Administration “Actively Seeking” New Leader for Syria
Administration “Actively Seeking” New Leader for Syria
Since the UN report implicating Syria in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Bush administration claims to be seeking diplomatic solutions. From the 10/21 State Department briefing:
QUESTION: Are you discussing or will you discuss military action [with Syria]? This is a nervous capital. People think this Administration resorts to force as a way of solving problems.
MR. ERELI: I think the record of this Administration is clear and commendable, that we seek peaceful negotiated diplomatic solutions to problems. That is certainly the course that has been set forth on this issue and that’s where our focus is.
Actually, the administration is actively seeking to replace the Syrian president and is pursuing military options. The 10/9 Financial Times reported:
[T]he US is actively seeking an alternative who would take over from President Bashar al-Assad, according to sources close to the Bush administration. Washington has consulted its allies in an inter-agency search co-ordinated by Stephen Hadley, the president’s national security adviser. The US is also said to be considering military strikes on the Syrian border in response to its alleged support for Iraqi insurgents.
Hadley isn’t working alone. Condoleezza Rice has also put military options against Syria on the table.
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time to hire an executive search firm?
qualifications:
October 24th, 2005 at 1:19 pm- team sports management experience
- MBA preferably from Harvard
Ahh, Democracy in action.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:25 pmI hear Harriet Miers is looking for something. Although she better loose the Bedouin make-up.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:25 pmThey will invade Syria actually they have the spooks on the ground. They are already engaging the Syrian military on the borders. Does anyone think these attacks in Syria and Iran are from an XBox?
We will see a strong military presence in Our country to cool down us Americans. We got a dicator folks…actually lots of them.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:26 pmthis falls right into line with what wilkerson and scowcroft had to say… a foreign policy cabal is in charge – cheney and rumsfeld aided by bolton and the neocon lunatics…
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/2005/10/excerpt-from-scowcrofts-new-yorker.html
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001023.html
October 24th, 2005 at 1:29 pmI better get my resume in order.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:30 pmWhat a coincidence, the citizens of this country are “actively seeking” a new leader for the United States.
Impeach these mothef^&*$!
October 24th, 2005 at 1:30 pmNumber 7 you took the words out of my mouth. Was just about to make the same comment
October 24th, 2005 at 1:34 pmCan they remove the President of Syria? Doesn’t the congress have to vote on to invading another country? We do have a dictator on our hands. We need to take our America back from these cronies.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:36 pmThe Bush Administration facilitated the successful coup against Aristide in Haiti and the failed coup against Chavez in Venezuela, now they’re going after Syria.
Working title: Operation Distract America From Our Treason.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:47 pmI hear the Syrians are going to greet the troops with open arms, flowers and hummis….
Where have I heard this before?
Not to bushco – fix what you’ve broken in Iraq before you go into that Syrian glass shop down the street.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:48 pmAnyone see Justin Raimondo’s piece, “Let Justice Be Done” on Antiwar.com??
Here is a link and it speaks directly to this matter of the War Party needing a distraction from the upcoming indictments…and Syria/Iran seems to fill the bill. Can those indicted be immediately restrained?!?!
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7743
The closing paragraph is chilling…
The War Party is in a hurry. Even as they prepare to take indictments and fight the charges of a conspiracy to lie us into war, the neocons and their allies in the media are laying the groundwork for the next war. We’re on the Middle Eastern escalator, as I’ve said before: there is no way to contain the conflict we’ve unleashed in Iraq. Michael Ledeen, named by a former CIA operations officer as the chief conduit of the Niger uranium forgeries, continually urges this administration to go “Faster, please!” – and there are ominous indications that the foot is off the brake. The neocons know they’re running a marathon, desperately trying to outrun the consequences of their own trail of deception. Will the truth catch up with Hadley, Ledeen, et al., before they can do any more damage to American interests in the Middle East – and spill more blood?
Stay tuned…
– Justin Raimondo
October 24th, 2005 at 1:49 pmI nominate Karen Hughes.
She’s demonstrated quite an, um, interesting, perspective on the region.
New on EWM: The Twelve Days of Miers: An inappropriately early holiday motif song parody/commentary.
October 24th, 2005 at 1:51 pmFirst a Blitzkrieg, then occupation and then opening up an Eastern front and a Western front at the same time. Hmmm… Where have I heard this before?
