Congress "misguided", Assad regime to the rescue!

Below is the Syrian embassy's response to allegations by the White House that the Assad regime was within weeks of completing works on a nuclear reactor, before the facility was taken out by the Israelis last year.

In a statement, the Syrian Embassy in Washington denounced the U.S. claims as "false allegations" designed to "misguide" Congress and international public opinion and produce support for Israel's surprise airstrike in September, "which the U.S. administration may have helped execute."

Poor US Congress, what would it do without the Syrian embassy's crusade for restoring truth to this world? It would be without a guide, the house speaker would have to lock the doors and stop all congressmen from attending, until relations with Syria are normalized, and Bashar gains a satellite country or two. And yeah, until Bashar gets a nuclear toy.

Comments

[Bad Vilbel]

Of course!

The height of hypocrisy, being lectured by a regime where there IS NO CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT of the leadership's decisions. hah!

Maybe they can send Nabih Berri to Washington to teach them a thing or two about how parliament is SUPPOSED to work.

[danny]

a thank you note to Syria for helping out the poor congressmen...Maybe they'll visit Damascus for some sweets!

[Macemuscle]

Last September 6, Israel bombed a Syrian building at Dair el Zor. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing, little was said in public, by either Israel or Syria, but later the Israelis started claiming that the Syrians were building a nuclear reactor. On the radio today (April 25), I heard NPR's Tom Jelton repeat, as if it were undisputed fact, the US. government claim to have "proof" of a Syrian-North Korean nuclear connection. Now I see that AP writers Pamela Hess and Deb Reichmann have a story headlined "White House says Syria 'must come clean' about nuclear work," while ABC news has a video entitled "Syria's Nuclear Reactor".

Are the wonderful mainstream media, who gave us Saddam's mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction, lying to us again? The answer is yes.

Last fall, journalist Laura Rozen spoke with Joseph Cirincione, director of nuclear policy at the Center for American Progress. Cirincione says
"In attacking Dair el Zor in Syria on Sept. 6, the Israeli air force wasn’t targeting a nuclear site but rather one of the main arms depots in the country. Dair el Zor houses a huge underground base where the Syrian army stores the long and medium-range missiles it mostly buys from Iran and North Korea. The attack by the Israeli air force coincided with the arrival of a stock of parts for Syria’s 200 Scud B and 60 Scud C weapons."

Cirincione says that there is a small Syrian nuclear research program, which has been around for 40 years and is going nowhere. "It is a basic research program built around a tiny 30 kilowatt reactor that produced a few isotopes and neutrons. It is nowhere near a program for nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel," he said. Over a dozen countries have helped Syria develop its nuclear program, including Belgium, Germany, Russia, China and even the United States, by way of training of scientists, he said.

So what is really going on here? Cirincione told the BBC that "This appears to be the work of a small group of officials leaking cherry-picked, unvetted 'intelligence' to key reporters in order to promote a preexisting political agenda." The preexisting political agenda may be promoting a war with Syria and/or Iran, or torpedoing negotiations between the US and North Korea. Finally, Cirincione adds ominously "If this sounds like the run-up to the war with Iraq, then it should."

[Macemuscle]

Oops, almost forgot to credit the source: John W. Farley from Henderson, Nevada and www.antiwar.com

[Bad Vilbel]

yes. I am sure the video shown to congress today, showing North Koreans on-site was just a big elaborate hoax. And I'm sure Israel took the trouble to fly its planes to bomb in Syria, after making it a point for years to reassure Syria that they wouldn't attack it, simply so they could bomb some rice paddy. And I'm sure the Syrians stayed mum on the whole affair, to avoid having to show the world that devastated rice field.

Yes. It all makes sense now.

Or maybe John Farley is an idiot.

[Vox P.]

you couldn't make these guys up

[VOR]

If these are the same people that gave us the bogus intel on Iraq, then I guarantee you it will be scrutinized to smithereens before any action is ever taken. This is probably an attempt by WH officials to put the pressure on "the new axis of evil" namely North Korea/Iran/Syria. However some congressional leaders are already coming out and raising major doubts on the details and the timing as well. This is an election year, and no action will be taken before there is a new US president.

