U.S. launches raid into Syria

[BraneMatter]

U.S. Special Forces aboard four helicopters have apparently raided a Syrain village just across the Iraq border (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27389245/).

Syria has demanded the U.S. Charge D'Affairs appear with an explanation of the attack.

Syria is confirming the attack, but the Pentagon usually does not comment on Special Operations of this type.

Funny how this happens just a few days before the elections, and in light of McCain advisor Charlie Black's comment (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/john-mccain-aid.html)on how an "incident" would really help McCain's chances of being elected.

Are they trying to stir something up with Syria here?

Israel was quick to say it had no part in the attack.

[Chapaev]

This cowardly, unprovoked aggression against Syria should be met with strict consequences. This incident cannot be anything other than an act of war. This latest atrocity is consistent with the efforts of the imperialists and zionists of seeking to destabilize Syria in order to bring about a change in government. Keep in mind Israel's airstrike against Syria last year and the terrorist attack in Damascus last month that was surely masterminded by the CIA and Mossad.

[GPDP]

I wonder if this is making the rounds on TV.

It's pretty strange that the mainstream media is covering this.

[Drace]

t's pretty strange that the mainstream media is covering this.

Is it o.O?

[GPDP]

I dunno. You'd think they'd keep quiet about it for a while. But maybe I'm just too pessimistic about the media.

[Abluegreen7]

This is just disgusting.

Imperialism makes me sick.

[Pogue]

Can we have a class war now so we can stop the shit the filth keep trying on?

[BraneMatter]

Well, Syria wasn't about to keep quiet about it, so it was bound to hit the media.

U.S. Helicopter Raid Inside Syria (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/10/20081026182232891957.html)(Al Jazeera)
U.S. Launches Raid Into Syria (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1031568.html) (Haaretz)
Syria: U.S. Attacks Village Town (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444101,00.html) (Fix News)

It would not surprise me to see another 'incident' provoked with Iran in the Persian Gulf and Straight of Hormuz, either, between now and election day.

McCain really believes he is owed the Presidency, and he seems to be getting angrier and more desperate by the day. Nothing would surprise me here. This right-wing gang of thugs is totally unbalanced and mentally unstable right now, and Bush does not care about his "legacy" because, as he says, "I'll be dead." They might do anything...

[Abluegreen7]

Well, Syria wasn't about to keep quiet about it, so it was bound to hit the media.

It would not surprise me to see another 'incident' provoked with Iran in the Persian Gulf and Straight of Hormuz, either, between now and election day.

Arent they trying to invoke a war with the entire Middle East?

[BraneMatter]

Arent they trying to invoke a war with the entire Middle East?

Seems to be the plan... an unending "war on terror" against the whole Islamic world until they accept 'democracy' and western free market values...

Same old imperialism and colonialism.

[Abluegreen7]

Seems to be the plan... an unending "war on terror" against the whole Islamic world until they accept 'democracy' and western free market values...

Same old imperialism and colonialism.
Reminds me of Adolf's Plan so much.

[Tatarin]

Hey, didn't Ronald Reagan do the same thing before he got elected? According to the documentary Orwell Rolls In His Grave, the hostages in Iran was held just after the day Reagan got elected to give him a boost of support. I may be wrong, though.

[BraneMatter]

CNN reports that the U.S. has just carried out another air-strike inside Pakistan.

[Abluegreen7]

CNN reports that the U.S. has just carried out another air-strike inside Pakistan.

All I must say is "Wow".

[Yehuda Stern]

Attributing it to McCain's campaign seems overly conspiratorial to me*. Both the Democrats and the Republicans support American aggression against Iran and Syria, and all other regimes deemed unreliable by American and Zionist imperialism. The attack on Syria should be seen not as an attempt by right-wingers to boost some electoral campaign, but as part of American imperialism's war on Iraq and the Middle East as a whole, much like the war on Vietnam sometimes 'spilled over' to Cambodia and other neighboring countries.

And bullshit Israel doesn't have anything to do with it. I've never heard of any aggression in the Middle East that Israel didn't play some role in.

*It also stinks of support for the Democrats as either 'left-wing' or less imperialist or reactionary.

[cop an Attitude]

war acts seem to be a patter when it comes to elections, anyone ever see the movie "wag the dog" :p.

