| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Down Under | |
| Syria seeks Australia’s help to woo US | |
| 2004-03-27 | |
| SYRIA has appealed to Australia to use its close ties with Washington to help the Arab nation shake off its reputation as a terrorist haven and repair its relations with the US. Secret talks between the two nations have been under way for months but have become more urgent as rogue nations reconsider their role in allowing terrorists to thrive, in light of the US determination to take pre-emptive military action. Australia’s close relationship with Washington, and its much higher profile in the Middle East, have prompted Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa and parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Al-Ibrache to appeal to Canberra to help bring their country back in from a US-imposed diplomatic freeze. Syria has sent a delegation to Australia and has hosted a series of visits by Australian parliamentarians. Drawing on the British-sponsored return of Libya to the international fold, Australia is demanding that Syria take a tougher role against terrorists, particularly those using the nation as a base for operations into Iraq. Australia also has called on the former Soviet client state to abandon any pursuit of weapons of mass destruction before it returns to the fold. Syria has supported the war on terror but the Bush administration has been sceptical about its commitment, fearing Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were smuggled across the border before the US-led invasion last year. In November, senior Syrian officials asked a bipartisan Australian delegation led by National Party senator Sandy Macdonald to use Australia’s influence with the US to achieve a diplomatic rapprochement. Senator Macdonald said yesterday: "Syria is a country that has been a bastard state for nearly 40 years. But the leaders we spoke to in Syria appear keen to make linkages with the West and it sees Australia as having influence in Washington." The overtures to Syria are seen as a response to the West’s determination to confront rogue nations that may either pose a threat themselves or pass on weapons to terrorists. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer last night welcomed Syria’s commitment to broadening dialogue with the international community. "We would like to see Syria follow Libya’s example in making a genuine return to the international community," he said through a spokesman. "But Syria must abandon any effort to attain weapons of mass destruction, act to control the flow of terrorists across its border with Iraq and step up support for the war on terror." He said Australia was considering reopening an embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The embassy was closed in 1999 because of cost-cutting. Syria’s Melbourne-based honorary consul, Antonios Zyrabi, confirmed to The Weekend Australian last night that Syria wanted Australia to help it come in from the diplomatic cold.
| |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #21 Good cop, bad cop. "Wellll, I dunno, mate. Them Yanks is crazy buggers, y'know, an' they're all come over keen ta stomp ya into a greasy puddle..." |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-03-27 10:23:05 PM |
| #20 NMM won't vote for Nader, he's an ex-Deano Baby now married to Kerry. Right? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-03-27 5:33:23 PM |
| #19 What's Australian for GET THE FUCK OUT OF LEBANON? They can keep all the boomer they want in Dmascus, The outsourcing days just ended. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-03-27 4:18:41 PM |
| #18 The Bush Doctrine? That's a joke! Got oil? Wow. That's such a tired, sorry excuse for political thought I can hardly work up the energy to set Anon straight. Okay. Maybe just a couple swipes with the ol' Clue Bat: 1) Oil is far cheaper to buy than a war is to put on. 2) If we really wanted the oil, we could have taken Kuwait's when we had thousands of troops and tons of materiel in place. 3) Hell, Venezuela's got oil, and it is far closer. Hopefully one of them made an impression on our latest Anonymous. Nah... rational thought is never their forte. I am just glad I am not so bound in hatred for someone as to come unglued like that. He's welcome to go vote Nader. He's the man for a deep thinker like Anonymous. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-03-27 3:38:56 PM |
| #17 A Republican Powell/Rice ticket would really remix American voter blocks. Unfortunately, Powell has not done very well at State. "Wishy-washy" is a polite way of characterizing his less than sterling performance. A Rice/Rudy or Rudy/Rice ticket would be a winner, but Powell carries way too much negative baggage to make a good president/vice president. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-03-27 2:46:45 PM |
| #16 ...as rogue nations reconsider their role in allowing terrorists to thrive, in light of the US determination to take pre-emptive military action. Maybe having Special Forces just over the border got their attention. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-03-27 1:01:10 PM |
| #15 SYRIA has appealed to Australia to use its close ties with Washington to help the Arab nation shake off its reputation as a terrorist haven and repair its relations with the US. It's all very simple to do. Let's see, how about getting the hell out of Lebanon, dropping support for groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (to name a few well-known ones), and expelling members of those terrorist organizations from its territory? It seems to me, however, that Syria wants to have its cake and eat it too, to be out from under the terrorism magnifying glass without having to detach itself from the terrorists under its roof. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-03-27 12:43:23 PM |