[Jeha]

The best lies have some truth in them; this is the case for Syrian lies.

Yes, the United States lied about Iraq... So, would you give Iraq back to Saddam?

Yes, the United States may be lying about Syria. But how can you tell if the Syrians are telling the truth?

The Rope of Lies is a short one... And the Syrians are hanging themselves with it.

[JoseyWales]

Jeha,

To beat a dead horse: the US did not lie about Iraq, the US was wrong about WMD as was everyone on the planet.

[ghassan karam]

May I add to the above , what has gone unmentioned until know, that Turkey agreed to look the other way as its air space was violated by the Israeli Air Force for a reason. They do not want to have another nuclear neighbour.

[JoseyWales]

"They do not want to have another nuclear neighbour."

Of course not. And what our shortsighted people miss is that even if you are an idiot rabid pro-Syrian anti-Zionist:

1) Do you trust Syrian technology that could accidentally blow Syria and us to kingdom come?

2) Would using a nuke on Israel leave Lebanon or Syria unscathed? And I am NOT talking about Israeli retaliation, just fallout.

Blind hatred and fanaticism.

[tg]

"even if you are an idiot rabid pro-Syrian anti-Zionist:"

to play devil's advocate, a nuke's main benefit would be to dissuade an Iraq style invasion of Syria.

Of course, the best argument against invading Syria is that the main opposition in Syria is a radical sunni group. But the point still stands.

[JoseyWales]

"to play devil's advocate, a nuke's main benefit would be to dissuade an Iraq style invasion of Syria."

What would Syria nuke:

-Israel? = 2 minutes later Syria disappears.

-A US company? That could kill 50,000 Syrians to 5 US soldiers. Yeah I know in the Hezbo/Assad/Iran book that's a divine victory for their side.

-Lebanon?: yep that's always the best bet. Nuke your favorite hostage, then Wiam and Hezbo and Berri and Lahoud will be really happy.

[danny]

"to play devil's advocate, a nuke's main benefit would be to dissuade an Iraq style invasion of Syria."

Guys, stop reading fiction!!!Syria, by all measures is being squeezed like an orange...I guess that's why our lunatic(the village idiot) likes oranges too. As Ghassan said, there was no comments from Turkey!!!Do you think Syria got the message? YES!!! It just grandstands for its people and the idiotic Lebanese Sheople!!!

[VOR]

A nuclear Syria is impossible! The US was willing to go to war to stop Iraq from going nuclear, the western world will not allow Syria or Iran for that matter to join the nuclear club, esp. not our schizophrenic neighbors south of the border. After Iraq, you would think everyone got the point. The iranians are gambling that time is on their side due to the US problems in Iraq, and they are working hard to deter Israel through HA. The real danger is Iran and not Syria as far as Israel and the US are concerned.

Oh really... Is that what you think the Iraq war was about...

The Bush Regime has quagmired America into a sixth year of war in Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight. The cost of these wars of aggression is horrendous. Official US combat casualties stand at 4,538 dead. Officially, 29,780 US troops have been wounded in Iraq. Experts have argued that these numbers are understatements. Regardless, these numbers are only the tip of the iceberg.

On April 17, 2008, AP News reported that a new study released by the RAND Corporation concludes that “some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries.”

On April 21, 2008, OpEdNews reported that an internal email from Gen. Michael J. Kussman, undersecretary for health at the Veterans Administration, to Ira Katz, head of mental health at the VA, confirms a McClatchy Newspaper report that 126 veterans per week commit suicide. To the extent that the suicides are attributable to the war, more than 500 deaths should be added to the reported combat fatalities each month.

Turning to Iraqi deaths, expert studies support as many as 1.2 million dead Iraqis, almost entirely civilians. Another 2 million Iraqis have fled their country, and there are 2 million displaced Iraqis within Iraq.
Afghan casualties are unknown.

