That's what war planners tend to do.

Countries across the Middle East and North Africa are revolting against their royal rulers, occupying governments and West-backed dictators, but here's what happens when Syrians and Palestinians try to fight their freedom :

Palestinian protesters on the Syrian frontier on Sunday as they tried to breach the border for the second time in three weeks, reflecting a new mode of popular struggle and deadly confrontation fueled by turmoil in the Arab world and the vacuum of stalled peace talks.

Demonstrators attempted to evacuate a protester who was wounded by Israeli forces on Sunday.

Wave after wave of protesters, mainly Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria, approached the frontier with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israeli soldiers opened fire on those who crossed a new trench and tried to attack the border fence near the towns of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and Quneitra in Syria.

By nightfall, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that 22 protesters had been killed and more than 350 had been wounded. Israeli officials said that they had no information on casualties but suggested that the Syrian figures were exaggerated.

Even so, it was the worst bloodshed in the Golan Heights since Israel and Syria fought a war there in 1973.

Pentagon, 2001 : "We're Gonna Take Out 7 Countries In 5 Years"

They're a bit behind schedule.

Bush Refuses To Comment On Israel's Strike On Syria

Israel Claims It Shared Syrian "Nukes" Data With White House Before Air Strikes

This is the first time I've ever seen President Bush retreat to the "No Comment" sideline when he's been questioned on an issue, particularly a controversial one. He's walked away from tough questions he doesn't want to answer, he's lied, he's waffled and rambled, sometimes for 20 minutes off one single question, but I don't think he's ever attempted the kind of stone-walling that this "no comment" throws up. That Bush goes for "no comment" on a question about why Israel supposedly launched airstrikes inside Syria makes his reaction even more interesting :

Q Sir, Israeli opposition leader Netanyahu has now spoken openly about Israel's bombing raid on a target in Syria earlier in the month. I wonder if you could tell us what the target was, whether you supported this bombing raid, and what do you think it does to change the dynamic in an already hot region in terms of Syria and Iran and the dispute with Israel and whether the U.S. could be drawn into any of this?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to comment on the matter. Would you like another question?

Q Did you support it?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to comment on the matter.

Q Can you comment about your concerns that come out of it at all, about for the region?

THE PRESIDENT: No. Saying I'm not going to comment on the matter means I'm not going to comment on the matter.

The story of why Israel attacked targets inside Syria boils down to a rising tide of allegations that Syria had taken possession of nuclear technology, or weapons, from North Korea. They arrived via boat, Israel tracked the movement of the nuclear cargo inside Syria, alerted the White House, the White House supposedly offered no reaction, and then Israel went ahead and launched an air strike or two. At least, that's how the story is now growing in the mainstream media. Here's the Washington Post's take on what happened :

Israel's decision to attack Syria on Sept. 6, bombing a suspected nuclear site set up in apparent collaboration with North Korea, came after Israel shared intelligence with President Bush this summer indicating that North Korean nuclear personnel were in Syria, U.S. government sources said.

The Bush administration has not commented on the Israeli raid or the underlying intelligence. Although the administration was deeply troubled by Israel's assertion that North Korea was assisting the nuclear ambitions of a country closely linked with Iran, sources said, the White House opted against an immediate response because of concerns it would undermine long-running negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

Ultimately, however, the United States is believed to have provided Israel with some corroboration of the original intelligence before Israel proceeded with the raid, which hit the Syrian facility in the dead of night to minimize possible casualties, the sources said.

The target of Israel's attack was said to be in northern Syria, near the Turkish border. A Middle East expert who interviewed one of the pilots involved said they operated under such strict operational security that the airmen flying air cover for the attack aircraft did not know the details of the mission. The pilots who conducted the attack were briefed only after they were in the air, he said. Syrian authorities said there were no casualties.

The fact that Bush refuses to even comment on what is quickly becoming an international issue may well mean that the 'Israel Hits Syria's North Korean Nukes' story is true. Or it may mean that Bush is playing along with a pre-set media campaign that will help to justify Israel's violation of Syrian airspace.

The truth of what happened remains somewhat murky. Expect it to get only more murky.


