So here’s a really startling story from al-Reuters
March 27 (Reuters) - Washington estimates up to 90 percent of suicide bombers in Iraq enter the country via Syria which has not acted to stop this flow of attackers, the U.S. State Department’s Iraq adviser said on Tuesday.
David Satterfield, who is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s key adviser on Iraq, said Syria had an obligation to stop “jihadists” crossing into Iraq where suicide bombings are an almost daily occurrence.
He estimated 90 percent of suicide bombers in Iraq were foreigners and while the mix of nationalities changed, some 85 to 90 percent of them crossed over from Syria.
“They (suicide bombers) see Syria as a more accommodating country through which to transit across the border to come into Iraq to perpetrate their terror,” Satterfield said in a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, .
“It has to stop, it is not in Syria’s long term interests to let this violence continue,” he added.
Let’s work backwards, starting with that idiotic last line about Syria’s interests. It is dead wrong. Syria has clearly judged that it is very much in its national interest to support jihad in Iraq. That’s why they’re supporting–and no doubt are involved in recruiting and training–the suicide bombers.
You’d think they’d have figured that out by now, but people like David Satterfield, who recently got kicked in a tender part of the male anatomy by the Iranians at a Baghdad conference, still somehow wants us to believe that if only the Syrians behaved just a little bit better, they’d get better relations with us. Which MUST be what they really want.
Not. They want us killed, humiliated, and driven out of the region so they can extend the range of their depredations. Assad knows that terrible things will happen to him if he cooperates with the United States, because his own country is very much in the grips of a massive Iranian operation. Lots of Syrians are now being paid by the mullahs to become Shi’ites, and there is a big contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guards there as well.
There is still no sign that the senior people at Foggy Bottom have the vaguest understanding that we are at war. It’s still business as usual for them.
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Brian:When I hear something like Mr. Satterfied’s absurd proclamation (about it being in Syria’s best long term interests to play nicely with the US) coming from a member of the administration, I suffer a case of brain arrest.
Why, I wonder, do so many of us believe that the entire world would just itch to adopt our ways, our values, our sense of tolerance and celebrate diversity as we do (shallowly, in terms of ethnic cooking, colorful attire and exotic accents) — if only they understood how wonderful we are!
It never seems to occur to these people that our way of looking at the world may not be anything more than the latest ethnocentric fad of the (currently postmodern) west, as opposed to some immutable Higher Truth, and that the official and unofficial movers and shakers in non-western cultures might fully understand what we are and stand for, reject that out-of-hand, and prefer their own ways, such as genital mutilation, suicide bombing, ethnic cleansing, slavery and honor killings, instead.
They should read a little about Sayyid Qutb’s reaction to the US when he visited in the late ’40s.
I don’t know which I find more appalling: the arrogance or naiveté of Mr. Satterfield and others like him, who seem to rest so much of their actions on the questionable assumption that, in this case the Syrians, see the world, with all its rewards and punishments, the same way we do.
Mar 27, 2007 - 6:56 pm Winston:Bring back Reagan…
Mar 27, 2007 - 11:03 pm M. Simon:They really need to read some Reteif novels.
Our military reads Starship Troopers and used to read the Dorsai Novels. The official reading list.
Maybe Foggy Bottom needs a Book of the Month Club.
Mar 28, 2007 - 1:23 am bob:Hello,
I am very interested in the Middle East and Syria. I was recently there and saw some evidence of a growing Iranian presence– buying up property in certain neighborhoods of Damascus for example. But, I cannot take two of your statements on this post at face value without more information. Can you provide more detail or evidence about the following claims?
1. Syria is “no doubt are involved in recruiting and training—the suicide bombers.”
2. “Lots of Syrians are now being paid by the mullahs to become Shi’ites, and there is a big contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guards there as well.”
The bit about conversion to Shi’ism is especially fishy because it fits with the deluge articles published in Saudi-controlled Arabic media (along with the recent incident in Jordan) that seems calculated to provoke anti Shi’i backlash in Sunni countries. Given the explosive sectarian tensions around the region, this is hardly a claim one should make lightly.
ML:
Well if 90% of the suicide bombers are coming from Syria, logic would seem to suggest that they are involved in the recruitment and training, don’t you think?
