SYRIAN COOPERATION
I appears our pressure is having positive effects: Syria Shuts Offices of Palestinian Groups U.S. Labels Terrorists, filling a long-standing U.S. demand. Most notable among the concessions made by Syria after a long meeting with Colin Powell are the banning of three major terrorist groups– Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas; Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command–and a promise to withdraw from Lebanan as “an automatic result” of any peace accord between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Nah, shutting down an office is like Yakuza shutting down their PR office. Until they do something more concrete, like cutting off funding, it’s just for show.
Just for show? Probably. But it does show they are responding to American pressure. Nobody wants to be Iraq #2 except maybe France.
Re: Rich Arnone
I don’t think so. Yes, American forces are now much more asserative in the ME right now, more than ever. However, Syrian also know that American forces have their hands full trying to run a country as diverse and difficult as Iraq. If we decided to extinct Ba’ath party once and for all (and removing the Ba’ath regime in Syria will accomplish that), it won’t be for another couple of years.
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