Neocons Have Syria In Their Sights

Syria tells IAEA : Israeli Nukes Sparking Arms Race

Israel, US Shared Data On Suspected Syrian Nuclear Site

A Dangerous Game Of Bluff - Iran Convinced US Can't Cope With Another War

Iran & Syria Form Strategic Military Alliance

Israel Prepares For War, Demands Increase For Strikes On Iran

The leaders of Iran, Syria, Palestine and Hezbollah met in Damascus in the past few days, and firmed up new military and strategic alliances, as Israel prepares for war, and calls rise amongst NeoCons in Washington for strikes on Iran's nuclear energy facilities :

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad traveled to Damascus on Thursday along with a high-ranking political and economic delegation at the invitation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

During his visit, he met with the Syrian president, Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, and Palestinian leaders based in Syria. Iran and Syria also issued a joint communiqué reaffirming their strategic alliance.

The negotiations between the Iranian and Syrian delegations started on Thursday afternoon, presided over by Ahmadinejad and Assad.

“Iran and Syria were, are, and shall be brothers and allies,” the Iranian president said.

“Iran-Syria ties are deep, enduring, and expanding,” he added.

Time is on the side of regional countries and against their enemies, Ahmadinejad said, adding, “Today resistance is continuing with wisdom and coordination, and I feel sure that God is with regional countries and their enemies will have no choice but to recognize the rights of regional nations.”

Iran and Syria also issued a joint communiqué calling for regional unity.

In the communiqué, the two sides called on all Palestinian groups to resolve their disputes through dialogue and to maintain national unity. The two countries also expressed their support for Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland and to establish an independent Palestinian state with Beit-ul-Moqaddas as its capital.

Both states expressed their support for the Iraqi government and its efforts to maintain the country’s national unity, integrity, and independence, and for the endeavors to facilitate the withdrawal of the occupying forces.

Israel Envoy To US : Free World Is Under Attack From Iran

US Senate Vots 97-0 In Favour Of Moving Towards War On Iran

British Foreign Minister : No Evidence Of Iran Role In Iraq Violence, Attacks

Israel Stands Ready To Invade Gaza Strip

Israel Slams Iran-Syria Alliance

Iran-Syria Military Alliance Sparks Calls For Israeli National Emergency Government - "Axis Of Evil Increasing"

The 'Great Satan' Meets The 'Axis Of Evil'

US Begins Talks, Negotiations With Iran And Syria

The Future Of Iraq Under Discussion By 60 Nations

Ambassadors from the United States and Iran, and dozens of other nations, are meeting in Egypt, while US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is using the same forum to talk and negotiate with Syria.

The future of Iraq is in such a perilous state that the United States has been forced to backdown from the Bush-Cheney mantra : "We don't negotiate with terrorists".

Representatives of some 60 nations are meeting in Egypt to work out how they are going to work together to stop Iraq from totally disintegrating into a hellstorm of ever-spreading death and bloodshed. Countries like Iran, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are at the talks because they hold real fears that the horrors of Iraq will soon spread across their borders.

The United States is at the talks because they simply have no other choice left. And Rice, and her ambassadors, are also doing the bidding of the majority of the Americans they represent, who don't view Syria or Iran as a threat, and back their elected leaders entering into conversations with two of the countries named, and supposedly shamed, as backers and supporters of Islamic terrorism in the Middle East.

Naturally, the NeoCons back in Washington are in a spluttering fury, much to their own embarrassment. The NeoCon blogworld, op-ed pages and talk back radio are alight with angst and fury that the United States would try to stop a full-blown Fourth World War from becoming a reality by doing what all the great nations of the world have done for millenia : negotiate, talk and blow away the poison of threats and hostility.

It hasn't all gone well, according to a US Department of State spokesman, who claims the Iranian foreign minister opted out of a dinner, where he would have been sitting opposite Rice, with the Americans claiming the Iranian foreign minister didn't want to be in the same room with a woman playing a violin as part of the background music to the meal :

"I don't know which woman he was afraid of, the woman in the red dress or the secretary of state," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday.

Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met earlier at a lunch Thursday but exchanged only pleasantries. Neither appeared ready to make the first move for a real meeting.

"You can ask him why he didn't make an effort," Rice told reporters Friday. "I'm not given to chasing anyone."

