U.S. says Syrian meeting plotted recent Iraqi attacks

[leftchick]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050519.wiraq0519/BNStory/International/

Baghdad — The leaders of Iraq's most notorious terrorist group recently held a secret meeting in neighbouring Syria, where they plotted the recent wave of insurgent violence that has killed hundreds of people and was intended to break the post-election lull in violence, a top U.S. military official said.

The Syrian meeting, possibly attended by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi himself, has led to one of the bloodiest periods since the U.S.-led invasion two years ago. Nearly 500 people have been killed — including an Oil Ministry employee gunned down in front of his house Thursday — since the country's new Shiite-dominated government was announced April 28.

Several Shiite and Sunni Muslim clerics were among the victims, raising fears that sectarian tensions could ignite a civil war.

Amid the violence, Iran's Foreign Minister met Thursday with Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.

[Roland99]

1. For a seriously injured and possibly dead one-legged terrorist....

he sure does get around!

[ET Awful]

2. Damn that Goldstein . . . I mean al-Zarqawi!

Frickin' Gold. . . Zarqawi always getting in the way of BB's progress against Eurasia.

[Village Idiot]

13. Eurasia??? Eurasia???

Aren't we at war with Oceania???

Did I miss something at the "20 minute hate?"

Eurasia...Eurasia...will try and remember...

Oh, ya - now I remember - it's been Eurasia ALL ALONG!!!

Long live BB!!!

[bennywhale]

18. We have never been at war with Iraq, Iraq is our ally, we are at war with

Syria.........................We have never been at war with Syria, syria is our ally, we are at war with Iran.......................We have nev..................................................

[jimshoes]

3. I hereby swear that

I will no longer give any credence to any story that is attributed to "a top U.S. military official said", I want names from here on forward. If they, cannot give out a name then it is not news. End of rant.

[mbperrin]

4. Well, after all, privacy is needed for these meetings in order

to get best results: just ask Dick and his Energy Buds!

[allemand]

5. In other words, Zarqawi travels freely all the way to Syria

and they are unable to apprehend him. :eyes:

This kind of propaganda doesn't make them look good, in whatever way you look at it.

[pinniped]

6. I just saw this on the morning newZ.

I find it very hard to believe Syria was the alleged place of this so-called meeting. Whoever wrote this BS story must have seen Godfather and got his/her idea from the big mob meeting.

I think it was Cuba.

LOL!...pretty good for a one-legged hobbling dude who showed up bleeding in an Iraqi hospital a couple weeks ago. Dude not only regenerates and dematerializes, he also drinks from the fountain of youth Ponce de Leon was looking for.

--The Syrian meeting, possibly attended by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi himself--

And the sheep are still swallowing this garbage up.

[0007]

9. ...tis that big lie they keep repeating day in and day out in hopes

that it will start sticking, 'eh?

[madrchsod]

7. he`s Super Muslim Terrorist !!!!!!!

he`s here-there-he`s everywhere!!!!!! look-he`s rolling under a truck and running to a near by safe house!!! then up! up! and away he flies off to Syria,where he is disguised as a mild mannered Muslim!!! he fights for truth, honesty,and the American propaganda way!

[allemand]

8. In related news: Syria cracks down on 'Islamists'

Wednesday, 18 May, 2005
By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Damascus

Syrian authorities have made a series of arrests ahead of a planned meeting of the ruling Baath party, at which reforms are expected to be announced.

Most of those detained are thought to be Islamists with suspected ties to the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which was banned in Syria in 1980. (...)

There is certainly no love lost between the secular Baath party and the Islamists. (...)

More than 20 years later (after a Muslim Brotherhood rebellion in Hama), the Syrian leadership appears eager to show it will not allow any challenge from its long-time rival, the Islamists.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4557543.stm

[bigtree]

17. There is certainly no love lost between the Baath party and the Islamists.

truth. Obscured by the Bush saber rattling.

[bowens43]

10. US says Saddam has WMD......

US says 'Al Aaeda and Saddam linked'
US says 'Iraq linked to 911 attacks'
US says 'Iraq trying to import yellow cake from Niger'
US says 'we will be welcomed as liberators'
US says 'Saddam's WMD shipped to Syria'
US says 'Mission Accomplished'

[no_to_war_economy]

11. I heard Newsweek drove al-Zarqawi to Syria

remember we must fight them there and not here
God Bless the USA

[leftchick]

12. Excellent photoshop

and so very true.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Who the hell believes ANYTHING the US says? I'm at the breaking

point! I have been awake as my country has been taken from the guys wearing the white hats (post-WWII) to the cesspool of evil empire! Surely, no one in the world believes anything that our government now says!

[bigtree]

15. Kinda like the 9-11 terrorists meeting (and living) in New Jersey

. . . of course we didn't bomb NJ in retaliation

[allemand]

16. It's all about "regime change".

SYRIA: NO U.S. REWARD TO DAMASCUS FOR LEBANON PULLOUT (...)

A faction of conservative "hawks" within the National Security Council in Washington is bent in a "regime change" in Syria and wants President George W. Bush's administration to push for al-Assad's toppling, the source said.

A more moderate group within the Bush camp is convinced that al-Assad is not a "lost cause" and that he can be convinced "to change the regime's course of action," and that this should be Washington's aim.

