"War is deceit," said the Prophet Muhammad. From WND, with thanks to EPG:
WASHINGTON – In international relations, things are not always what they seem to be.For instance, back in 2003, Syrian President Bashar Assad came up with what he thought was a great idea to curry favor with the U.S. and stave off threats of sanctions and even invasion for its support of international terrorism, including in neighboring Iraq.
Syrian intelligence chief Ghazi Kanaan came to the dictator with a plan to run an operation against U.S. intelligence, according a to a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WND's founder.
The plan called for Syria to recruit and train some mujhadeen to work on behalf of Osama bin Laden in an attack on the U.S. The Syrian intelligence officials easily found two willing participants, who never understood they were actually being used as pawns by Damascus.
The pair was trained for three months in weapons, explosives, engineering (for bringing down bridges, buildings, etc.) and other espionage activities, in addition to setting up a number of accounts, credit cards, and how to use discard cell phones so they could not be traced.
The Syrians launched the players into action, ordering them to go to the U.S. through Athens.
Then Syria double-crossed their dupes, tipping off the Greeks and the Israelis, informing them two al-Qaida operatives were on their way to the U.S. Syria also tipped off the chief of mission in Damascus.
Robert - it's interesting this should posted today in light of the today's bombing in Lebanon. I expect Syria's fingerprints are all over this attrocity.
From the Globe and Mail (linked below)
"Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a billionaire who helped rebuild his country after decades of war but resigned last fall after a sharp dispute with Syria, was killed Monday in a massive bomb explosion that tore through his motorcade. At least nine other people were dead and 100 wounded in the blast."
"Mr. Hariri moved toward the opposition camp after leaving office in October — in large part because of a dispute concerning Syria's controversial role in Lebanon. Mr. Hariri had rejected a Syrian-backed insistence that a rival politician, President Emile Lahoud, remain in office as president for a longer period."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050214.wblast0214/BNStory/International/
Bahser al Assad, like his father, is an Alawite Read the link in addition to this.
The Alawite (Nusairi) religion is a Gnostic syncretism with only a superficial façade of pseudo-Islamic practices adopted as protective camouflage. The Alawites have 7 pillars in their religion. 5 of these are similar to other Muslims, (the creed, the prayers, alms, pilgrimage to Mecca and fasting during the month of Ramadan), but the Alawites consider these as symbols, and therefore they do not practice what other Muslims consider as duties. The other 2 pillars are jihad, holy struggle, and waliya (devotion to Ali, and struggle against his enemies).
The Alawites celebrate the same festivals as most other Shi'is, like Idu l-Fitr, Idu l-Kabir and Ashura. But they also celebrate some of the same festivals as the Christians, like Christmas and Epiphany, as well as Nawruz, which originally is the Zoroastrian New Year.it.
, Syria has exactly the same status as Spain or Israel -- i.e. a land formerly ruled by Muslims which is not ruled over by Muslims now, and so which is part of the true non-negotiable "Dar-ul-Harb" and must be reconquered by Muslims as soon as this is practically possible. (This is why Osama bin La-Deen is constantly malevolently muttering about "al-Andalus".) Thus if Islamists pretend to take traditional orthodox Islamic religious law seriously but somehow never issue fatwas calling for the Muslim reconquest of Syria (in amongst their vitriolic vituperations against Israel), this means that they're merely guided by their own personal preferences, and are hypocritically inconsistent in their professed respect for Islamic law.
The Ba'ath party (name means Renaissance)was founded as a pan Arab movement by a Christian Arab, Michel Aflag, and a Sunni Arab, Salah Bitar, they studied together in the Sorbonne between 1928 -1932.
Their ideology was that before there were Muslims and Christians there were Arabs, (a mind game, because before there were Muslims, there were Assyrians, Phoencians, Turcomen, Macedonians,
Greeks and a hodge podge of peoples who now call themselves Arab ( a linquistically based identity).
Aflaq was the ideologue of Ba'athism, borrowing from Marxism and 19th Century romantic Germany nationalsim and superimposing an Arab character on both.
In feb 1966,the Syrian wing of the Ba'ath party ruptured when the military government of Hafiz al Assad purged the intellectuals, including the party's revered founder, Michel Aflaq.
Frightened that the Syrian wing would march on Iraq in the name of Arab unity, the Iraqi wing of the party
elected Aflag as party leader, and elected a new regional organization specifically for Iraq. With hostilities and competition of interestate rivalry oriented in different directions, Syria towards the mediterranean and Iraq towards the Gulf.
Perhaps it would instructive to read Sandra Mackey's, The Reckoning: The Legacy of Saddam Hussein, and also her The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the soul of a nation.
if the moves they lie
if the lips move they lie
JohnB,
I too have been reading with great interest what has happened in Lebanon with the death of al-Hariri. Methinks that Syrian hands are all over this bloody assassination and so, as a result, this will backfire against them. A full blown insurrection like the one in the Ukraine causing a Syrian-backed government to fall in Lebanon will be a slap in the face of Assad and other assorted Islamic imperialists who have trampled Lebanese freedom underfoot. A Syrian withdrawal, even in part, is a victory for Washington and Jerusalem and will cause no end of consternation to the jihadists. This humiliation will not stand, and this could portend war with the Israelis.