October 24th, 2005 at 1:52 pmWe have already invaded Syria, and incursions into that country are continuing, only now on a stepped up basis.
Our special forces units and hired guns are going into Syria on a daily basis and killing innocent civilians. It is the administrations hope that Syria will notice and get all upset about it and thus give the US a valid, in their eyes, excuse for invading the country for real.
These people do know how to stir up shit, and they dont even use a paddle, just their hands and feet.
October 24th, 2005 at 2:04 pmAM I THE ONLY ONE WHO IS AWARE THAT U.S. FORCES HAVE ALREADY INVADED SYRIA?
WHY ISN’T THIS BEING REPORTED ANYWHERE EXCEPT IN THE FOREIGN PRESS?
Oh.
waitaminute.
I forgot.
We don’t have a press here in the U.S.A. It’s been replaced by advertising and marketing people.
NEVER MIND.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051019/OPINION04/510190380/-1/OPINION
October 24th, 2005 at 2:08 pmTake heart, fellow bloggers — soon, Bushco will run out of oil-rich-but-relatively-defenseless countries to invade. No way they try this crap in Iran; too much of a chance of getting our butts kicked even more than they’re getting kicked in Iraq right now.
Then again, there’s always Libya…
October 24th, 2005 at 2:08 pmI wish Fitzgerald would announce his indictment soon so Old Bushie won’t think about invading another country. He will be to busy with all the indictments that will be coming down. I hope two of the indictments will be for Old Bushie and Cheney.
October 24th, 2005 at 2:27 pmI always assumed that the road to dissengagement in Iraq ran through Iran, Oh well, I guess Syria is the next Uncle Sam whipping boy. This administration is really gaining us countless friends and supporters in the Arab nations. I’m sure terrorism will not be an issue over the next 20 years. The sleeping dog has been awakened.
October 24th, 2005 at 2:35 pmthe pattern so far is to take inept but dangerous people who know things and put them in new jobs far away right? That’s how wolfowitz got the world bank and bolton go the u.n.? So how about dick cheney or condi “shoe time” rice as president of syria?
October 24th, 2005 at 2:44 pmTrapper Ben, PhD was named by Bush to replace Greenspan at the Fed.
Br. Benkanke – “This economy is terminal”
http://catciao.blogspot.com/2005/10/trapper-ben-phd.html
October 24th, 2005 at 2:45 pmcan you say “regime change?” can you say “protracted, unpopular war?”
October 24th, 2005 at 2:47 pmLooks like we are going to find the weapons of mass destruction afterall.
October 24th, 2005 at 2:52 pmThe only WMD anybody’s seen in a while is W’s beer bong.
October 24th, 2005 at 2:57 pmYea, I hear they got them up your ass Randi. That’s where you pull most of the statements you make here from.
October 24th, 2005 at 2:59 pmThe neo-cons are all about destroying federal support structure for non filty rich Americans. This tactic will keep the middle east stirred up and “hating” the USA. The Neo-cons want to continue to strip aid programs from the federal budget and it’s an easier to sell “protecting America” with huge military budgets, troops and bases in the middel east while slashing support program budgets!
October 24th, 2005 at 3:00 pm#10: My sentiments exactly.
All I could think of when I saw the headline was, terrific. And I mean that in the sarcastic sense.
America tries regime change in one country, and winds up sparking a civil war — or something close to it. Now it wants to do the same in Syria. Don’t they realize what country is next door? Or the fact that state almost certainly has Da Bomb?
Bush 41 tried to reduce the threat of global war and WMD. Bush 43, for all his talk, has done the opposite. His and his administration’s actions have turned up the threat level … way, way up.
At the rate things are going, America won’t have any friends left by the time Dubya’s term is over … presuming of course, he doesn’t bully Congress into passing a constitutional amendment making him dictator for life. Bottom line is, why even bother invading a country overseas, when you can destroy half of DC with a suitcase and a few grams of uranium?
October 24th, 2005 at 3:05 pmSomeone better stop these guys — they are totally out of control. We have already begun secret incursions into Syria; now they will begin to make it formal. Dr. Bush Strangelove must be stopped.
October 24th, 2005 at 3:19 pmI have to admit that while regime change is not a bad idea for Syria – it is a TERRIBLE idea long as republicans are in power. If we look at Serbia as the model, the US did a GREAT job with Clinton at the helm. It’s relatively peaceful and successful – especially when compared with the botched Iraqi invasion. Republicans in general are inept at administration, wars and international politics – making any national or international effort for regime change impossibly ineffective. They’ll screw the syria issue up, just like they screwed up Iraq.