According to Iraq's foreign minister, Iranian and American ambassadors did meet Friday for more serious talks on the sidelines of the conference to stabilize Iraq _ the second such encounter since March 10.

But for the world's media, the US and Iran must do their dance, where neither gives in to the other, or shows any weakness. How exactly do serious talks begin when neither Iran or the United States will request a formal meeting with the other? It's disappointing to see adults acting like spoiled children when the future of the entire Middle East is at stake.

From the UK Guardian :

The background to all this is the grandly named International Compact for Iraq, an initiative co-chaired by the UN, the World Bank and Iraq itself. It aims to build a framework for security, good governance and regional economic integration with the ambitious goal of a stable and prosperous Iraq within five years.

Diplomats say this is important stuff but admit it sounds like pie in the sky in the context of unending sectarian strife and the daily attacks on coalition forces. "It's probably wishful thinking to see a connection between this and what's happening on the ground," agreed one Arab official. Such scepticism has led to low expectations of what can be achieved.

But parts of the compact make good sense: the 42-page document includes a revenue-sharing oil law, a law to allow members of the now banned Ba'ath party back into public life, and an elections law that will set a date for provincial polls; the hope is that these "benchmarks" will help promote reconciliation by drawing Sunnis away from the insurgency and back into politics.

The broader purpose of the conference is to talk about what is at stake, for Iraq and the region, on the clear if unspoken assumption that the Americans and British are on their way out and that the neighbours need to more to help clear up the mess.

Early reports from the first day of the two day conference are not overwhelmingly positive. It appears Iran and the United States still have a long way to go before they feel they can negotiate with each other on equal terms.


"The United States Must Accept Responsibility Arising From Occupation Of Iraq"

The Great Thawing Between Iran and The United States Has Begun

Iran And Its Neighbours Issue Declaration Of Support For Maliki's Shiite-Led Iraqi Government

Rice Describes Meeting With Syrians As "Businesslike" "Professional"

Iraqi Lawmakers Demand US Pull Out Troops

Saudis Tell Israel : Accept Peace Deal On Palestine Or Face War

Don't Place Your Future In The Hands Of "The Lords Of War" Saudis Warn Israel

Israel Will Be "Recognised" By All Arab Sates If They Pull Back To Pre-1967 Borders

The Saudis and Arab Gulf states have clearly had enough of Israel's endless stalling on the finalisation of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and are loudly demanding Israel fall into line with a new peace plan or face the likelihood of further violence, and eventually war.

The meeting amongst the Arab states in Riyadh this week was an historical event of quite epic proportions. The Saudis shook hands with the Syrians, the Egyptians shook hands with the Iranians, who also shook hands with the Saudis, and key power players from the UN, including the Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, opened the talks. Then followed days of negotiations and working parties, conferences, speeches and discussions.

Remarkably, the United States were virtually all but invisible during the peace talks.

Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has been effectively marginalised and squeezed out of the current Big Push led by Arab states to bring the 60 year conflict between Israel and Palestine to an end.

The US may be sponsoring the talks, but they are doing so from the back of the room.

Here's the short version of the deal the Arab states, led by the Saudis, have come up with, and are waiting for Israel to accept :

...all Arab countries will officially recognize Israel in return for its withdrawal from all land occupied in the 1967 war.

A Palestinian state will be established in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with East Jerusalem as the capital. The plan also proposes granting the right of return to all Palestinian refugees.

It is the right of return for refugees that Israel opposes most vehemently.

In an interview with the London Telegraph, the Saudi foreign minister warned :

"If Israel refuses, that means it doesn't want peace and it places everything back into the hands of fate. They will be putting their future not in the hands of the peacemakers but in the hands of the lords of war," he said.

Prince Saud dismissed any further diplomatic overtures towards Israel. "It has never been proven that reaching out to Israel achieves anything," he said.

"What we have the power to do in the Arab world, we think we have done," he said. "So now it is up to the other side because if you want peace, it is not enough for one side only to want it. Both sides must want it equally."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems to have gotten the message from the Saudis, and looks set to live up to his promise to work for peace with the Palestinians :

The Israeli Prime Minister today described an Arab plan to make peace with the Jewish State as "revolutionary" and said the region could sign a final deal within five years.