Both Afghanistan and Iraq have suffered unconscionable civilian deaths and damage to housing, infrastructure and environment. Iraq is afflicted with depleted uranium and open sewers.

Then there are the economic costs to the US. Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the full cost of the invasion and attempted occupation of Iraq to be between $3 trillion and $5 trillion. The dollar price of oil and gasoline have tripled, and the dollar has lost value against other currencies.

The US cannot afford these costs. Prior to his resignation last month, US Comptroller General David Walker reported that the accumulated unfunded liabilities of the US government total $53 trillion dollars. The US government cannot cover these liabilities. The Bush Regime even has to borrow the money from foreigners to pay for its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no more certain way to bankrupt the country and dethrone the dollar as world reserve currency.
The moral costs are perhaps the highest. All of the deaths, injuries, and economic costs to the US and its victims are due entirely to lies told by the President and Vice President of the US, by the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State, and, of course, by the media, including the “liberal” New York Times. All of these lies were uttered in behalf of an undeclared agenda. “Our” government has still not told “we the people” the real reasons “our” government invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.

Instead, the American sheeple have accepted a succession of transparent lies: weapons of mass destruction, al Qaeda connections and complicity in the 9/11 attack, overthrowing a dictator and “bringing democracy” to Iraqis.
The great moral American people would rather believe government lies than to acknowledge the government’s crimes and to hold the government accountable.

If the US invaded Iraq for any of the succession of reasons the Bush Regime has given, why would the US have spent $750 million on a fortress “embassy” with anti-missile systems and its own electricity and water systems spread over 104 acres? No one has ever seen or heard of such an embassy before. Clearly, this “embassy” is constructed as the headquarters of an occupying colonial ruler.

The fact is that Bush invaded Iraq with the intent of turning Iraq into an American colony. The so-called government of al-Maliki is not a government. Maliki is the well paid front man for US colonial rule. Maliki’s government does not exist outside the protected Green Zone, the headquarters of the American occupation.

Why does the Bush Regime want to rule Iraq? Some speculate that it is a matter of “peak oil.” Oil supplies are said to be declining even as demand for oil multiplies from developing countries such as China. According to this argument, the US decided to seize Iraq to insure its own oil supply.

This explanation is problematic. Most US oil comes from Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela. The best way for the US to insure its oil supplies would be to protect the dollar’s role as world reserve currency. Moreover, $3-5 trillion would have purchased a tremendous amount of oil. Prior to the US invasions, the US oil import bill was running less than $100 billion per year. Even in 2006 total US imports from OPEC countries was $145 billion, and the US trade deficit with OPEC totaled $106 billion. Three trillion dollars could have paid for US oil imports for 30 years; five trillion dollars could pay the US oil bill for a half century had the Bush Regime preserved a sound dollar.

The more likely explanation for the US invasion of Iraq is the neoconservative Bush Regime’s commitment to the defense of Israeli territorial expansion. There is no such thing as a neoconservative who is not allied with Israel. Israel hopes to steal all of the West Bank and southern Lebanon for its territorial expansion. An American colonial regime in Iraq not only buttresses Israel from attack, but also can pressure Syria and Iran from giving support to the Palestinians and Lebanese. The Iraqi war is a war for Israeli territorial expansion. Americans are dying and bleeding to death financially for Israel. Bush’s “war on terror” is a hoax that serves to cover US intervention in the Middle East in behalf of “greater Israel.”

Source: Paul Craig Roberts. Author of the Tyranny of Good Intentions

[ghassan karam]

Paul Craig Roberts is often described by people who new him as a man who has become unhinged, delusional and as a man who creates his own realities. He is finding it increasingly difficult to appear in public forums and to be taken seriously. The attached is a sample of his delusional thinking from early 2006 in which he explains what he says are confirmed plans by the US to put into action by late 2006 in order to attack Iran with nuclear weapons:

a low yield, perhaps tactical, nuclear weapon will be exploded some distance out from a U.S. port. Death and destruction will be minimized, but fear and hysteria will be maximized. Americans will be told that the ship bearing the weapon was discovered and intercepted just in time, thanks to Bush’s illegal spying program, and that Iran is to blame. A more powerful wave of fear and outrage will again bind the American people to Bush, and the U.S. media will not report the rest of the world’s doubts of the explanation.

