Syria Flames Up

Saturday, October 25th, 2003

One of the chief arguments against the war with Iraq was that a sustained U.S. presence a muslim country would inspire a resurgence of militant Islam in other countries in the region.

Apparently, it’s starting to happen in Syria.

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5 Responses to “Syria Flames Up”

  1. #1 |  roach | 

    Yeah Syria was like the Mid-east Switzerland before, what with their 20 year occupation of Lebanon, support for Hezbollah and the PFLP, and their own development of WMDs.

    Moreoever, Syria’s not stupid. This is calculated. Kind of kicking out the trash and figuring out which families/mosques to keep an eye on. And it’s a nice proxy way for them to fuck with us.

    This is all orchestrated from on high. The Assads control everything. It’s like the anti-American demonstrations in China. The authorities could turn it on or off at will. Think Hama.

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  2. #2 |  Mark Lindsay | 

    Syria is encouraging this. Assad figures that secularism is losing in the Middle East – Iraq, Libya. We’ve kept out of Iran, though. Afghanistan was an exception because of the direct link of the Taliban to Bin Laden.

    So, encourage a populist movement against the US to shield yourself from a US incursion.

    Besides, we had troops in Saudi Arabia for years, so being in Iraq is not exactly a change.

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  3. #3 |  George E. Kantor | 

    I feel Syria’s fate -as a base for terrorists – is doomed. For Israelis to survive sooner or later must knock out WMD-s both in Iran and in Syria.
    In both countries the power is dictatorial, no “ease up” is practical. Any internal power vacuum would lead a Caucesques ending for the regimes. As Michael Ledeen often says: “faster please.

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  4. #4 |  Jon H | 

    “In both countries the power is dictatorial, no “ease up” is practical.”

    Power in Egypt is also dictatorial. Why don’t you include them?

    Oh, that’s right, the peace treaty between Israel and dictatorial Egypt.

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  5. #5 |  George E. Kantor | 

    You are right,Egypt is also dictatorial and it just one step away to a possible fundamentilast “take-over”. Probably the Israelis care less for Egypt than about Iran and Syria.
    My best

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