Whatever happens, the pressure on Syria is bound to remain, the source told AKI, and the EU can also play a role in helping the moderate Washington faction by also pushing the Syrian president to be more co-operative with the West, including curbs in the use by insurgents of the Syrian border to cross over into Iraq.

The EU could use a trade accord with Damascus, that was put on ice last year, as an important bargaining chip to persuade al-Assad to cooperate.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.168986310&par=0

[allemand]

19. US general (Abizaid) warns Syria on Zarqawi

Correspondents in Washington and Baghdad
May 20, 2005

A SENIOR US general has warned Damascus not to support the insurgency in Iraq following reports that Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had met his al-Qa'ida supporters in Syria to plan attacks on Baghdad. (...)

The top US officer in the Middle East, General John Abizaid, said he could not confirm the reports that Zarqawi had been in Syria.

"But clearly we do know there are activities that are taking place in Syria, not with the collusion of the Syrian Government, but that are activities that are insurgent-inspired that are taking place over there," he said.

"It's very important that the Syrian Government do everything within its power to keep violence from migrating or being planned in Syria into Iraq," he said. "I do not think the Syrian Government is doing enough."

More:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15346760%255E2703,00.html

[allemand]

20. Syria must help fight against Iraq insurgents -US

19 May 2005 17:04:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ian Simpson

BAGHDAD, May 19 (Reuters) - Syria is under international scrutiny and must help neighbouring Iraq fight its insurgency, the U.S. State Department's number-two official said on Thursday.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick's comments came a day after a senior U.S. military official said insurgent leaders loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, met in Syria about a month ago to plot a car-bomb campaign.

"Syria needs to support the efforts to deal with insurgency threats in Iraq," Zoellick told reporters on a visit to Baghdad.

He said Washington had "made it quite clear that we and others are watching how Syria behaves itself".

More:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19410197.htm

[Barrett808]

21. U.S. says Syrian meeting plotted recent Iraqi attacks

U.S. says Syrian meeting plotted recent Iraqi attacks
Thursday, May 19, 2005 Updated at 6:50 AM EDT
Associated Press

Baghdad — The leaders of Iraq's most notorious terrorist group recently held a secret meeting in neighbouring Syria, where they plotted the recent wave of insurgent violence that has killed hundreds of people and was intended to break the post-election lull in violence, a top U.S. military official said.

The Syrian meeting, possibly attended by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi himself, has led to one of the bloodiest periods since the U.S.-led invasion two years ago. Nearly 500 people have been killed — including an Oil Ministry employee gunned down in front of his house Thursday — since the country's new Shiite-dominated government was announced April 28.

Several Shiite and Sunni Muslim clerics were among the victims, raising fears that sectarian tensions could ignite a civil war.

Amid the violence, Iran's Foreign Minister met Thursday with Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.

(more)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050519.wiraq0519/BNStory/International/

[Brotherjohn]

22. I give up! I can't tell WHERE we're going to invade next now!

And here I was convinced it was going to be Iran (you know, due to their alleged WMDs).

[Nordmadr]

23. You hear that Syria? Your sorry ass is NEXT!

{Insert deity here} help us all!

Olaf

[tex-wyo-dem]

24. Ah, so there's the "justification"....

watch out Syria, you're on the radar.

[whistle]

25. There's a nice piece of territory that is East Syria that sticks.....

...up into Iraq. I'll bet the U.S. military is going to take that area and seal it off, thus pissing off both Syria and Jordan. They may do that before attacking Iran.

<ling>

Oops, I guess that strip belongs to Jordan. Oh well, focus back on Iran.

[StaggerLee]

26. Are they Syrias?

WIran big trouble if we think we can manage another front!

:eyes:

[jaysunb]

27. Just say, sorry , ideas have to wait

until we repair all the damage you morans have done, then we'll get to the job of making some progress for the future.

[PurityOfEssence]

28. Syriasly, how many times to we have to say this?

The PNAC is steering the foreign policy of this country. There are three dominant impulses in our foreign policy: subjugate everyone else, control the world's resources and guarantee Israel. Of course I'm an anti-semite for saying this (again and again), but this group is pro-Israeli and playing hegemony for all its worth. Within the PNAC, Oil is paramount, but Israel is a very close second; to many of the prime movers of the PNAC, Israel is more important than anything. It's a wicked compact among these people.

Funny how the ultimate jew-haters (reactionary Protestants, although Catholics are a VERY close second) LOVE Israel now. Tom Delay goes to the holy land to hug and kiss and spur on the re-building of the temple as Texas breeders work on the red calf. Insanity stalks the earth, but this time it has ascendency. End times are nigh.

The "Project for a New American Century" is a lie at every level. The only truth to be had here is the pledge for U.S. control of the world.

One of the most telling moments was after the 9-11 attack when Rumsfeld (one of the minority of gentiles of the PNAC letter in '98) advocated using the attack to "roll up" all previous annoyances. The translation here is obvious: keep the people terrified and use that fear to smash old "problems" so we can rule the world.

Israel wants to destroy Syria SO BADLY, and we still want to own the world. They are next. We may bomb some parts of Iran and continue with our efforts to bring down their government before overt action against Damascus becomes apparent, but Syria is next.