This page is a narrow-focus warblog. In fact, it's a blog of a war that is only verbal, so far. The content consists primarily of pronouncements by various government officials in the US, Syria and around the world, as well as analysis and commentary from media outlets.

Archive

Sources (non-exhaustive)

AFP -- France
Al Bawaba -- Jordon, UK
Al Jazeera -- Qatar
Arab News -- Saudi Arabia
Arabic News
Asia Times -- Hong Kong
Associated Press (AP) -- USA
BBC -- UK
CNN -- USA
The Daily Star -- Lebanon
Financial Times -- UK
Forward -- USA
The Guardian -- UK
--- The Observer
Google News
Ha'aretz -- Israel
.......... Ha'aretz vs. haaretz.com
The Hindu -- India
IRNA -- Iran
IslamOnline -- Qatar
Maariv -- now in English -- Israel
Monday Morning -- Lebanon
New York Post -- USA
New York Times -- USA
Reuters -- UK
Scoop -- New Zealand
United Press International (UPI) -- USA
US DoD Defense Link
US Dept. of State Int'l Information Programs
US White House, Press Briefing Archive
Washington Post

Cast of Characters

Syria
.......... CIA Factbook
.......... Global Security, Syria Special Weapons News Archive
.......... BBC, profile
Bashar al-Assad, President
.......... BBC, profile
.......... Slate, profile
.......... Arabic News, biography
.......... Forward, profile
Farouk al-Shara, Foreign Minister
Imad Moustapha, Deputy Syrian Ambassador to the US
.......... Boston Globe, profile
.......... personal page?
.......... Greta's Fox News show, photo

USA
George W. Bush
.......... US White House, biography
.......... A&E, biography
.......... Iraqi News, biography
.......... Realchange.org, Skeletons
.......... awolbush.com
.......... bushwatch.com
.......... whitehouse.org, biography, may contain satire
.......... bartcop, profile of Bush's military career
Ari Fleischer, Press Secretary
.......... A & E, biography
.......... The New Republic, profile
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
.......... US DoD, biography
.......... Wikipedia, biography
.......... ABC News, profile
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
.......... US White House, biography
.......... Behind Colin Powell's Legend
Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense
.......... US DoD, biography
.......... US DoD, transcripts
.......... American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, biography
.......... Slate, profile
.......... Foreign Policy in Focus, track record in Asia
.......... The Australian, profile
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor
.......... US White House, biography
.......... Hoover Institution, profile
.......... BBC, profile
John R. Bolton, Under Secretary of State, Arms Control and International Security
.......... US Dept. of State, biography
.......... Foreign Policy in Focus, profile
Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy
.......... US DoD, biography
.......... Middle East Infromation Center, profile
.......... American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, biography
Richard Perle, Defense Advisory Board
.......... AEI, biography
.......... Center for Cooperative Research, biography -- scroll down
.......... Slate, profile
Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State

NGOs
AEI
AIPAC
PNAC
.......... PNAC's website
.......... pnac.info

UK
Tony Blair, Prime Minister
.......... 10 Downing St., biography
Jack Straw, Foreign Minister
.......... 10 Downing St., biography


Israel
Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister
.......... Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, biography
.......... Electronic Intifada, biography
Shaul Mofaz, Defense Minister
Silvan Shalom, Foreign Minister
Dov Weisglass, Sharon's chief of staff
Ephriam Halevy, National Security Adviser

Palestine
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen)
.......... Middle East Information Center, profile
Hamas
.......... UPI, background on Hamas/Israel connection
.......... Terrorism Research Center, profile

Lebanon
.......... CIA, profile
.......... Dept. of State, profile
Emile Lahoud, President
.......... Lebanese Embassy to the US, biography
.......... American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, profile
Rafiq Hariri, Prime Minister
.......... Lebanese Embassy to the US, biography
.......... BBC, profile
.......... The Estimate profile
Nabih Berri, Speaker of the Parliament
.......... Lebanese Embassy to the US, biography
.......... Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, biography
.......... Encyclopedia of the Orient, biography
Jean Obeid, Foreign Minister
Hizbullah
.......... Hizbullah's website
.......... US Dept. of State, profile
.......... Momkey Media Report, Hezbollah links
.......... Yellow Times The History of Hizbullah

Multi-national Organizations
United Nations
European Union
Gulf Cooperation Council
Arab League

Reciprocity

::: wood s lot :::
Providence Journal
random walks
blogs against war
The Memory Hole


War (of Words) with Syria

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

So let me see if I understand right wing punditry.

Invading Syria is a stupid thing to do because we will be al Qaeda's airforce.