And the stories about the conversions to Shi’ism have appeared in both the British and Israeli press. When I get a minute I will try to find a couple for you.
Mar 28, 2007 - 4:05 am Matthew:Sir:
I don’t doubt that Syria is a way point for the foreign fighters entering Iraq. It is the only remaining Arab country which allows citizens of any Arab nation to enter, no questions asked. However, your line…
“That’s why they’re supporting—and no doubt are involved in recruiting and training—the suicide bombers.”
is a bit of a speculative stretch given the realities of the Ba’ath party. Syria repeatedly cracks down on religious zealots of all stripes within its borders. It no doubt serves a meeting point for jihadists seeking to meet up with other jihadists and it is surely a walmart of black market weapons. The Ba’ath party though likely does not recruit, train, or equip jihadists. At most, the Syrian politburo turns a blind eye to Jihadist meetings in the country.
Where do you find that “lots of Syrians are now being paid by the mullahs to become Shi’ites?” Even if this is the case, don’t you think Arab Shi’ite’s, even recent converts, tend to have a solidarity in the face of the Persian menace? Najaf and Karbala will always be more important to Shi’ism than Qom and Khomein.
ML:
Oh please, Syria doesn’t support religious fanatics. Like Hizbollah? Those moderate secularists?
Mar 28, 2007 - 10:53 am al:I keep hearing that last line over and over that:
Mar 28, 2007 - 11:36 am Aryamanesh:There is still no sign that the senior people at Foggy Bottom have the vaguest understanding that we are at war. It’s still business as usual for them.
How, or when will they figure it out.
Syria is like a cross road for all Jihadist and every Islamo Fascist in the world.
Mar 28, 2007 - 12:30 pm Yves Benoit:That is why I’ve always believed and claimed that US should have taken care of Syria before Iraq. It would be good for every one in the region, Israel would be safer, Hezbollah would be contained and probably we wouldn’t see the recent Israel/Lebanon war and IRGC Quds Force could no longer run rampant in south Lebanon.
Oh well!!
Mr.
I discovered your blog while looking for further information about the topic you introduce in this post, and since what you said here puzzles me at some point I request your help; if ever you have an answer to my problem.
I’m French. I live in France; and, as job seeker, I am registered to the ANPE, a governmental agency where all job French seekers are supposed to register in order, both, to find a job and to be eligible for welfares. Also, as it happens to any other person experiencing such situation, I am supposed to prove that I do my best to find a job as soon as possible, and to send my application as well to the companies whose names and address are (too seldom, regretfully) suggested by this agency.
Well, the ANPE asked me to send my application to a training center, named l’Ecole de la Langue and located at Troyes, in order to teach English language and to perform computer trainings on Microsoft Office.
Actually, I did it and, happily, I quickly obtained an appointment with the manager of this company (a quite unusual event since it is very hard to get an appointment for a position in France nowadays, actually). At first I was happy since I am job seeker since close to 3 years now (I am consultant specialist in media and communication).
But once I met this manager in her office I discovered that this person was of Syrian origin, and that she entertains friendly relationship with the Syrian Embassy in France (as a framed letter of congratulations prominently displayed in the office testifies for), and that my duty there should be to provide English and computer training to young Arabic immigrants expecting to emigrate to the United States and to find a job in this country. Also, I couldn’t but notice the numerous beautiful framed Arabic texts prominently displayed here and there on the walls of the manager’s office (I don’t read Arabic, regretfully; and so I am unable to entertain you about their meaning).
Well, that’s why your post gets me scratching my head and wondering whether my possible decision to join this company would be a well advised step, actually. Since I have been suggested by a French governmental agency to work for this company, and since France is a NATO member and an ally of the United States, I am a priori inclined to trust this agency and to go ahead with full confidence, but…
Well, I guess you understand my embarrassment at this point.
I told a bit about this concern to the French officials who previously recommended this company to me, and I explained to them that accepting this job might possibly undermine my own expectations to emigrate for good to United States; but, for wants of taking my concerns in consideration, they renewed their recommendations to join this company; arguing that there is no other available job opportunity for me at this time.
What do you think about all this, Dr? Have I been right to be that hesitant? What are the odds for that I might unwillingly and unwittingly train a person who would turn out to be a terrorist?
Thank you for your answer, if ever you can give me one.
Mar 29, 2007 - 4:36 am