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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (103388)	3/5/2005 3:52:58 PM
From: DavesM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

Lindy, I believe the F-35 was designed after the end of the Cold war (design program began in 96). I would image that given the physical stress that is placed on a jet fighter/bomber, the F-15, F-16s, and F-18 will need to be replaced anyway.

To: LindyBill who wrote (103388)	3/5/2005 3:53:12 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793843

Syria's Assad To Bush: T.S. abcnews.go.com By Joe Gandelman "I'll start to withdraw my troops but get them totally out when I'm good and ready" is the gist of Syrian President Bashar Assad's announcement that he'll redeploy his country's troops in Lebanon to the border and then start negotiating a complete pullout. This announcement ignores President George Bush's demand that he pull Lebanon's 15,000 troops out immediately. Why this half-measure? ABC reports: In what appeared to be a face-saving address to the Syrian parliament, Assad said his plan would put Syria in full compliance with international requirements. "Our way is a gradual and organized withdrawal," he told lawmakers, adding that Syria has "an interest" in withdrawing from Lebanon. "By carrying out this measure, Syria will have fulfilled requirements of the Taif agreement and implemented U.N. Resolution 1559." The 1989 Arab-brokered Taif Accord called for Syria to move its troops to the Lebanese border and for both countries to then negotiate the withdrawal. The U.N. resolution, drafted by the United States and France in September, called on Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, stop influencing politics in the country and allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections as scheduled. In other words, Assad is making the case that his actions fully comply with international law and that a pullout has started. And, pointedly, he's saying his policy is not going to be dictated by the U.S.: President Bush said Friday that anything less than a full withdrawal by May when parliamentary elections are to be held would be an unacceptable "half-measure." "We will withdraw our forces stationed in Lebanon fully to the Bekaa region (in the east) and later to the Lebanese-Syrian border areas," he said to cheers from legislators in the chamber and from thousands of Syrian supporters listening outside the building. In the cleverly worded address, Assad said, "We would not stay one day if there was Lebanese consensus on the departure of Syria," failing to state that Damascus wields decisive influence with Lebanese officials. Of course, Syria's influence may be a little less today than it was last week at this time. Huge protests demanding Syria's withdrawal led to the resignation of the pro-Syrian government last week. The question: how will Washington respond to this? Will this be sufficient for other Arab nations? And will the U.S. and Arab reactions to this be the same?