[DEBATE] : US Raid into Syria

[Dominic Tweedie]

The BBC is misdirecting.

When did the "administration" makes decisions of this sort?  When last
was the question of war anything other than "bipartisan" in the USA?

Insofar as the change of presdident is relevant, he precise handover
details are material. There will be an interregnum. The handover is
not now, but soem time in January.

Domza.


2008/10/27 Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com>:
>  What could lie behind Syria raid?
>
> By Jonathan Marcus
> Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News
>
> Syria has said American troops carried out a raid inside Syria along  the
> Iraqi border, killing eight people - if the claims are true then  this will
> be the first military incursion by the US into Syrian  territory from Iraq.
>
> But its timing is curious, coming right at the end of the Bush
>  administration's period of office and at a moment when many of  America's
> European allies - like Britain and France - are trying to  broaden their
> ties with Damascus.
>
> Whatever the local military factors involved in this US operation, it  would
> be unthinkable to imagine that an incursion into Syria would not  require a
> policy decision at a high-level.
>
> The movement of insurgents and foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq  has
> long been a bone of contention between Damascus and Washington.
>
> The US argument has always been that the Syrians are not doing enough  to
> control the border. The Syrians have always countered that they are
>  unfairly being blamed for turmoil inside Iraq that is not of their  making.
>
> Quite apart from their differences over Iraq, Washington sees Syria as
>  unhelpful in Lebanon and as far too friendly with Iran.
>
> While there have been relatively high-level contacts between the two
>  governments - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meeting the  Syrian
> Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem on the sidelines of the UN  General
> Assembly just a few weeks ago - they have hardly generated any  warmth.
>
> Washington has even been lukewarm to Turkey's efforts to broker a  peace
> deal between Israel and Syria.
>
> All of this is in marked contrast to European efforts to engage the
>  Syrians.
>
> With French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the lead, a number of  European
> countries have sought to bring Syria in from the cold.
>
> But despite glimmerings of dissent from the State Department, the Bush
>  administration has held firm to its policy of no substantive talks  with
> Syria unless - as the Americans put it - Damascus decides to take  a more
> "positive role" in the region.
>
> With the Bush administration on the way out, this US military  incursion may
> represent something of a parting shot against the Syrians.
>
> It's clear that if Senator Barrack Obama were to win the White House,  his
> key advisers are among the strongest advocates of engaging with  Damascus
> across a broad spectrum of issues.
> Story from BBC NEWS:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7692263.stm
>
> Published: 2008/10/26 21:40:21 GMT
>
>
>
>
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