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February 10, 2012
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
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Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
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Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
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January 30, 2012
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Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
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January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Feb. 24, 2005
/ 15 Adar I, 5765
Can Syrian domination of Lebanon be at its end? How the War on Terror is shifting its locale and focus
By
Jack Kelly
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri reminds us
that the Global War on Terror is a global war, and indicates its central
front is shifting from Iraq.
Syria has been occupying Lebanon since 1990, when Syria intervened to quell
a Lebanese civil war it had helped foment.
Syrian puppets currently control the Lebanese government, but the natives
were getting restless. Factions which not so long ago had been shooting at
each other (the Lebanese are divided among Maronite Christians, Sunni
Muslims and Druze, a Shi'ia sect) were, under the leadership of Hariri,
banding together to oppose the occupiers. Elections slated for later this
Spring were expected to go badly for the puppets, and their puppeteers.
Syria views Lebanon as a part of Syria, much as Saddam Hussein coveted
Kuwait as a part of Iraq, and is loathe to let go. "For decades now Syria
has been losing card after card in a steadily weakening strategic hand. It's
domination of Lebanon is one of the last and most vital of them," wrote
David Hirst, Middle East correspondent for the Guardian.
If the purpose of the Hariri assassination was to intimidate the Lebanese,
it isn't working out so well. The turnout for his funeral was huge, and the
crowd was angry.
Russia has been selling Syria advanced missiles, as part of its effort to
revive their old Cold War alliance. Russia is also seeking France's support
to block an expected U.S. resolution in the United Nations imposing
sanctions on Syria if it doesn't withdraw immediately from Lebanon.
France loves to stick its fingers in American eyes. But the Hariri
assassination is a complication. Hariri and French President Jacques Chirac
were good friends.
"Whoever orchestrated Hariri's assassination imagined the explosive event
would produce results in accordance with a master plan," wrote the Miami
Herald. "It is unlikely, however, that the master plan included
strengthening the bonds between the United States and France. But closer
ties between Paris and Washington will undoubtedly result from the Hariri
murder."
"France is working closely with the United States to craft a new UNSC
resolution calling for the Lebanese government to fully investigate the
blast that killed al- Hariri," reported Stratfor, a private intelligence
service.
The result could be a Franco-American push for trade sanctions against Syria
by the UN and the European Union. And given the bad press the UN's been
receiving from the Oil for Food scandal, these sanctions likely would be
enforced. The diplomatic isolation of Syria would be nearly complete.
As the Baathist regime of Bashir Assad feels the walls pressing in, Syria
turned to what may be its one remaining friend in the world. Hitler and
Mussolini had their Pact of Steel. Syria and Iran have formed renewed,
actually what might be termed a Pact of Tin, since it is based on mutual
weakness.
Iranian mullahs shake their fists and threaten to rain fiery destruction
down upon anyone who attacks them or Syria. But their bizarre response to
an incident Tuesday near their one confirmed nuclear site indicates their
nerves are raw.
Al- Alam, an Iranian TV station that broadcasts in Arabic, quoted
eyewitnesses as saying a missile had hit the ground about 12 miles from
Deylan. Iranian antiaircraft systems had fired at it, Al-Alam said.
No, said Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, an
airplane flying near Deylan had accidentally dropped a fuel tank, which had
exploded.
No, said Agha Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Supreme National Security
Council, the explosion was "the result of detonating a path for dam-building
operations." Another Iranian official said the explosion was from
road-building operations.
Iran is a dictatorship. The press is controlled. Nothing is reported
without the consent of the mullahs. Something is going on, and they can't
get their story straight. This is behavior more fearful than fearsome.
President Bush, who, liberals say, is maladroit at diplomacy, is pushing
Syria and Iran into a diplomatic corner. But undergirding it has been the
success of American arms in Iraq, and Bush's willingness to use force to
keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
As Frederick the Great said: "diplomacy without force is like music without
instruments." Bush, fortunately, has an orchestra at his disposal.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and the media consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a
deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan
administration. Comment by clicking here.
Jack Kelly Archives
© 2005, Jack Kelly
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