And why is this? Because the ONLY way regime change is legitimate or effective is with NEARLY COMPLETE international support. We don’t have that, and because of your illegal war against iraq we’ve lost all international sentiment which permitted us to go into Afghanistan with unprecedented international support. We’ve squander our good will, and because of our torture and civil rights violations, we’ve squandered our moral high ground. To most of the world we just look like stupid thugs – and when we look at the leadership of the administration the description is unfortunately accurate! So when you want to overthrow a dictator that supports terrorists and tortures people, how do you legitimately do this when your country trained and funded AlQueda (that would be republicans) and torture prisoners (again republicans)? You can’t – and that’s the problem!
October 24th, 2005 at 3:29 pmSouthwest Bob-
Totally with you on your point. The ‘War on Terror” abroad is masking the real war at home. They are taking down our standard of living and our personal freedoms…and using the wars in the ME to accomplish it. I think we are in an end game….I hope to hell we are not too late in taking back our country from the criminal fascist elite who are hellbent on destroying this country.
October 24th, 2005 at 3:47 pmThe only way regime change is legitimate is with support from the people who actually live in the country in question. Anyone else’s opinions or interests are irrelevant.
October 24th, 2005 at 3:52 pmExcellent point, Gary.
Democracy means the citizens choose their own leaders, not Washington.
October 24th, 2005 at 4:31 pmchoice is dead in this country until and unless we get rid of the DIEBOLD factor.
October 24th, 2005 at 5:09 pmIt seems that no one on any of the major blogs are aware of one simple fact: The Military is preparing to implement Selective Service boards aka “the draft”. this should give you an indication not just of what will happen in syria but how things are REALLY going in Iraq and the Military at large. My military sources are suggesting that this may begin as early as november [a recruiter friend is being told he is not going to be recruiting next month].
October 24th, 2005 at 5:12 pmThe recruiting shortfalls over the last few years are finally catching up. Interesting how this happens 2 weeks after the start of the Fiscal year.
In an incredibly well written Op-Ed piece, U.S. Congressman George Miller, Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, has put together a plan for Iraq. Miller is the first Democrat to articulate a detailed strategy. Here’s an excerpt:
“LAST WEEK’S vote on the Iraqi constitution was important, but it should not distract Americans from the real problems we face there.
Not only is the new constitution a divisive document that leaves most key political issues unsettled, but its approval will not slow the growth or influence of the deadly insurgency. It remains that the U.S. strategy in Iraq is not working now and it will not ever work. We must change course, and there is a way to do that. ”
Read more at Sector 7G.
October 24th, 2005 at 5:55 pmNo the war in Iraq is nothing like Vietnam and Syria is nothing like Cambodia. WTF
October 24th, 2005 at 6:51 pmI wonder if there is any land available in Antarctica.
October 25th, 2005 at 12:41 amWho did Bashar al-Asaad defeat in the last Syrian election?
October 25th, 2005 at 1:10 amA THOUSAND POINTS OF BLIGHT
October 25th, 2005 at 8:29 amI think W misunderstood his daddy.
“It’s a quagmire!!!” No folks, it’s WWIV and it’s here to stay. I just wish it would have arrived 20 years earlier.
October 25th, 2005 at 11:36 amI’m listening I-Right-I, and you will pay. Do you think enternity is worth risking for a breif moment in time of lashing out? A word of advise: Don’t take up gambling in this lifetime.
October 25th, 2005 at 12:49 pmYour personal catalogue of anger is quite thick at this point.
I’m listening I-Right-I, and you will pay. Do you think enternity is worth risking for a breif moment in time of lashing out? A word of advise: Don’t take up gambling in this lifetime.
Your personal catalogue of anger is quite thick at this point.
Comment by DOG
If you don’t like it you can….bite me.
October 25th, 2005 at 1:28 pmHeh,heh..”bite me”, get it? Woof?
October 26th, 2005 at 9:02 amThe only way regime change is legitimate is with support from the people who actually live in the country in question. Anyone else’s opinions or interests are irrelevant.
Comment by Gary Kleppe — October 24, 2005 @ 3:52 pm”
I’m glad George Washington and the French of old didn’t think the way you do.
October 28th, 2005 at 5:47 pm