Question: Is the above a product of a sane mind or is it a product of a man obsessed? (Ironically I share a few of his thoughts but I distance myself from his language and logic. I arrive at the same conclusion that the war on Iraq was a mistake but I will differ with almost everything else in his lunatic fringe conspiratorial explanations).

[Jeha]

Ach so, GK.

This "PCR" may be a fine example of reverse racism; any rants by an idiot its taken seriously by us poor Arab, provided he has a "white sounding" name.

Wow those are great comebacks... calling PCR an idiot, delusional, obsessed. I guess your intellect is incapable of debating the merits of his argument so you have to resort to name calling.

Hey gk, Jeha, JW, BV et al: the 2nd grade is calling... it wants you back!

[Abilama]

HA
Hizbollah builds up covert army for a new assault against Israel.

It’s not as if they’re trying very hard to hide it: Hizbollah builds up covert army for a new assault against Israel.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/27/israelandthepalestinians.lebanon

The dead of southern Lebanon watch the living from the sides of buildings and from lampposts, their faces staring out defiantly from posters, heads often superimposed on bodies of generic men in uniform. These are Hizbollah’s martyrs: men killed fighting against Israel before it abandoned the occupation of the south in 2000 or in the numerous clashes since, including the bloody summer war of 2006.

The images are often the only public acknowledgement of the individuals who make up this most secretive of institutions: Hizbollah’s military wing.

But an Observer investigation has discovered that this covert organisation is quietly but steadily replacing its dead and redoubling its recruitment efforts in anticipation of a new, and even more brutal, conflict. Hizbollah has embarked on a major expansion of its fighting capability and is now sending hundreds, if not thousands, of young men into intensive training camps in Lebanon, Syria and Iran to ready itself for war with Israel. ‘It’s not a matter of if,’ says one fighter. ‘It’s a matter of when Sayed Hasan Nasrallah [Hizbollah chief] commands us.’

I love that description of a “covert army.” Yeah ... The kind of covert army that has giant billboards and posters all over every apartment building, and gives interviews to the Observer.

Real masters of disguise.

[Abilama]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

L'AIEA enquête après les révélations américaines sur un réacteur nucléaire en Syrie

http://www.europe1.fr/informat...p;prov=rss

Mohammed El Baradai a tête de L'agence de contrôlant la prolifération nucléaire l'AIEA a critiqué avec colère Israël vendredi pour bombarder une facilité nucléaire syrienne alléguée et a reproché les Etats-Unis. Pour différer les renseignements sur le site.Maintenant El Baradai se réveille. L'homme est une plaisanterie! Voir son traitement de l'Iran. Israël avait raison de ne pas chercher l'aide de l'AIEA. Mieux anéantir la facilité et subir la critique. En plus nous avons l'avantage de regarder l'AIEA et l'éventaire de l'ONU sur le dossier comme l'Iran qui a poursuive sous le nez d' l'AIEA un programme d'armes nucléaires encore plus ambitieux. Évidemment Israël a raison de ne pas impliquer "Mohammed l'inutile". Ses chances de dévoiler l'opération nucléaire clandestine de la Syrie avaient d'autant de chance de succès que ses efforts semblables en Iran. (On n'oublie pas son fiasco avec le programme nucléaire clandestin de Khaddafi)

Il s'avère que Mohamed a des mots très furieux pour les Etats-Unis et Israël pour ne pas lui révéler que la Syrie a été saisi dans l'activité nucléaire, mais il n'a aucun mot furieux pour la Syrie (qui avait la responsabilité de notifier son agence parce que la Syrie a signé le Traité de non-prolifération Nucléaire). Mohamed agit plus comme un supporter de terrorisme nucléaire Islamique, au lieu de quelqu'un qui a été engagé pour le prévenir. La raison qu'il a été nommé est parce que la majorité dans l'Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies est Islamique.

