Syrian Mouthpiece
You know, I have been really hard on the New York Times for quite some time now. I think I have good reason to be. But it seems they just keep getting worse. Now they are cheerfully acting as a pipeline for the Syrian government to spread it's disinformation and it's demands that the US negotiate directly with terrorists.
Buthaina Shaaban, the minister of expatriates and a close adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, said the chaos engulfing the region could be reduced only if Damascus and Hezbollah were directly involved in any negotiations. Washington has a policy of isolating Syria.
Further, she said, Washington is ignoring reality if it thinks groups like Hezbollah and Hamas can be purged by allowing Israel to bomb at will, or that extremism can be curbed in any way besides solving the Arab-Israeli dispute.
“The United States has to get realistic about addressing issues in the region instead of taking steps that only make things worse,” Mrs. Shaaban said in an interview. “They don’t have a vision about what is happening in the Middle East. They don’t have a plan for the region. They are losing credibility.”
Both President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have warned Syria that it must rein in Hezbollah, not least by cutting the supply line for the missiles the organization fires into Israel, which they say Iran ships through Syria.
“Do you want to step on the supply line or do you want to solve the big problem in the Middle East?” Mrs. Shaaban said. “That is the main issue. Do they want to end the Israeli occupation of Arab territories, that is the question.”
One Syrian official issued a strong warning against a proposal that was gaining momentum on Sunday for an international force to guard the Lebanon-Israel border. Deploying such a force without the cooperation of Syrian and Hezbollah, the official said, will risk repeating 1983. That was a pointed reference to the 241 United States service members and 58 French soldiers killed in attacks on military installations by suicide bombers. It has long been considered likely that Hezbollah sent the bombers with Syria’s blessing.
The only thing this article does show is the complete lack of actual bargaining room there is and why there really is no route to a negotiated settlement. This is exactly why all the past ceasefires and concessions have led nowhere. Because to the extremists, there is no solution other than the complete removal of Israel.
By Bird Dog, July 24, 2006 @ 6:46 am
Bingo