Syria in the Crosshairs

[pberq]

Although Justin uses this as another chance for Isreal-bashing, his basic point seems to hold: the Bush administration has wanted continuous war and they will use any means toward that end.

http://antiwar.com/justin/

<snip>
I walked into the Arab grocery store just in time to see Michael Young – opinion editor at Beirut's Daily Star newspaper and a contributing editor at Reason magazine – declaring on television that Syria will almost certainly be blamed for the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister. The store owner, a Maronite Christian from Lebanon, who usually greets me happily, listened gravely as Young reiterated pretty much what he said to the Los Angeles Times and dozens of other media outlets:

"Certainly, the mood is very clearly that Syria did this. Syria will be blamed for it no matter who did it. They'll be even more isolated internationally than they already are."

Translation: Never mind the facts. Damascus must pay.

That is clearly the view of the U.S. government, which has recalled its ambassador and is implicitly blaming the Syrians – albeit not directly – in spite of a broadcast on al-Jazeera featuring a man identified as Ahmed Tayseer Abu Adas, who took responsibility for the attack on behalf of a previously unknown group, the "Group for Advocacy and Holy War in the Levant." Adas denounced Hariri as a "Saudi agent" and declared that the killing was in retaliation for the "martyrdom" of al-Qaeda operatives in the Saudi kingdom.

[Goldmund]

1. What's wrong with Israel-bashing?

if by "Israel" one means the foreign policies of recent Israeli governments, as he does?

[pberq]

3. I agree

You are correct, it is the right wing government that is the problem, not the majority of Israelis.

I guess the reason I said this is that I read Justin's columns all the time, and while I don't dispute most of what he says about Israel, I think he sometimes misses the bigger picture.

For example, I rarely see him mention the CIA, and the global rush to grab the remaining oil reserves.

[uppityperson]

2. War with Iran through Syria not Israel

I figured Mr.bush would get to the Iran war through a manufactured Israel problem, but now might be getting there through a manufactured Syrian problem. On the other hand, it may mean that Israel may not need to get nuked. Yet. I have a draft age son by the way.