Washington dénonce un axe nucléaire Pyongyang-Damas
Cette histoire n'est pas vraiment concernant Israel et la Syrie mais elle est une affaire de la politique domestique américaine.
Les fonctionnaires d'Administration Américaine se sont rendus compte que les Nord-coréens viole les accords qu'ils ont signe avec eux de bonne fois.

La Corée du Nord aurait apporté une aide directe à la Syrie pour développer ses capacités nucléaires. La Maison Blanche a affirmé jeudi que la Corée du Nord avait aidé la Syrie à construire un réacteur nucléaire. Les services de renseignements américains ont dévoilé au Congrès ce qu’ils présentent comme des preuves de cette collaboration. Les Etats-Unis étaient longtemps "sérieusement concernés du programme d'armes nucléaires de la Corée du Nord et de ses activités de prolifération". Les tensions autour du dossier nucléaire sont loin d'être réglées.

Dans ce jeu, Israël se trouve dans un rôle a lequel elle n'est pas habitué : l'acteur de soutien.
Cette histoire n'est pas d'Israël. Plutôt, elle effleure les racines de politique étrangère américaine et d'une lutte politique domestique dont Israël n'a rien a gagner.

Tant les Démocrates que les Républicains ont publié la critique acerbe contre l'Administration. Les Démocrates ont fait ainsi parce que on leur n'a pas a donné une belle occasion de le faire pendant la campagne d'élections. Le Droit Républicain a fait ainsi parce que l'accord signé entre l'Administration de Bush et la Corée du Nord le rend fou.

Le caractère misérable dans cette affaire est le Secrétaire d'Etat américain Condoleezza Rice. L'accord avec la Corée du Nord était la seule réalisation tangible de Rice dans ses plus de trois ans à
Au Département d'État. Elle s'est cramponnée à cet accord même quand les fonctionnaires d'Administration se sont rendus compte que les Nord-coréens le violaient.

[Abilama]

Pas Seulement les Américains

PARIS, 25 avril (Xinhua) -- La France a exprimé vendredi ses " doutes" sur "certaines activités de la Syrie" en matière nucléaire et demandé à Damas de faire "toute la lumière" à ce sujet.

"Nous avons été en contact hier avec les Américains, à leur initiative, et nous avons pu échanger nos analyses et nos informations", a affirmé la porte-parole du ministère français des Affaires étrangères, Pascale Andréani, lors d'un point de presse.

Elle a demandé à la Syrie de faire "toute la lumière" sur ses activités nucléaires passées et présentes, "conformément à ses obligations internationales, en particulier vis-à-vis de l'Agence internationale de l'énergie atomique".

"La construction clandestine d'un réacteur nucléaire serait un manquement grave de la Syrie à ses obligations de non- prolifération", a ajouté la diplomate française.

La porte-parole de la Maison Blanche, Dana Perino, avait affirmé que les Américains étaient "convaincus, basés sur de nombreuses informations, que la Corée du Nord a aidé des activités nucléaires secrètes de la Syrie".

[Abilama]

Satellite imagery taken after the air strike and cited by Western analysts showed it had been razed with a new building erected on it. Syria's swiftness to remove whatever had been there suggested it had something illicit to hide.

Syria did not invite the IAEA to send a an invesigation mission, immediately, after the attack nor did it do so now. It contents itself with the usual litany OF LIES AND HOT AIR.

[Abilama]

The North Korean Talks

Hill said U.S. diplomat Song Kim had returned to the United States from "three days of very extensive" discussions in North Korea that were expected to focus on how much plutonium Pyongyang may have produced and how to verify this.

"He went with the aim of discussing plutonium and whenever we discuss plutonium we also discuss verification. Verification is inseparable from the issue," Hill said.

