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Syria-Lebanon
Lebanon refutes Rumsfeld on existence of terrorists in the Bekaa
2004-01-11
Lebanon has refuted statements attributed to the US secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld, on the existence of what he called terrorists in the Bekaa area, considering such statements as mere illusions.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened..."
The Lebanese foreign minister Jean Obeid told journalists "I believe that the matter will be refuted by facts on the ground, the same as happened to Mr. Rumsfeld's allegations about mass destruction weapons." News reports quoted on Thursday "American sources" saying that Rumsfeld is studying the possibility of sending special forces to Somalia, and the Lebanese Bekaa plain which is controlled by Syria to "detain terrorists."
Whether he intends to or not, it certainly got their attention, which I suspect is what he intended to do. He and Powell are probably laughing their buttocks off at this...
On whether Rumsfeld's statement is an introduction to launch an American aggression against Lebanon and Syria, Obeid said "we do not know what is going in the head of Rumsfeld, but we think that Lebanon in this matter is free of all accusations." The minister stressed that "the State of Lebanon at all its levels will have the appropriate and convincing reply." For his part, the Lebanese minister of information Michael Samaha described the hypothesis of the existence of terrorists in the Bekaa plain as just "illusions," and considered that the objective is to damage any positive and serious dialogue with the USA. In press statements, the Lebanese minister asked Rumsfeld to talks with his country s embassy in Lebanon, especially as its team makes repeated visited to the Bekaa and other Lebanese areas.
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#11  Where they can hold lengthy, wide-ranging diplomatic discussions with the crabs and penguins that make up the bulk of the population...
Posted by: mojo   2004-1-11 3:41:18 PM  

#10  Unfortunately, the State Dept guys who are the most difficult are Civil Service and can't be purged. However, nothing says we can't transfer them to our brand-new very, very large embassy on Diego Garcia...
Posted by: snellenr   2004-1-11 3:12:51 PM  

#9  Heh heh. "The Bekaa who?! Oh, no no no no no, that's not in LEBANON! No, that's part of ... SYRIA! Yeah, that's the ticket. We can't be responsible for the place. It's been taken over by carnies."

Heh. Think they were a little flustered by "Secretary of State RUMSFELD'S" (we should be so lucky) words about the place?
Posted by: 4thInfVet   2004-1-11 2:11:58 PM  

#8  The first thing he would do is purge (i.e.liquidate) the entire upper echelon of the State Department, starting with Richard Boucher

The truth is State retirees are self-refuting. All they have to do is publish their (inevitable) America-hating tracts, and readers will start wondering whether the State Department really works for benefit of the American people, or for the foreign lobbyist jobs they generally take up after retiring.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-1-11 12:46:23 PM  

#7  ZF. LOL.
The first thing he would do is purge (i.e.liquidate) the entire upper echelon of the State Department, starting with Richard Boucher
Posted by: Shipman   2004-1-11 12:09:54 PM  

#6  Expanding on the previous statement, Rumsfeld would show up with a set of brass knuckles, whereas Wolfowitz (or Bolton or Feith) would show up with a box of fresh proctologist gloves.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-1-11 12:06:19 PM  

#5  "the US secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld,"

Pal, I'm surprised you didn't notice THIS egregious error ...

Can you imagine Rumsfeld as the Secretary of State? The first thing he would do is purge (i.e. retire) the entire upper echelon of the State Department, starting with Richard Boucher. With Rumsfeld at State and Wolfowitz (or Bolton or Feith) at Defense, instead of a good cop-bad cop approach, we'd have a bad cop-worse cop approach.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-1-11 12:02:32 PM  

#4  ...described the hypothesis of the existence of terrorists in the Bekaa plain as just "illusions," and considered that the objective is to damage any positive and serious dialogue with the USA. I'm sure that there is an engagement/appeasement US Congressperson on a plane right now that will soon swear that Beka is clear of all terrorists.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-1-11 11:06:48 AM  

#3  i love seeing these fuckers squirm,more more
Posted by: Jon Shep   2004-1-11 4:35:46 AM  

#2  Hell, Fred must be having us on with this one - the whole article is in the "I can shout, don't hear you!" vein of mangled Engrish. Pretty funny shit, actually. Can you see the puppet's strings quivering? I think someone's more than a little nervous!
Posted by: .com   2004-1-11 2:02:57 AM  

#1  "the US secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld,"

Pal, I'm surprised you didn't notice THIS egregious error ...
Posted by: Lu Baihu   2004-1-11 1:12:12 AM  

00:00