Ehud Olmert made his remarks in a series of newspaper interviews this morning, after leaders of the 22 Arab countries gave their unanimous backing to a plan which would commit them to developing diplomatic relations with Israel if it first agreed to a "land-for-peace" deal with the Palestinians.

Only two states, Egypt and Jordan, currently have full diplomatic relations with Israel after signing peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, so the latest pledge for full diplomatic normalisation - which includes the hawkish Syrian regime - is regarded as hugely significant.

“There is a real possibility that Israel can sign a global peace accord with its enemies within five years," the Israeli Prime Minister said.

Asked whether he meant “all of the Arab world,” the Israeli leader replied: “yes."

Excerpts from a London Times earlier this week on the Arab summit:

Opening the summit, Mr Ban spoke of the urgency of reaching a solution, warning that the Middle East was on a knife-edge and describing the region as “more complex, more fragile and more dangerous than it has been for a very long time”.

Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor of The Times, said from Riyadh that the talks are being seen as a significant attempt to achieve some sort of progress in the Middle East peace process.

“The Saudis have really taken up the mantle on this and there is a level of expectation,” he said. “The hope is that the Arab nations can find a wording they can all accept, giving them an agreed position.”

“Previously Israel had shown little support for the initiative, but recently it has been making friendly noises towards the plans. What the US would like is for this initiative to pave the way for some sort of talks between the Quartet – the US, EU, UN and Russia – and Israel and the Arab nations.

“The real thorn is the issue of Palestinian refugees, with Israel rejecting the idea of vast numbers returning.”

While Saudi Arabia is "flush with money", a key reason why the Saudis have been so influential and insistent on first negotiating peace between Fatah and Hamas, and then between the Arab world and the Israelis, may have a lot to do with the ascendancy of Iran :

The menacing spectre of Iran, the rising Shia power with nuclear-tipped ambitions for regional dominance, looms large across the waters of the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia is quietly moving to contain its bellicose neighbour. Prince Saud offered conciliatory words to Iran, laced with coded criticism. "We have no inhibitions about the role of Iran," he said. "It is a large country. It wants to play a leading role in the region, and it has every right to do so. It is an historic country. But if you want to reach for leadership, you have to make sure that those you are leading are having their interests taken care of and not damaged."

Saudi Arabia has privately urged Iran to stop enriching uranium, in compliance with United Nations resolutions and lay to rest any suggestion that it is seeking nuclear weapons. Prince Saud called for a "Middle East free of nuclear weapons" with "no exceptions for anybody, be it Israel or Iran".

King Abdullah Calls For End To Palestinian Blockade

At the Arab summit, Saudi King Abdullah addressed the gathered leaders of the Muslim world and announced that the international blockade against the Palestinian government now had to end :

"It has become necessary to end the unjust blockade imposed on the Palestinian people as soon as possible so that the peace process can move in an atmosphere far from oppression and force," King Abdullah said at the opening of the summit.

Israel and the United States have urged countries to cut political and financial support for the Palestinians because Hamas, which leads the government, refuses to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.

Fears are high among Arab leaders that a US-led attack on non-Arab Iran, which has refused to comply with UN demands to halt atomic work, could further destabilise their region.

Riyadh, pressed by its ally Washington to show more leadership in the region, has called on Sunni Muslim states to overcome divisions, arguing a united front will help persuade Israel to address Palestinian grievances.

Finally, it's worth taking a look back at a speech President Bush gave to the UN General Assembly in September, 2006. Should a final peace be reached between the Israelis and Palestinians, historians will cite this Bush speech as a ignition switch for the momentum that has carried talks through the past seven months to the historical events now becoming reality in the Middle East.

The world must also stand up for peace in the Holy Land. I'm committed to two democratic states -- Israel and Palestine -- living side-by-side in peace and security.

I'm committed to a Palestinian state that has territorial integrity and will live peacefully with the Jewish state of Israel. This is the vision set forth in the road map -- and helping the parties reach this goal is one of the great objectives of my presidency.

The Palestinian people have suffered from decades of corruption and violence and the daily humiliation of occupation. Israeli citizens have endured brutal acts of terrorism and constant fear of attack since the birth of their nation. Many brave men and women have made the commitment to peace. Yet extremists in the region are stirring up hatred and trying to prevent these moderate voices from prevailing.

