Sen Byrd: US Syria Bill Could Lead to an Invasion

[DUreader]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1112-05.htm


snip


West Virginia's Robert Byrd, who along with three
others senators voted against the measure, said
that while he is critical of Damascus, he feared the
vote "could later be used to build a case for a
military intervention against Syria."

"The bill speaks of 'hostile actions' by Syria against US-led forces in Iraq," said Byrd.

"I have not seen any evidence that would lead me to believe that it is the government
of Syria that is responsible for the attacks against our troops in Iraq," the West
Virginia Democrat said.

"Such insinuations can only build the case for military action against Syria, which,
unfortunately, is a very real possibility because of the dangerous doctrine of
pre-emption created by the (George W.) Bush administration," said Byrd, an
outspoken critic of US Middle East policy, particularly in Iraq.


snip

[ewagner]

1. Stealth Authorization?

From what the Good Senator said it sounds like a stealthy way of authorizing military action against targets in Syria..........

could Dubya really be that underhanded?......oh wait, sorry I asked.

[MoonAndSun]

3. As usual, The Senator is one of the few voices from "our"

Democratic senators that has the guts to stand up for what he truly believes.

[Jacobin]

2. Good grief.

This one is definitely under the radar on mainstream news sources.


Here we go again.

[jbfam4]

4. Good Post. I was getting ready to post this too.

Byrd, Chaffee, Jeffords, Enzi (R)..all voted no. Seven not voting.

[KoKo]

5. Didn't Levin or Kennedy vote against it...or Daschle or Reid?

Isn't there anyone else?

[jbfam4]

12. How many people really knew what they were voting for?

Levin , Kennedy ,Daschle and Reid all voted for it.

[madrchsod]

6. syria,hmmmm

syria has helped the cia in identifing terrorists mainly the brotherhood,which the former ruler murdered up to 10000 of their members. syria has also given info on the other terrorist groups around the mid east and then throw in the idea that we are sending prisoners from gitmo to syria so they can torture them. what is the point of attacking someone who has the same interests? could the
only reason to invade syria is to appease the sharonists in the whitehouse and congress?once again the best interest of the usa is placed below the interests of the sharonists

[peterh]

7. My Senator, Barbara Boxer, is a co-sponsor of that bill…

And is on record, after the vote, saying:
"We cannot have relationships with Syria and close our eyes to the truth, and the truth is that they are in fact supporting terrorism in ways that are very, very clear," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Me wonders whether she even read what she co-sponsored. She’s suppose to be the more liberal of my two (Feinstein being the other) Senators, yet here she is, co-sponsoring a potential pre-emptive bill with one of the biggest chicken-hawks, Santorum. I have to think, Boxer needed a big favor for something else to do this, but this is a sell-out, if the hostile language is in there.

[xxqqqzme]

8. 'supporting terrorism is ways that

are very, very clear'.....hello?....Barbara?...'evidence' of these very clear ways is coming from where? from who? and we're Blieving this R we?

[BlackFrancis]

9. I love the "Lebanese Sovereignty Act"

That's absolutely fucking hillarious. It's serious 1984 stuff when for no apparent reason whatsoever other than to test their own doublethink skills they bemoan Syria's occupation of Lebanon which numbers about 15,000 troops nearly all of them deployed on the Israeli border like it's the ultimate in evil while simultaniously funding Israel's brutal occupation next door to the east and carrying on our own brutal occupation next door to the north.

Not only that but we set off the entire thirty year civil war that got the Syrians in there in the first place by installing a client regime in Lebanon who obediantly asked for US troops to be deployed there. Like we really give a squirt of piss about "sovereignty". We didn't care in the eighties when we backed the wildly unpopular Maronite government against nearly everyone in the country and if Syria left Israel would appear under some pretext and try and restore their favorite puppets. They know that and that's what it's all about.

[ze_dscherman]

10. kickin' off the next round in ME

"Syria shares a 400-mile (650-kilometer) border with Iraq. With more than 135,000 US troops deployed in Iraq, Syria needs to reconsider where its future security interests lie," said Lugar, who added: "This is not a threat of US military action, but a statement of the new reality on Syria's borders."

On edit: Applause to Senator Byrd. Shame to those who stay silent.

[PATRICK]

11. Byrd fully up to speed

With the obvious and unchanging Bush agenda. The lay groundwork because that is exactlywhat they have consistently intended and shown. This includes other Bushco presumptions that some terrorist incident plus Bush reelection will destroy dissent. They have a simple plan that will not be deviated from(they haven't yet, not one inch)waiting for any opportunity to exploit.

So while plans for the absolutely(repeat for those plagued with metnal incapacities) absolutely necessary draft and and future occupations continue the majority of Americans and politicians especially, prepare to be "shocked" and "surprised" and forced to react the way the godking wants them to.

The only other way their plans can work without international caving to foreign levies to take our soldiers' places is to rely on WMD's- ours, that is. That will be a later stage in the PNAC plot anyway, regardless.

All waiting for some justification(terror hit) or simply Bush bluffing his way over civilized blindness.

But Byrd has got the number for now. They intend to take Syria, not bluff it. The same with Iran. Iraq? They are still making huge personal profits. Still keeping their hardcore nut support. Still keeping the lapdog loyalty of the media and various establishments of privilege. Still not losing anything. Still in a position to increase dominance. Still possessing the US as number one economic and military power. Still going ahead with its completely transparent agenda.

They certainly won't care what Byrd thinks until he wins some votes or
becomes the spokeperson for the majority. And how can that happen, they laugh?

[radfringe]

13. Invasion? You bet

99% of Congress are a bunch of cowards

Consider this - the $87-billion dollar bill passed with only 6 - count'em - 6 Senators willing to go on the record

the rest skedaddled - 1/2 afraid that the Iraq mess might get messier and then they would be held accountable, the rest afraid that Baghdad Bush might just be able to put lipstick on this pig and then they would be branded as "unpatriotic" for voting against it...

The Original Iraq Invasion authorization - congress caved in there too

BUNCH OF
COWARDS

[hang a left]

16. Because I don't remember all of Dems that voted now, how

many of those Senators have elections in 04?

[NewJerseyDem]

17. 12 senators voted no

and a majority of demcoratic congressmen voted no. There was a voice vote where no senators went on record. Not 6, zero. The six or so senators that did take part in the voice vote don't go on record.

There was however another, earlier vote, where 12 democratic senators voted no on the bill. They decided not to vote again which is odd and unusual, but the members of the House of Representatives did vote so I guess all of those aren't cowards. And that is over 80% of Congress.

[PurityOfEssence]

14. Syria is definitely the PNAC's enemy of choice

Many of us here have been saying this for a long time. Israel would be happy to help...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. I guess we know who's next, don't we?...

Pretty soon we'll have the entire Islamic Middle East turned against us because they will know that sooner or later their time is coming.

So much for a safer world for our children.

[ozone_man]

18. How did our spineless Senator candidates vote?

Just curious. Gepkerwards, that is, don't need to ask about Lieberman.

I have about 6 months left on my bet that U.S. invades Syria within a year. I hope I lose that one.

This is how it starts.

[burythehatchet]

19. If you have any doubt about the intention

consider that whistleass wants out of Iraq ASAP. Gee - I wonder why