[Reclaimed Dasein]

This cowardly, unprovoked aggression against Syria should be met with strict consequences. This incident cannot be anything other than an act of war. This latest atrocity is consistent with the efforts of the imperialists and zionists of seeking to destabilize Syria in order to bring about a change in government. Keep in mind Israel's airstrike against Syria last year and the terrorist attack in Damascus last month that was surely masterminded by the CIA and Mossad.

Here's the problem. Syria can't accept that it was an act of war because if they did they'd would be compelled to go to war with the United States military. They don't have the resources to do so. It's too bad that there's no mechanism in place to reduce the United States militarism.

[Abluegreen7]

war acts seem to be a patter when it comes to elections, anyone ever see the movie "wag the dog" :p.
I can't say I have seen "Wag the Dog".

Care to explain what it is about a bit Comrade?

[spartan]

Arent they trying to invoke a war with the entire Middle East?
Why of course.

Anything to help that scumbag fearmongering McCain in the polls.

[Abluegreen7]

[quote=spartan;1270682]Why of course.
You got to know those evil "Terrorists" might get the American, Sarcastical...

[JimmyJazz]

It seems to genuinely have been a part of the Iraq campaign, which is why (1) the U.S. MSM are covering it, and (2) Syria will forgive it. I don't see any reason (from the linked article, anyway) to interpret it as a deliberate provocation of Syria.

[KurtFF8]

Hey, didn't Ronald Reagan do the same thing before he got elected? According to the documentary Orwell Rolls In His Grave, the hostages in Iran was held just after the day Reagan got elected to give him a boost of support. I may be wrong, though.

The hostages were on the plane on the runway waiting for Reagan to be sworn into until they released them. The Iranians wanted to make Carter look as bad as possible, so it wasn't US politics manipulating the situation but on the contrary, Iranian politics manipulating the situation for political gains.

[BraneMatter]

Attributing it to McCain's campaign seems overly conspiratorial to me*. Both the Democrats and the Republicans support American aggression against Iran and Syria, and all other regimes deemed unreliable by American and Zionist imperialism. The attack on Syria should be seen not as an attempt by right-wingers to boost some electoral campaign, but as part of American imperialism's war on Iraq and the Middle East as a whole, much like the war on Vietnam sometimes 'spilled over' to Cambodia and other neighboring countries.

And bullshit Israel doesn't have anything to do with it. I've never heard of any aggression in the Middle East that Israel didn't play some role in.

*It also stinks of support for the Democrats as either 'left-wing' or less imperialist or reactionary.

Well, it was the McCain campaign's guy who said that an "incident" would be helpful to McCain, as he is the big 'expert' military man, war hero, etc., and so presumably we would all be safer under his wise care when the bullets start flying, and a war flareup or terrorist incident would then trump the economy as the number one issue. (How you separate the war and the economy is beyond my feeble imagination!) That's the propaganda line. :confused:

So I was just quoting his own campaign's statement. None of it was the way I would reason. I pretty much agree with you.

But they are driven by empire and oil, so god knows what they are capable of. What we have already seen is enough to be very paranoid about what goes on inside their brains...

We could go all the way back to the PNAC documents, and see a lot of what is now happening laid out there:

1. U.S. must remain the world's main superpower after the demise of the Soviet Union. It is the job of the U.S. to maintain world order.
2. U.S. must be world's leading and dominant economic power.
3. Spreading 'democracy' and 'free market values' around the world (especially in the Middle East), and emergence of a new global economic order.

These are the PNAC principles of American empire (http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm) (Check the names at the bottom! It's a "whose who" of neo-liberal empire builders.), and have been stated again and again by Ronald Reagan, both Bush's, and Bill Clinton.

[Yehuda Stern]

Well, it was the McCain campaign's guy who said that an "incident" would be helpful to McCain, as he is the big 'expert' military man, war hero, etc., and so presumably we would all be safer under his wise care when the bullets start flying, and a war flareup or terrorist incident would then trump the economy as the number one issue.

It's still quite farfetched to conclude from this that the Republicans somehow engineered this incident. It is most likely part of the Iraq war, and that's probably why there's been no further protest from Syria (that I know of).


(How you separate the war and the economy is beyond my feeble imagination!)

Considering that I never separated the war and the economy, maybe your imagination is not so feeble after all.

[Chapaev]

International reaction on this incident:



Arab League (http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1439320.php/Arab_League_Chief_Amr_Mussa_condemns_raid_in_Syria _calls_for_probe_) Secretary General Amr Mussa on Monday condemned the US raid in Syria on Sunday, describing it as 'a violation of Syrian sovereignty.' He underlined the Arab League's support for Syria's 'right to defend its land and people' and called for an investigation in the incident to 'hold those responsible into account.'



