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Subject: Senior US official's final warning to Damascus
Kanadees    1/1/2005 11:23:23 PM
Sunday, January 2, US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage arrives in Damascus with a final warning from Washington. The Syrian ruler will be informed that the administration is closer than ever before to acceding to Allawi’s demand. Ever since the December 21 suicide attack on the US forward base in Mosul, when 22 Americans were killed, Allawi has been urging Washington to launch attacks from Iraq on points in Syria – singling out military locations known to intelligence as bases used to assist and train terrorists preparatory to their infiltration of Iraq. The Iraqi prime minister believes that without military action against Syria, three key goals will remain out of reach: 1. A general election on January 30 orderly enough to be a success. 2. An effective deterrent to Tehran’s meddling in Iraq. 3. Victory in the war against the guerrillas.
 
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displacedjim    RE:Senior US official's final warning to Damascus   1/2/2005 5:39:29 PM
Hmmm, hard to believe we'd rock the boat that much **before** the election. Still, that would be the break I've been waiting for--especially if the Syrians developed a death-wish and counter-attacked. Then I'd be recalled again for sure! :-) Displacedjim
 
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Carl D.    RE:Senior US official's final warning to Damascus   1/3/2005 1:44:03 PM
The Syrians have been given a lot of opportunities to find the proverbial clue regarding this situation. The US Army wanted to go into Syria early in the Iraq operation due to this issue. You can only tell someone to knock it off so much before something has to happen. Considering that in taking it to the regime in Syria would also be taking it to Hezbollah and Hammas, who prior to QBL and AQ had killed more Americans than anybody else over there and hadn't really paid the bill for it, it may well be considered long overdue for the U.S. to make a thunder run into Syria. I'd suggest though that we just go in and wreck those facilties and Syrian military assets that are causing the problem and not occupy the place unless we start finding WMDs.
 
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Bob    RE:Senior US official's final warning to Damascus   1/11/2005 1:09:06 PM
US and Iraq All Set for Strike against Syria. Israel Is Braced for Hizballah Second Front DEBKAfile Special Military Report Updating DEBKA-Net-Weekly 188 January 11, 2005, 2:44 PM (GMT+02:00) US warns Syria to keep its newly-purcahsed Kornet AT-14 anti-tank missile out of Iraq Last Sunday, January 2, US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage performed his last major mission before stepping down in favor of Robert B. Zoellick, whom incoming secretary Condoleezza Rice has picked as her deputy. (Zoellick, currently trade representative in charge US world trade, served as deputy to secretary of state James Baker in the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations. This mission took Armitage to Damascus with nine American demands. DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s Washington sources published those demands for the first time in its last week’s issue: To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE . 1. Start repealing Syria’s 40-years old emergency laws. 2. Free all political prisoners from jail. 3. Abolish media censorship. 4. Initiate democratic reform. 5. Speed up economic development 6. Cut down relations with Iran. 7. Announce publicly that the disputed Shebaa Farms at the base of Mt. Hermon are former Syrian territory. This would cut the ground from under the Lebanese terrorist Hizballah’s claim that the land is Lebanese and must be “liberated” from Israeli “occupation.” DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that the Iran-sponsored Hizballah’s attack on an Israeli convoy patrolling the disputed Shebaa Farms sector, killing an Israeli officer, on Palestinian election-day, Sunday, January 9, was addressed as much to President George W. Bush as to the new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as a foretaste of what it has in store. 8. Hand over to US or Iraqi authorities 55 top officials and military officers of the former Saddam regime, who are confirmed by intelligence to be established in Syria and running the guerrilla war in Iraq out of their homes and offices. (An address, telephone number and cell phone number were listed beside each name). But the punchline was in the last demand. 9. Syria had better make sure that none of the Kornet AT-14 anti-tank missiles which it recently purchased in large quantities from East Europe turn up in Iraq. US intelligence has recorded their serial numbers to identify their source. DEBKAfile’s military sources add: Because he cannot afford to buy advanced fighter planes and tanks, Assad purchased massive quantities of the “third generation” Kornet AT-14 anti-tank weapons. Just in case any are found in Iraq, General Casey, commander of US forces in Iraq has already received orders from the commander-in-chief in the White House to pursue military action inside Syria according to his best military judgment. Number 9 therefore incorporates a tangible threat. The American general has the authority to launch military action against Syria as he sees fit and without delay if Damascus continues to meddle in Iraq’s affairs. DEBKAfile adds: The Syrian ruler protested to Armitage that he is doing everything he can to hold back the flow of guerrilla fighters and weapons into Iraq. As proof, he ordered Syria’s chief of staff General Ali Habib to establish a forward command center on the Syrian-Iraq border to oversee efforts to control border traffic on the spot. The fact is that General Habib is one of the few Syrian officers which the Americans have trusted. He commanded the Syrian units dispatched to Saudi Arabia in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq and made friends with the US commanders and officials conducting the war, including vice president Dick Cheney and the then head of joint chiefs of staff, Colin Powell. However, even Habib’s old American buddies do not rule out the possibility that he was posted to the border not to restrain the traffic but to take command of Syrian units posted there and prepare them for the contingency of an American military offensive. Assad and General Habib are both aware, according to our sources, of the near carte blanche handed down to General Casey to pursue military action against Syria as and when indicated by US military requirements in Iraq. In this regard, DEBKAfile’s military sources note four important points: 1. It will not take place before President Bush is sworn in for his second term on January 20 or Iraq’s general election ten days later. 2. The Americans will not start out with a large-scale, orderly military offensive, but rather short in-and-out forays; small US and Iraqi special forces units will cross the border and raid bases housing Iraqi guerrillas or buses carrying them to the border. If these brief raids are ineffective, the Americans will upscale the action. 3. The Allawi government will formally request the United States to consign joint Iraqi-US forces for action against Syrian targets, so placing the US operation under the Ba
 
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Massive    AK...   1/11/2005 4:38:20 PM
...will be disappointed they got a warning but pleased that it was just that... A little sad myself - spent a bit of time in Syria and they are great people. Screwed by their regime of course but still proud of who they are and incredibly kind to visitors. Precision strikes never seem to be that...
 
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Carl D.    RE:AK... Cross Border Action Reported   1/11/2005 11:53:04 PM
Yes, the sad truth is that throughout history it seems that it is always the people who create these situations that are the last, if at all, to pay the piper for their actions. Was listening to WABC just now, apparently there was some cross border action from Syria into N Iraq attacking USMC units in the area, then withdrawing back into Syria. I'm afraid that it is about to get a lot nastier and noisier in that area shortly.
 
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Thomas    RE:Senior US official's final warning to Damascus   1/12/2005 5:14:30 AM
Hmmm, something tells me the secret Turkish police has been sharing what's on its mind - and in its records.
 
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swhitebull    MSM Lags Behind - No Prize Here   1/12/2005 7:07:39 AM
 
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sofa    RE:Senior US official's final warning to Damascus   7/17/2006 10:35:11 PM
When is the best moment for a limited US incursion into Syria to hit several terror bases, assets, and infrastructure which are active against Iraq? Just a drive by. Dismantle and grab some bad guys and some intel.
 
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