This struggle is unfolding in the Palestinian territories. Earlier this year, the Palestinian people voted in a free election. The leaders of Hamas campaigned on a platform of ending corruption and improving the lives of the Palestinian people, and they prevailed.

The world is waiting to see whether the Hamas government will follow through on its promises, or pursue an extremist agenda. And the world has sent a clear message to the leaders of Hamas: Serve the interests of the Palestinian people. Abandon terror, recognize Israel's right to exist, honor agreements, and work for peace.

President Abbas is committed to peace, and to his people's aspirations for a state of their own. Prime Minister Olmert is committed to peace, and has said he intends to meet with President Abbas to make real progress on the outstanding issues between them.

I believe peace can be achieved, and that a democratic Palestinian state is possible.

I'm optimistic that by supporting the forces of democracy and moderation, we can help Israelis and Palestinians build a more hopeful future and achieve the peace in a Holy Land we all want.

Freedom, by its nature, cannot be imposed -- it must be chosen. From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom. And the nations gathered in this chamber must make a choice, as well: Will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East -- or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists? America has made its choice: We will stand with the moderates and reformers.

It is unfortunate then that historians will also recognise that as President Bush gave this speech, US State Department NeoCon aligned power brokers and hardline Zionist Israelis were telling Palestine's Prime Minister Abbas that he had to destroy the "unity" government of Hamas and Fatah.

Historians will recognise that it was the Saudis who brokered the eventual peace last month between Fatah and Hamas, and brought to an end the growing civil war inside Palestine. The US and Israel, along with the UK and Australia, refused to recognise Hamas, nor deal with them in any way whatsoever. This left Abbas isolated and near powerless. He had no choice but to work with Hamas to prevent further chaos.

It is likely that when the Saudis learned what the US and Israeli aligned Neocons were up to, they realised the NeoCon-approved 'Total Chaos In The Middle East' plan was being sparked into life, and they worked fast and hard to wind back the growing tensions in their region.

The Saudis brokered the peace between Hamas and Fatah, and then the Saudis created the Arab states unity that led to the Riyadh meeting where a final peace deal was developed and handed to Israel and the United States.

The Fatah-Hamas peace deal brokered by the Saudis shocked the Israelis and the United States. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. They were not involved. And that moment marked, for the Arab states at least, the failing influence of the United States to shape the future of peace in their region.

As discussed above, the Palestinians, the Saudis, all of the Arab states, now wait to see what Israel and the United States decides to do next.

Will it be peace? Or will it be war?

The Saudis have successfully let the world, and the world's media, know that the chance for final peace is now in the hands of Israel.

With Ehud Olmert's talk yesterday of a final peace within five years, the end of the conflict between Palestine and Israel has never looked so close, nor so realistic.

Olmert Praises "Revolutionary Change In Outlook" By Arab States, Commits To Talks

Abbas Extends Hand Of Peace To Israel

Millions Of Palestinian Refugees Cling To Hope Of "Right Of Return" To Their Lands

Israel Resists US Plans For Mid East Peace Talks Over Palestinians "Right To Return Home"

After Israel Veto Of Earlier Plans, Rice Presents Israel-Approved Scaled Back Version Of Middle East Peace Deal

Israel Unlikely To Budge On Palestinians Right Of Return

"There Is A Real Possibility Israel Can Sign A Global Peace Accord With Its Enemies Within Five Years"

Israel And Syria Getting Ready For War, Or Peace?

Biggest War Preparation Drills Held In Israel In Decades

Israel is getting nervous. The war against Lebanon, now called 'The Second Lebanon War', failed to destroy Hezbollah, despite the backing of the United States and emergency weapons shipments into Israel.

A looming confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program no longer looks as easy as it once did, particularly now that the governments of Iraq, Syria, Russia and China have all recently signed multi-billion oil and gas deals with Iran, and Russia and China have both vowed to protect their "national interests" in the region.

Israel is now said to be looking at a more positive relationship with Syria, again with the backing of the United States, despite Syria's support for terrorist groups who've long vowed to destroy the Zionist-controlled state.