| #14 Anon, You picked the wrong farking place to spew your sewage -- here in Rantburg we think. It was Clark who authorized the evacuation of the Saudis and Bin Laden's family after 9/11. Yes the same Clark who is now lying before congress in order to sell more copies of his book. The same Clark who sat on his hands for 8 FUCKING YEARS under Clinton/Gore and then expected Bush to do it all in 8 months. I think lying Clark should be brought up on charges of incompetence - or at least lying under oath. Oh! I forgot -- he is a Clinton crony so lying to the public is second nature and lying under oath before congress is ok.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-03-27 12:06:57 PM |
| #13 A Republican Powell/Rice ticket would really remix American voter blocks. |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-03-27 12:06:38 PM |
| #12 Sadly, I'm afraid that Rummy will be too old in 2008. The Condi/Rudy ticket sounds good, though. Puts Hillary up against a woman and a New Yorker. Comes down to a choice between BS and brains. |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-03-27 11:58:55 AM |
| #11 Anonymous: "Who was on those flights?---Dunno" Who authorized the flights of Saudi citizens and BIN FUCKING LADEN FAMILY MEMBERS TO LEAVE THE US? Dunno! Yep--the Bush Admin was on top of it--Condi Rice should be charged with treason or incompetence--take your pick We're supposed to worry about a few Saudis leaving the country when the focus of the effort was to lock it down, prevent more terrorist strikes and prepare for third country efforts to exploit the confusion to launch military strikes against the US (issues include Taiwan and South Korea, potential adversaries include Russia and China, et al, the list goes on and on)? We knew the Chinese and the Russians were indirectly arming terror groups (most of their weaponry were of Chinese and Russian origin) - were these attacks sponsored by the either party to test the readiness of US nuclear forces prior to a first strike? I'm sure glad Anonymous wasn't in charge of our national security - he has no grasp of the range of national security threats our people were scoping out before they decided that it was al Qaeda which had done it, and determined that third countries were too intimidated by American resolve to take advantage of the post 9/11 confusion. Anonymous is just projecting his treasonous or incompetent nature upon Condi Rice. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-03-27 11:45:02 AM |
| #10 exactly how does this square with "Syria calls for Tough Stance vs Israel"? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-03-27 10:42:25 AM |
| #9 A small point: the countries with oil SHOULD be the focus. Inevitably, because Dubya has the stones that have been obviously lacking in previous admins, they will be. Because that's where the money is - the money that funds everything from the indoctrination madrassahs to the merc recruiters of boomers to Suha's lifestyle. Syria's role is to 1) provide those functions that state sponsors of terrorism can offer --and-- 2) cannon fodder. These are secondary, symptoms of the oil money disease, and Baby Assad will rapidly cease such activities when the funding dries up. I believe time will prove this shift of focus is, indeed, occurring - against all the odds created by the wholsesale Saudi bribing of Anon's buddies at State, the "Press", and elsewhere. I have no doubt that, when it becomes the front-burner source of direction in the WoT, this change of focus will prove to be the right and decisive move. Then we can talk about such interesting side issues as "How do LLL idiotarians manage to juggle all of their DUmmy talking points?" Rather badly, actually. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-03-27 9:54:58 AM |
| #7 If I hear the Jews-N-Oil story one more time I'm gonna puke. Get a new line, and a new brain while you're at it. |
| Posted by: John C. Lately 2004-03-27 8:43:14 AM |
| #6 Amen, phil! Let's see a Rummy/Condi or a Rummy/Rudy ticket in 2008! But I love all of the Bush Administration and its friends. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-03-27 7:12:01 AM |
| #5 Anonymous you picked the wrong place to attack Condi Rice. Many of us are fans of hers. Condi in 2008. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-03-27 6:31:30 AM |
| #4 Hey Anon, you know who authorized the Bin Laden air lift? The left's newest pal, Richard Clarke. and then in the story is this line: The overtures to Syria are seen as a response to the West’s determination to confront rogue nations that may either pose a threat themselves or pass on weapons to terrorists. Someone is deeply misinformed. It isn't the West that is determined. It's the US, Australia, the UK, Italy, Poland and the rest of our "unilateral" coalition. France and Germany aren't in the confrontation business anymore. Canada is on the sidelines. |
| Posted by: RMcLeod 2004-03-27 5:33:40 AM |
| #3 All the Bin Laden's that left the US were interviewed by the Feds before depature and determined to be of no informational value and unconnected with the attacks, plus it would have taken an army division to protect them. You'll have to look elsewhere for a conspirecy. Condi Rice ought to run for Pres in 2008 if you ask me - she'll get my vote. Silly me I forgot, its all about oooooiiiiilllll!!!! |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-03-27 5:17:16 AM |
| #2 The Bush Doctrine? That's a joke! Got oil?==We'll ignore the fact that your nationals killed more Americans than the Japanese at Pearl Harbor + we'll let them all get on a plane and leave the US while all flights are shut down! The Congressional hearings about Saudis leaving the US were hysterical-- :"Who was on those flights?---Dunno" Who authorized the flights of Saudi citizens and BIN FUCKING LADEN FAMILY MEMBERS TO LEAVE THE US? Dunno! Yep--the Bush Admin was on top of it--Condi Rice should be charged with treason or incompetence--take your pick |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-03-27 3:16:09 AM |
| #1 Interesting development of the Bush Doctrine in action. Reminds me of how Libya used the UK as a gobetween to come in from the cold... Hope the Ozzies work something out, so that Bashir Assad can get out of Lebanon, institute democratic reforms in his country, cough up his terrorists and Saddam's WMDs and stop having to buy Depends by the truckload! |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-03-27 1:37:34 AM |