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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elroy who wrote (57320)	4/5/2007 12:13:29 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 90947

Heh! Heh! That would only be part of the reason they made those claims. :-)

To: Elroy who wrote (57320)	4/5/2007 12:42:42 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

Iraq: On the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Syria sent military supplies to Saddam Hussein's forces. While in recent months Syria has taken steps to close its shared border with Iraq, Syria nevertheless remains a preferred transit point for foreign fighters into Iraq. In addition, Syria has failed to transfer the approximately $200 million in frozen Iraqi assets that remain in Syrian banks to the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), as required under United Nations Security Council resolution 1483 (2003). Paragraph 23 of that resolution requires Member States to freeze and, unless they are the subject of a prior judicial, administrative, or arbitral lien or judgment, immediately transfer to the DFI funds or other financial assets that belonged to the previous Government of Iraq or its state entities or that were removed from Iraq by Saddam Hussein or other senior officials of his regime and their immediate family members. Syria earned an estimated $3 billion in illicit trade with Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions. whitehouse.gov What will convince you? Do you deny Syrian involvement in Lebanon? Do you deny Syrian invovement in the assasination of the Lebanese Prime Minister?

To: Elroy who wrote (57320)	4/5/2007 12:47:53 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 90947

ALEPPO, Syria -- When the Americans led the invasion of Iraq, the men of Abu Ibrahim's family gathered in the courtyard of their shared home in the far north of Syria. Ten slips of paper were folded into a plastic bag, and they drew lots. The five who opened a paper marked with ink would go to Iraq and fight. The other five would stay behind. Abu Ibrahim drew a blank. But remaining in Syria did not mean staying clear of the war. For more than two years, by his own detailed account, the slightly built, shabbily dressed 32-year-old father of four has worked diligently to shuttle other young Arab men into Iraq, stocking the insurgency that has killed hundreds of U.S. troops and thousands of Iraqis. The stream of fighters -- most of them Syrians, but lately many of them Saudis, favored for the cash they bring -- has sustained and replenished the hardest core of the Iraq insurgency, and supplied many of its suicide bombers. Drawn from a number of Arab countries and nurtured by a militant interpretation of Islam, they insist they are fighting for their vision of their faith. This may put them beyond the reach of political efforts to make Iraq's Sunni Arabs stakeholders in the country's nascent government. Abu Ibrahim recalled: "Our brothers in Iraq worked in small groups. In each area, men would come together, organized by religious leaders or tribal sheiks, and would attack the Americans. It was often us who brought them all together, when we met them in Syria or Iraq. We would tell them, 'But there is another brother who is doing the same thing. Why don't you coordinate together?' Syria became the hub." Syria's role in sustaining and organizing the insurgency has shifted over time. In the first days of the war, fighters swarmed into Iraq aboard buses that Syrian border guards waved through open gates, witnesses recalled. But late in 2004, after intense pressure on Damascus from the Bush administration, Syrian domestic intelligence services swept up scores of insurgent facilitators. Many, including Abu Ibrahim, were quietly released a few days later. washingtonpost.com HINT: That's YOUR side!

To: Elroy who wrote (57320)	4/5/2007 12:52:41 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 90947

In terms of fighters entering Iraq, Syria is clearly the biggest problem, the report says, but preventing militants from crossing its 380-mile frontier with Iraq is daunting. "Even if Syria had the political will to completely and forcefully seal its border, it lacks sufficient resources to do so." Oil-rich Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has spent $1.2bn (£670m) over the past two years and deployed 35,000 troops in an effort to secure its border. During the past six months this has led to the capture of 63 Saudis trying to cross into Iraq but also 682 Iraqi intruders and smugglers. The smuggling included explosives destined for Islamist groups in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries. guardian.co.uk You want more?