But the war-related propaganda continues to flow. Of particular interest is a report on the Syrian 'independent media' site Champress which claims : "European officials have been claiming to Syrian leaders the past few weeks Israel is preparing for a military confrontation with Damascus..." :

European leaders visiting Damascus in recent weeks delivered messages stating Israel was taking measures in advance of a large-scale conflict with Syria, including updating battle plans, training reservist soldiers and preparing the home front for missile attacks.

One senior European Union official told Assad the Israeli government instructed its major hospitals not to allow staff to take vacation time during the summer months for fear a conflict will break out during that period, according to the Baath party source.

According to a report today in the London-based Al-Hayat daily, talks between Israel and France concerning Syria concluded Israel is not interested in weakening Assad, because it does not know whether his replacement would present superior diplomatic alternatives. French officials told the newspaper Israel perceives Assad as weak but is not interested in confronting Syria out of fear that intervention would alter the political situation there.

Assad, who signed a military alliance with Iran, is accused of supporting the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq and funneling money and weapons to Hezbollah. Leaders of major Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, reside openly in Damascus.

Last week, Israel held a massive war-ready drill, its largest since the state was established in 1948. The drill cost more than half a million dollars and involved 25% of Israel's entire police force. It also roped in soldiers, paramedics, government staff and firefights, and covered more than 130 municipalities.

From the Washington Times :

Sirens wailed throughout Israel as thousands of rescue personnel in cities in the country's center and south scrambled to a series of simulated terrorist and missile attacks.

The purpose of the unprecedented two-day exercise....was to test their response to a September 11-like confluence of strikes against Israeli civilian and infrastructure areas.

There were Palestinian rocket barrages from Gaza in the town of Sderot, a chemical bomb at a school in this Tel Aviv suburb, and a conventional missile explosion at a Tel Aviv power plant. Soldiers were drafted as screaming schoolchildren, and others played the parts of hysterical parents and aggressive journalists from abroad.

With widespread concern about looming confrontations in the Gaza Strip; the border with Lebanon and Syria; and Iran, the display was also meant to win back the confidence of a public deeply jaded toward the government and security forces after the bungling of last summer's war with Hezbollah.

Now that's detail, even rehearsing how the military and police will deal with "aggressive journalists from abroad". Not surprisingly, considering the rocket barrages that landed all over Israel during 'The Second Lebanon War' last year, the drill and wailing sirens terrified thousands.

Rumours circulate now in diplomatic circles that Israel is preparing to follow US advice and offer to hand back most of the disputed Golan Heights region, between Israel and Syria, in exchange for Syrian commitment to stop supporting, financing and arming, Hezbollah and providing haven to leaders of Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Israel appears to no longer be interesting in undermining or overthrow the Assad regime in Syria, appearing to a take a 'better the devil you know' approach, no doubt fearing that once Assad is gone, a government more fully alligned with the now strengthened Hezbollah might seize control and pose an even greater threat to Israel.

US Has "Serious Concerns" Over Russian Arms Sales To Syria

500 Kilometre Long Oil/Gas Pipeline To Be Built Between Iraq & Sryia, Governments Announce Deal

Israel And EU Split Over How To Deal With Palestinians, US In Middle

Israel Says Lebanon Cease Fire In Jeopardy Over Israeli Prisoners, Arms Shipments From Syria

Bush Quietly Declares War On Iran And Syria

China Warns United States Not To Mess With Its Interests In Iran

Some of these stories are a few weeks old now, but they should be a part of this blog, and the 'narrative' of the Fourth World War, as they clearly signal the American president's interests in escalating the 'War On Iraq' and broadening the 'War On Terror' across the Middle East.

Syria and Iran are now clearly in his sights.


From The Washington Note :

Washington intelligence, military and foreign policy circles are abuzz today with speculation that the President, yesterday or in recent days, sent a secret Executive Order to the Secretary of Defense and to the Director of the CIA to launch military operations against Syria and Iran.

The President may have started a new secret, informal war against Syria and Iran without the consent of Congress or any broad discussion with the country.

Bush's words follow, when he announced the "troop surge" that has already become widely known in the American mind and the mainstream media as the 'Iraq Escalation', despite the attempts of Secretary Of State, Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush himself to ingrain the word "surge".