Not invading Syria is a stupid thing to do because it projects weakness.

Allowing Russia to mediate in dealing with the chemical weapons is a stupid thing to do because it also projects weakness.

Saber rattling without invading, even if we can accomplish our goals through diplomacy, is a stupid thing to do because, yes, it projects weakness.

The only reasonable course of action is to go back in time two years and attack Syria then, because attacking them two years ago makes sense while attacking them now is stupid.

We have the power to rain a thousand missles on a city in a single day, but having a man born in Mombasa in the White House makes us weak.

Did I miss anything?


- mark 9-12-2013 7:26 am [link]

Thursday, Aug 29, 2013

AP sources: In spite of Obama’s assertion, intelligence on weapons use in Syria no ‘slam dunk’

...

Over the past six months, with shifting front lines in the 2½-year-old civil war and sketchy satellite and human intelligence coming out of Syria, U.S. and allied spies have lost track of who controls some of the country’s chemical weapons supplies, according to the two intelligence officials and two other U.S. officials.

U.S. satellites have captured images of Syrian troops moving trucks into weapons storage areas and removing materials, but U.S. analysts have not been able to track what was moved or, in some cases, where it was relocated. They are also not certain that when they saw what looked like Assad’s forces moving chemical supplies, those forces were able to remove everything before rebels took over an area where weapons had been stored.

In addition, an intercept of Syrian military officials discussing the strike was among low-level staff, with no direct evidence tying the attack back to an Assad insider or even a senior Syrian commander, the officials said.

So while Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that it was “undeniable,” a chemical weapons attack had occurred, and that it was carried out by the Syrian military, U.S. intelligence officials are not so certain that the suspected chemical attack was carried out on Assad’s orders. Some have even talked about the possibility that rebels could have carried out the attack in a callous and calculated attempt to draw the West into the war. That suspicion was not included in the official intelligence report, according to the official who described the report.

...


- mark 8-29-2013 9:34 pm [link] [1 ref]

Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005


Talks about Syria’s future show differences between Israel, U.S.

JTA -- December 6, 2005


- mark 12-08-2005 12:13 am [link] [1 ref]

Thursday, May 19, 2005


Insurgents plotted in Syria, U.S. says

AP via London Times


- mark 5-19-2005 12:29 pm [link]

Friday, Dec 17, 2004



when neocons attack



- tom moody 12-18-2004 12:09 am [link]

Saturday, May 29, 2004

Syria Comment
Thoughts on Syrian politics, history and religion.



- mark 5-30-2004 12:02 am [link] [3 refs]

Saturday, Mar 06, 2004

Bush Ponders Syria Sanctions
Baltimore Jewish Times -- March 6, 2004


Ron Kampeas
Special to the Jewish Times
Washington -- The United States no longer wonders whether or not Syrian President Bashar Assad is a reliable diplomatic partner. The question now, according to an official close to government deliberations on whether to sanction Syria, is why Assad is proving so hopeless.

- mark 3-06-2004 12:44 pm [link]

Monday, Mar 01, 2004

Syria willing to eliminate WMD
NDTV -- March 1, 2004


(Damascus): Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al Sharaa said they are prepared to eliminate weapons of mass destruction but only under the supervision of the United Nations.

Sharaa also said Syria is hopeful that a long-planned economic and political partnership pact with the European Union might be signed soon despite differences over weapons of mass destruction.

- mark 3-01-2004 11:37 pm [link] [1 ref]

Friday, Feb 06, 2004

EU states pressuring Syria over WMD - diplomats
Reuters -- February 6, 2004


By Lin Noueihed
BEIRUT - EU member states have stepped up their pressure on Syria to show it is fighting the spread of weapons of mass destruction since Libya said it would scrap its banned weapons programmes, diplomats say.

The 15-nation bloc had been expected to initial an economic and political cooperation pact with Syria by the end of 2003, but diplomats say it is being held up because some governments want Damascus to show a greater commitment against WMD.

- mark 2-06-2004 8:53 pm [link] [1 ref]

Tuesday, Jan 06, 2004

Syria asserts its right to chemical weapons
Syndey Morning Herald -- January 7, 2004


By Benedict Brogan in Damascus
Syria was entitled to defend itself by acquiring its own chemical and biological deterrent, President Bashar Assad said as he rejected American and British demands for concessions on weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Assad came closer than ever to admitting that his country had stockpiles of such weapons. He said Syria would agree to destroy its chemical and biological capability only if Israel agreed to abandon its nuclear arsenal.

- mark 1-06-2004 5:20 pm [link]