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

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Friday, May 09, 2003

[In my commentary I've said a few times that US pressure on Syria, Lebanon and Hezbollah are at least in part about the US responding to direction from Likud. Thanks for the verification Ariel!]

Sharon Says Ready for Talks with Syria
Reuters -- May 8


By Maia Ridberg
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Thursday he was ready to reopen peace talks with Syria without preconditions, three years after contacts collapsed over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights

Sharon said his government would wait before entering into any diplomatic initiative with Syria to give time for U.S. pressure on Damascus to rein in Palestinian militants based there, as well as Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas, to bear fruit.

'I held serious consultations with the foreign minister and we came to an agreement that we must wait a number of weeks to avoid interfering with American pressure on Syria or Lebanon to take steps necessary for the security of Israel,' said Sharon.

- mark 5-09-2003 11:37 am [link]

Thursday, May 08, 2003

Bush Administration Readying for 2004 Invasion of Iran
Centre for Research on Globalisation -- March 23


by John Stanton
Between April of 2003 and November 2004, the US, UK and Israel will accelerate instability operations in Iran and engage in global disinformation campaigns to belittle the political and military leadership there. They will take to the airwaves to portray to Americans a country beset by internal strife and dissension. Corporate media will revisit the Iranian Hostage Crisis and display for war-hungry Americans footage from the 1978-80 timeframe. That will include images of Khomeni's henchmen hanging and executing the Shah's secret police. Movies such as Sally Field's Not Without My Child portraying many Iranians as "evil doers" will be broadcast by all the networks. Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah of Iran, will be featured with greater frequency on CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS.


via abuddhas memes

- mark 5-09-2003 4:00 am [link]

World Opinion Roundup
High-Tech Hezbollah Has Its Defenders

Washington Post -- May 8


By Jefferson Morley
They have their own militia, political party, and TV station.

They have their own Web sites, hospitals and computer games.

They are Hezbollah, the "Party of God" that represents millions of Shiites in Lebanon -- and worries Bush administration officials in Washington.

- mark 5-08-2003 9:33 pm [link]

Sources: Palestinian factions close Damascus offices
Al Bawaba -- May 8


Informed Palestinian sources have confirmed to Al Bawaba that four Palestinian factions have decided to close their Damascus offices in response to escalating tensions between Syria and the United States.

A Palestinian official in Damascus said that the four factions, namely Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, have ‘decided willingly’ to freeze activities in the country and hence close their offices in the Syrian capital.

The anonymous source said, “The factions received no orders from the Syrian authorities concerning the office closure. They took the decision on their own so that they wouldn’t cause Damascus any further embarrassment, particularly in view of the pressure imposed on Syria by the US which claims these organizations are ‘terrorist’ organizations.”

- mark 5-08-2003 9:12 pm [link]

Nasrallah: Syria, Lebanon not pressuring Hezbollah to disarm
Middle East Online -- May 8


BEIRUT - Neither Syria nor Lebanon is exerting any pressure on the Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah to disarm in response to US demands, its leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in remarks published Thursday.

"There is no official Lebanese or Syrian pressure seeking to make us accept measures related to US demands," Nasrallah told the pro-Syrian daily As-Safir.

- mark 5-08-2003 9:08 pm [link]

Syria Hands Over Suspect in Lebanon Bomb Spree
Reuters -- May 8


BEIRUT - Syria has handed over to neighboring Lebanon a man suspected of belonging to a gang blamed for a string of bomb attacks against Western fast food outlets, a senior judicial official said on Thursday.
- mark 5-08-2003 9:04 pm [link]

Syria helped U.S. catch 'Mrs. Anthrax'
UPI -- May 8


By Richard Sale
Syrian intelligence, in a good-faith effort to boost cooperation with the United States in the war on terror, provided intelligence that resulted in U.S. forces taking custody of one of Iraq's top biological weapons scientists, administration officials said.

- mark 5-08-2003 9:01 pm [link]

[Transcript of Wolfowitz interview.]

Wolfowitz Criticizes Turkey for Not Backing U.S. on Iraq
US Dept. of State -- May 7


CNN Turk: But if you make a prognosis of what went wrong earlier, since you mentioned for example the military -- the traditional institution which had strong connections to the United States -- did not play a leadership role, so for the future to repair the relationship and bring it back to its original level that means that you have to need a leadership role to be played by those who haven't played it. What kind of a role the military might have because after all the military is not working in Turkey's parliament political parties (inaudible)?

CNN Turk: And they have been criticized by getting involved in politics.

Wolfowitz: I'm not suggesting you get involved in politics at all. I mean, I think, all I'm saying is that when you had a issue of Turkey's national interest and national strategy I think it's perfectly appropriate, especially in your system, for the military to say it was in Turkey's interest to support the United States in that effort.

CNN Turk: Didn't they say that?

Wolfowitz: I don't know. My impression is they didn't say it with the kind of strength that would have made a difference. But look - let's not dwell too much on the past.


Update:
The State Department link in the headline is broken. Check the comments page for the full transcript plus official links.

Dr. Paul's Words of Wisdom
NTV-MSNBC report on Turkish reaction


- mark 5-08-2003 1:37 pm [link] [7 refs]

[Commentary from Turkey.]

The U.S. Has Already Made Up Its Mind On Turkey
Radikal via Turkish Press -- May 7



Columnist Ismet Berkan writes on the shifting sands of Turkish-US relations. A summary of his column is as follows: [snip] Reading between the lines, here is Wolfowitz’s plain meaning: Turkey must do whatever the US wants it to do. For those familiar with Wolfowitz’s past remarks and statements, you already know that he has never before directed such harsh remarks towards Turkey nor employed such a negative tone. Yesterday, he overtly stressed that Turkey cannot pursue independent policies on certain sensitive issues.

- mark 5-08-2003 1:16 pm [link]

FBI Focus Increases On Hamas, Hezbollah
Ruling Enables Intensified Probes

Washington Post -- May 8


By John Mintz
Wielding new powers granted by a six-month-old federal court decision, the FBI has greatly intensified decade-old investigations of alleged U.S. supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] and Hezbollah terrorist groups, according to government officials.

- mark 5-08-2003 11:54 am [link]