US President George W. Bush : "Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops.

"We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.

"We're also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East.

"I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence-sharing and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region."

From the Australian :

George W. Bush has defied popular opinion, top generals and Congress with a plan to escalate US military involvement in the Middle East by sending more troops into Iraq and threatening attacks against terror cells in Iran and Syria.

The US President yesterday admitted mistakes in the war in Iraq but warned that withdrawal would cause mass killing "on an unimaginable scale".

Instead, he committed to boosting American troops involved in the long-running war by another 21,500 to more than 150,000, with most to be sent to tackle the heart of sectarian violence in the capital, Baghdad.

Delivering a much-anticipated address in Washington yesterday, Mr Bush accused Iran and Syria of aiding the insurgent attacks on US troops in Baghdad.

And he vowed to "seek out and destroy" any terror networks supporting the insurgency, saying the move was an essential step towards securing victory in the war, which has claimed more than 3000 US lives and cost more than $US400 billion ($511 billion).

The US appears to have already moved to carry out its threat, with American troops yesterday raiding the Iranian consulate in northern Iraq, detaining five staff.

John Howard yesterday backed Mr Bush's strategy and refused to rule out boosting Australia's Iraqi force of 800 troops. The Prime Minister said defeat in Iraq would be an "unbelievable boost to terrorism", carrying "enormous consequences for the stability of the Middle East".

"The alternatives the President faced were either to announce what he announced or effectively indicate that the West could not win in Iraq and start making arrangements, however it might be camouflaged, for a withdrawal," Mr Howard said.

Many in the foreign policy elite in Washington - including the bipartisan panel known as the Iraq Study Group - had recommended Mr Bush step up a diplomatic push to try to engage Iran and Syria for assistance in helping secure Iraq's future.

Yesterday he said succeeding in Iraq required defending its territorial integrity and stabilising the region in the face of extremists.

This, he said, began with addressing Iran and Syria, which were allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq.

From the Washington Post :

U.S. troops raided an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq late Wednesday night and detained several people, Iran's main news agency reported today, prompting protests from Tehran just hours after President Bush pledged to crack down on the Islamic Republic's role in Iraqi violence.

Iran released news of the raid through its Islamic Republic News Agency in a dispatch that was broadly critical of Bush's plan to deploy about 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.

The IRNA report said that U.S. forces entered the Iranian consulate in Irbil, in Iraq's Kurdish-dominated north, and seized computers, documents and other items. The report said five staff members were taken into custody.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry appealed to the Iraqi government to obtain the release of its personnel.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the United States is systematically trying to identify networks of people who bring weapons and explosives into the country -- a central allegation against Iran -- and will move to shut them down.

Improvised explosives have been a key source of U.S. casualties and deaths since the war began.

"We will do what is necessary for force protection," Rice said at a press conference. "Networks are identified. They are identified from intelligence and they are acted upon . . . whatever the nationality."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , Gen. Peter Pace, referring to the earlier arrest of Iranians, said that Tehran's involvement in Iraq "is destructive. . . . They are complicit . . . and we will do what is necessary."

CONDI RICE THREATENS IRAN

From the Khaleej Times :

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday that the United States won’t ”stand idly by” while Teheran operates against US interests in neighbouring Iraq.

Speaking hours after US troops raided Iran’s consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil and arrested five employees, Rice said Washington was determined to “pursue” Iranians trying to disrupt US efforts to stabilize Iraq.

“You will see that the United States is not going to simply stand idly by and let these activities continue,” she said on Fox News television.

BUSH RAMPS UP UNOFFICIAL WAR ON IRAN, AIMS TO CUT OFF ITS INTERNATIONAL BANKING POWER

From the UK Independent :

Until now, the Bush administration had been content to deal with the perceived Iranian threat diplomatically. The United Nations adopted sanctions against Tehran on 23 December.

However, the economic measures adopted by the UN have failed to convince Iran to halt its uranium-enrichment programme which could lead to production of a nuclear weapon. The US is calling on allied states to adopt tougher unilateral sanctions.

President Bush appointed Admiral William Fallon to replace General John Abizaid as head of Central Command for Iraq and Afghanistan last week in a sign that change could be afoot. This week, Mr Bush ordered a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, along with its support ships, which could be used to contain Iran.