The declaration has been held up partly because of Pyongyang's reluctance to discuss any transfer of nuclear technology to other countries, notably Syria, as well as to account for its suspected pursuit of uranium enrichment.

Uranium enrichment could provide North Korea with a second way to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons in addition to its plutonium-based program, which it used to test an atomic device in October 2006.

The United States on Thursday made public intelligence that has led it to conclude that North Korea helped Syria to build a suspected nuclear reactor capable of producing plutonium that was destroyed by an Israeli air strike on September 6.

[Abilama]

Monday, April 28, 2008
10 North Koreans killed in IAF strike on Syrian nuke plant

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/k10014265251000.html

According to a report on a Japanese broadcaster's [link in Japanese. ] web site, which is in turn based on South Korean intelligence, ten North Koreans were killed in September's IAF strike on a North Korean-built nuclear plant in Syria.
The 10 people, whose remains were cremated and returned to North Korea in October, had been helping with the construction of a nuclear reactor in Syria, Japan's public broadcaster said. Some North Koreans probably survived the air attack, NHK said.
Too bad.

[Abilama]

HA.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is intentionally
concealing information about Hezbollah activities south of the Litani River
in Lebanon to avoid conflict with the group, senior sources in Jerusalem
have said. In the last six months there have been at least four cases in
which UNIFIL soldiers identified armed Hezbollah operatives, but did nothing
and did not submit full reports on the incidents to the UN Security Council, which
had not been apprised of numerous details of the
incident.
The incident
described in one single report had actually been a clash between UNIFIL and armed
Hezbollah activists. The latter, driving a truck full of explosives,
threatened the Italian UNIFIL battalion with weapons. Instead of using force
as required by their mandate, the UN soldiers abandoned the site. Senior officials in UNIFIL and
in the UN Secretariat brought heavy pressure to bear to have the incident
erased from the report or at least to blur it.

When the incident was made public, UNIFIL was forced to admit that it had
indeed occurred and to request Lebanon's assistance in investigating it.

[Abilama]

Commentator from Gaza:

(The spelling mistakes are his)

Well, I’m not Gazan, but I live here, and I think, being Christian, that Hamas is so close-minded, hateful and showing how strong it is by killing civilians either Israelis or Palestinians, don't think Hamas killed Israelis only, but everyone in its way, and uses little kids (3-15 years old) as shields, being poor, the kids accept to risk their lives and lunch a rocket for just 10-20 shekels! Also, Hamas does NOT show the world what Palestinians really want, they want a country and a peace with Israel, cuz along with Israel, we would live happily, but Hamas’s authority, rank and forces will be erased, which is not wanted by Hamas people, they want their ranks and money!

[AK]

Abilama, easy on the reprints. Please.

[Abilama]

Assad’s one half-truth and three lies to al Watan
In an interview Sunday, April 27 with the Qatari daily al Watan , Syrian president Bashar Assad said: "We don’t want a nuclear bomb, even if Iran acquires one. Military sources say that was only half true.

What he omitted to mention was the division of labor agreed between Damascus and Tehran in a potential war against Israel: The Syrian reactor Israel destroyed last September would produce “dirty weapons,” while Iran would go for a nuclear bomb.

[Abilama]

DAMASCUS (AP) - Scores of angry Syrians protested in Damascus Saturday(25
April) against Saudi Arabia's beheading of a countryman convicted of drug
smuggling. Syrian ...was beheaded Friday(24 April) in Saudi Arabia two weeks
after two other Syrians were beheaded there on the same charge. Nearly 100
protesters held a sit-in to demand that Saudi hand over other Syrian
prisoners. One of the protesters..., said his brother has been in Saudi
jails for four months and is waiting execution on drug charges. "These are
politically motivated verdicts," (he)said. Syrian-Saudi relations have been
strained over what Saudi officials see as Syria's role in promoting Iranian
interests in the Arab world as well as Syria's interference in Lebanese
politics.

[AK]

Abilama, wtf man.

[AK]

Abilama, or whoever stands behind you in Amsterdam or wherever, get the hell out of this blog.