GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
White House rejects Syria incursion plan
Would block al-Qaida insurgents but Bush wary of opening 2nd front
Posted: February 27, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
The White House has rejected a U.S. military proposal for increased freedom of
action along the Iraqi-Syrian border to halt the flow of Muslim fighters into
Iraq, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.
U.S. officials said the White House rejected a plan suggested by the Joint
Chiefs of Staff to permit U.S. forces operating along the Iraqi-Syrian border
to pursue al-Qaida-aligned fighters into Syria and attack insurgency way
stations inside Syrian territory.
The plan identified Iran and Syria as the leading sources of Muslim volunteers
seeking to enter Iraq and join the insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition.
The military plan was endorsed by the Defense Department, officials said. The
Pentagon warned the White House that without U.S. military pressure, Damascus
would continue to facilitate the flow of Muslim volunteers into Iraq. Syrian
officials have been bribed to allow the insurgents to cross the border, the
said.
The Pentagon concluded the flow of Islamic insurgents from Syria has become a
key difficulty in stabilizing Iraq. Syria has been used by Islamic insurgents
to infiltrate Iraq and join al-Qaida suicide squads, the sources said.
"The White House doesn't want to do anything that might open a second front,
particularly in 2004," said an official who has been involved in the issue.
"The focus has been stabilizing Iraq and capturing [Osama] Bin Laden."
On Feb. 23, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he favored U.S. pressure on
Iran and Syria to stop the flow of Muslim insurgents into Iraq.
Briefing reporters during his visit to Baghdad, Rumsfeld elaborated on Syria's
role in helping terrorists in Iraq and Lebanon.
"We know Syria has been a hospitable place for escaping Iraqis," Rumsfeld said.
"We know Syria has facilitated [the movement of] terrorists with the
cooperation of Iran down through Damascus and into Beirut and into the Bekaa
Valley and down into Israel. We have seen buses come out of Syria filled with
people who were coming to join the fray. The powers that be in Syria and Iran
are not wishing the Iraqi people well. Sometimes I understate for emphasis."
On Feb. 23, at least 13 people were killed and 51 others injured in a car
bombing at a police station in Kirkuk. U.S. officials said the attack had the
markings of an al-Qaida or Ansar al-Islam strike. Later, three Iraqi employees
of the U.S. military were killed in an ambush near Mosul.
Rumsfeld said he favored U.S. pressure on Syria to halt the flow of insurgents.
But he said the issue was under the responsibility of the State Department.
"That wouldn't be a bad thing," Rumsfeld said. "There have been a series of
things done, and I suspect that the Department of State and others will
continue to make it clear to those two countries that their behavior is
unhelpful."
In 2003, U.S. troops operated along and just inside the Syrian border with
Iraq. Last summer, U.S. Army helicopters were allowed to enter Syrian air space
to attack suspected Muslim fighters. The Syrian military did not respond.
The administration has threatened Syria with additional U.S. sanctions unless
it halts the flow of Muslim insurgents into Iraq. In December 2003, Bush signed
the Syria Accountability Act, which paves the way for a virtual U.S. trade
embargo on Syria unless it cooperates with the United States on such issues as
Iraq, Lebanon, Islamic insurgency groups and weapons of mass destruction.
The proposal by the Joint Chiefs regarding Syria came after the failure of a
U.S. effort to seal Iraq's borders. The U.S. military had envisioned that Iraqi
troops and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps -- in cooperation with Kurdish
militias -- would block the flow of insurgents and smugglers from Iran and
Syria.
"The border protection is a very difficult thing to do," Rumsfeld said in an
interview with the Iraqi Media Network. "My impression is that the border with
Kuwait is very secure. The border with Jordan and with Turkey is secure. The
borders with Syria and Iran are not secure. Part of it is that we're not
getting good cooperation by Syria or Iran, and part of it is that we need more
Iraqi border patrol to help do that job."
Officials said the key foreign-based insurgency groups in Iraq are al-Qaida and
Ansar al-lIslam. They said the two groups have established about 20 satellite
cells around Iraq and have trained Muslim volunteers to carry out suicide
strikes.
"It's quite clear in the last few months that we've seen a real step-up on the
part of these professional terrorists from al-Qaida and Ansar al-Islam
conducting suicide attacks," said Coalition Provisional Authority administrator
Paul Bremer.
On Feb. 24, the London-based Al Hayat daily quoted Iraqi sources as saying that
a key aide to Ansar leader Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi was killed in a clash with
U.S. forces. The newspaper said Nidal Arabiyat Aga Hamza, a Jordanian national,
was killed Feb. 19 north of Baghdad.
Hamza was believed to have been responsible for several of the suicide attacks
against targets in Kurdish and Shi'ite communities over the last two months in
which about 270 people were killed.
.
|
|
| User: "WH" |
|
| Title: Re: White House rejects Syria incursion plan |
27 Feb 2004 03:03:10 PM |
|
|
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:20040227094231.01908.00000384@mb-m22.aol.com...
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
White House rejects Syria incursion plan
Would block al-Qaida insurgents but Bush wary of opening 2nd front
Posted: February 27, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
The White House has rejected a U.S. military proposal for increased
freedom of
action along the Iraqi-Syrian border to halt the flow of Muslim fighters
into
Iraq, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.
Global...Intelligence? It's that Farran or whatever he's called *****. The
one who runs WND!
Jeeze.
WH
.
|
|
|
| User: "TonyZ2001" |
|
| Title: Re: White House rejects Syria incursion plan |
28 Feb 2004 07:44:24 AM |
|
|
"WH"
wrote:
Global...Intelligence? It's that Farran or >whatever he's called *****. The
one who runs WND!
Do you thrive on being wrong?
Tony
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
