm will come to any Christian,” he said. - ynetnews

Syria switches to euro amid confrontation with US
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria has switched all of the state's foreign currency transactions to euros from dollars amid a political confrontation with the United States, the head of state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria said on Monday.
"This is a precaution. We are talking about billions of dollars," Duraid Durgham told Reuters.
The bank, which still dominates the Syrian market although private banks have been allowed to set up in the last few years, has also stopped dealing with dollars in the international foreign exchange flows of private clients.
The United States has been at the forefront of international pressure on Syria for its alleged role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri a year ago. Damascus denies involvement in the killing.
"It looks like a kind of pre-emptive action aimed at making their foreign assets safer, preventing them from getting frozen in case of any conflict," said a Middle East economist who requested anonymity. - reuters

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS AMERICA
ANALYSIS [Beirut] - By Roman Lederer on Wednesday, March 08, 2006 the media line
The response left no questions open. "The Damascus Declaration refuses foreign funding, including the $5 million from the United States State Department for the Syrian opposition," Hasan 'Abd Al-'Azim said on behalf of the most widely known internal opponents against the authoritarian regime of President Bashar Al-Asad. Half a year earlier, his coalition of a dozen parties, united as the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change, had called for a "radical change in the country and the rejection of all forms of cosmetic, partial, or circumspect reform."
A political stance which at first glance appears to be a blueprint for the goals of the American administration in the region. "The United States stands firmly with courageous men and women struggling for their freedom across the Middle East, including in Syria," Elizabeth Cheney, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said in February when announcing grants worth $5 million to Syrian organizations promoting democratic practices such as the rule of law, free elections, or the freedom of association and speech.
But Damascus Declaration founding member Al-'Azim bluntly dismissed the offer at the end of the month: "Our project is nationalist, independent democratic change in Syria, not through occupation or economic pressure as we see the United States doing."
Al-'Azim's view is widely shared in this country of 17 million, where just a few weeks ago anti-Western resentments aroused by the publishing of cartoons of the Muslims' prophet Muhammad led to the torching of the Danish and Norwegian embassies. Rejection of the U.S. State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) to award grants "to accelerate the work of reformers in Syria," as the State Department points out on its website, thus comes with no surprise. Even though many people privately state their disagreement with Al-Asad's police state, giving in to American pressure is seen as worse.
A perception which last, but not least, has been nurtured by President George W. Bush's policy of sanctions pursued since Congress passed the Syria Accountability Act at the end of 2003. According to Alan George, senior associate member of Oxford University's St. Antony's College and author of Syria - Neither Bread Nor Freedom, "The U.S. government does not understand how much it is hated in the Middle East due to its destructive policy. That is why no credible opposition group will apply for the money," he said. Accepting American help would harm them."
Anwar Al-Bunni, a prominent lawyer who represents several members of the opposition expresses similar concerns. "The question is who will gain from this support which comes from outside Syria," he told The Media Line. "The supposed cooperation with foreign powers will probably be used by the regime to spread fear and further discredit those who are striving for change within the country."
Already today, the small and scattered members of the Syrian opposition struggle with the fact that they basically cannot make themselves heard among ordinary people. Since the state strictly controls newspapers and television channels, access to news about the reform movement derives from Arabic-language satellite channels or the Internet. And the small window of opportunity for democratic change which members of civil society saw opening after the death of Bashar's father Hafiz Al-Asad in June 2000 was shut by the young ruler shortly after.
Over the course of the second half of that year, hundreds of intellectuals, lawyers, journalists, and economists had gathered in private living rooms throughout the country, demanding political as well as economic liberalization. Soon dubbed the "Damascene Spring," the grass-roots movement openly questioned the authoritarian rule of the Ba'ath party and demanded an end to the state of emergency and martial law it imposed when it came to power in 1963.
"No reform, be it economic, administrative or legal, will achieve tranquillity and stability in the country unless fully accompanied by the desired political reform, which alone can steer our society towards safe shores," a resolution entitled the 'Statement of 99' declared euphorically in September 2000, marking the climax of the movement. Shortly afterwards, dozens of activists were imprisoned, many of them still behind bars today.
Thus, the recent release of prominent opposition members like the liberal Riad Seif, a former Member of Parliament, and Mamoun Al-Hum'si in January only sheds light on the ambiguous policy Bashar Al-Asad is pursuing. Since a U.N. Security Council resolution last October implied Syrian authorities were involved in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, the young ruler has been eager to fulfil at least parts of the demands made by the international community.
Giving more room to secular reformists like Al-Hum'si and Seif does not necessarily attack Al-Asad's power base, especially given the fact that they continue to be under strict surveillance. Only weeks after their release from prison they were again detained for several hours.
Of greater concern to the regime are radical religious groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and their attempts to empower the marginalized Sunni majority in the country. Letting the leash off the mostly Islamist demonstrators who attacked the building housing the Scandinavian embassies in February could also be read as the regime's warning to Western governments that there is worse to come should the Al-Asad clan actually be toppled.
Led by its London-based Superintendent-General 'Ali 'Sadr A-Din Al-Bayanouni, the members of the Muslim Brotherhood who are secretly operating are probably not only the biggest opposition movement in the country, but they are the ones who through their religious message could be able to reach more than just a small elite of Western-oriented friends of liberal concepts of democracy. Even though they joined forces with the secular reformists during the "Damascene Spring", the experiences of 1982, Hafiz Al-Asad's brutal crushing of the Brotherhood uprising in the western town of Hamas that left an estimated ten thousand people dead, will keep them reluctant to seek long-time alliances with nonreligious coalition partners.
That leaves the American administration's efforts with a handful of isolated individuals living in exile and alien to the daily struggles the regime forces lawyers like Al-Bunni to deal with. Farid Ghadry, for example, runs the U.S.-based Reform Party of Syria (RPS) and claims the negative reactions of the Damascus Declaration were instigated by the Al-Asad regime. "In fact, some of the people who are objecting to the funding are secretly asking for it," he told The Media Line.
Ghadry has called for a two-day gathering of Syrian opposition members in Paris on March 9th and 10th, describing the participants as "opposition leaders whose past is not mired in corruption or crimes against the Syrian people," a characterization which all but applies to the most prominent critic of the Syrian government, long-time vice president 'Abd Al-Halim Khaddam. Living in Paris since last summer, Khaddam's calls in January to form a broad opposition front to topple the regime received worldwide news coverage. Analysts value Khaddam's business enterprises in the hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars. That makes rejecting the promotion of foreign democracy -- as he has since long before the recent U.S. grants were offered -- an easy but popular exercise for him.

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