"After an American helicopter raid against a Syrian village near the Iraqi border, France (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LR220520.htm) expresses its serious concerns and deplores the loss of Syrian civilian lives," the statement from Sarkozy's office said. "France calls for restraint and underlines its attachment to the strict respect of the territorial integrity of states,"




Russia (http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-36174820081027) accused the United States of fuelling dangerous tension in the Middle East on Monday after Syria said that U.S. helicopters had attacked a farm near the border with Iraq. "Moscow has responded with great concern to what happened," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We believe attacks that are worthy of condemnation should not be launched on the territory of sovereign states under the slogan of the fight against terrorism."




China (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/28/content_10269155.htm) voiced its stance on the recent U.S air strike in Syria, saying it opposed actions which infringed upon a nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said here Tuesday.




Iran (http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=181001) strongly condemned the U.S. air raid on Syrian soil calling it “unacceptable”. “We condemn any military invasion and a violation of the sovereignty of countries …and announce that such issues are not acceptable to us,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference.

[TheDifferenceEngine]

The raid in Syria, combined with the U.S strikes into Pakistan and the ongoing "undeclared war" with Iran could develop into a very nasty situation.

I'm no fan of the Baathists in Syria, nor the Fanatics in Iran and Pakistan; but a war stretching from the Mediterranean to the Indus would be some seriously bad news.

[Chapaev]

This raid into Syrian territory has once again confirmed America's policy of aggression, naked force and terror against Muslims. America's flagrant aggression was all the more striking in view of the fact that it struck a peace-loving, progressive country such as Syria.

This attack had been premeditated to provoke the Syrian Government and to intimidate countries like Syria that extend political solidarity to Iran and respond to the needs of the Palestinian resistance. Even if the lame justification of the United States is to be entertained, the Syrian people cannot be held accountable for the activities of Syria-based Iraqi patriots and their friends from other Muslim countries striving to liberate their conquered and occupied territory. If the United Nations had any credibility, it would have moved to expel the United States from that body for crimes against the peace.

[Spirit of Spartacus]

This raid into Syrian territory has once again confirmed America's policy of aggression, naked force and terror against Muslims. America's flagrant aggression was all the more striking in view of the fact that it struck a country whose peace-loving nature is universally recognized.

This attack had been premeditated to provoke the Syrian Government and to intimidate countries like Syria that extend political solidarity to Iran and respond to the needs of the Palestinian resistance. Even if the lame justification of the United States is to be entertained, the Syrian people cannot be held accountable for the activities of Syria-based Iraqi patriots and their friends from other Muslim countries striving to liberate their conquered and occupied territory. If the United Nations had any credibility, it would have moved to expel the United States from that body for its crimes against the peace.

Comrade, there is no need to refer to this as American aggression against "Muslims".

The targets of US imperialism do not belong to any one religion.

The US can get along great with Muslims like those in Saudi Arabia's ruling-classes, or in the sheikhs of the Gulf countries, or the ruling-class of Jordan and Egypt.

US imperialist aggression is aimed at workers and peasants all over the Third World, not just in the Middle East.

[Yehuda Stern]

Perhaps, but it's pretty ridiculous to deny the huge racist anti-Muslim and anti-Arab propaganda campaign that Western imperialist has embarked on since 9/11 (and, some would argue, quite some time before that).

[Chapaev]

The working people of Syria deserve the unconditional support of international progressive and democratic forces. Progressive forces must stand by the innocent workers murdered in this barbarous attack.



http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/30/content_10281531.htm
Waving Syrian flags and carrying anti-U.S. banners, thousands of Syrians took to the streets in the capital Damascus Thursday to rally against a recent U.S. deadly attack on Syrian border. The demonstrators from various societies, including public, religious, students, women and civic groups as well as trade unions, began marching in downtown Damascus streets since Thursday morning.

They waved national flags and banners reading slogans such as "No to U.S. aggression on the Syrian territory" and "The American aggression will not succeed," Xinhua correspondents saw at the scene.

Calling their protest as a "march of anger", the protestors condemned the attack as an "unjustified crime" which violated the international law.

They called on international labor organizations to carry out their responsibilities and stand by the innocent workers killed in the attack.