The US Treasury named Iran's Bank Sepah as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction on Tuesday, banned US companies or citizens from doing business with it and blocked any of its assets that come under American jurisdiction.

But if the US is preparing to confront Iran militarily - which some top military officials in Israel are reportedly recommending - the Bush administration will find itself involved in conflicts on four fronts.

In Somalia, US special forces have been pounding suspected al-Qa'ida suspects since early on Monday, in a continuing operation that risks pulling the Americans back into a conflict in a failed state. US forces are also active in southern Afghanistan in the hunt for the al-Qa'ida leader, Osama bin Laden, and his top associates. Al-Qa'ida has reactivated its Taliban allies who have become bolder in their attacks on coalition forces.

In Iraq, US troops are losing soldiers on an almost daily basis to the bombs of Sunni and Shia insurgents. The Shia-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was warned by Ms Rice yesterday that his days were numbered unless he was able to take on Shia militias who are his allies in government.

Ironically, Iran had been contained by Saddam Hussein, until his overthrow by the Americans in 2003.

Obsessed by a threat from "Persian hordes", Saddam maintained ambiguity about his weapons of mass destruction so Iran would believe that it had reason to fear its western neighbour.

CHINA TELLS UNITED STATES NOT TO "MEDDLE" IN ITS TIES WITH IRAN

From the Associated Press

China warned the United States on Thursday not to meddle in its trade relations with Iran after Washington expressed concern about a planned investment by a Chinese oil company in an Iranian gas field.

“We think this kind of cooperation and relationship is legitimate. Normal cooperation should not be interfered (with),” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

Asked whether that meant Beijing believed the United States was interfering in its dealings with Iran, Liu said: “This is our position.”

The US government expressed concern last month to Beijing about a planned investment by state-owned Chinese oil company CNOOC Ltd. in Iran’s Northern Pars gas field. Washington said major business dealings with Teheran were inappropriate at a time when Iran was defying UN resolutions over its nuclear program

IRAN AND SYRIA MOVE TO FORM ALLIANCE WITH IRAQ

THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST UNFOLDS, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO AMERICAN PLANS

There were a lot of wild predictions in early 2003 about how the world, and the United States in particular, would be better off once Saddam Hussein was removed from power in Iraq. But even those vehemently against the war dared to suggest that regime change in iraq would result in a new alliance between Iran, Syria and Iraq.

But that is exactly the reality now unfolding.

From the Associated Press :

Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told The Associated Press on Monday.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the invitation and will fly to the Iranian capital Saturday, a close parliamentary associate said.

Iran is flexing its muscles in a chaotic Middle East, following the recent Israel-Lebanon 34 day war. Syria and Lebanon are already clearly under the influence of the Iranian regime. Claims that Iran is funneling fighters and weapons into Iraq refuse to die down.

The "three-way" summit is further proof of just how much influence Iran and Syria is having in shaping the future of the Middle East, now the United States is widely percieved as rushing to find a way to pull its troops out of Iraq.

Both Iran and Syria are seen as key players in Iraq. Syria is widely believed to have done little to stop foreign fighters and al-Qaida in Iraq recruits from crossing its border to join Sunni insurgents in Iraq. It also has provided refuge for many top members of Saddam Hussein's former leadership and political corps, which is thought to have organized arms and funding for the insurgents.

The Sunni insurgency, since it sprang to life in late summer 2003, has been responsible for most of the U.S. deaths in Iraq.

Iran is deeply involved in training, funding and arming the two major Shiite militias in Iraq, where Tehran has deep historic ties to the current Shiite political leadership. Many Iraqi Shiites spent years in Iranian exile during Saddam's decades in power in Baghdad. One militia, the Badr Brigade, was trained in Iran by the Revolutionary Guard.

The much vaulted 'Iraq Study Group' initiated by US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is expected to recommend that Iran and Syria be brought into the fold to end the 'War On Iraq'. Some see the Iranian weekend conference as key players in the Middle East getting in first, so it doesn't appear as though the US is directing Iran and Syria and Iraq talks.

Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will use the summit to show the world that he is a 'man of peace', helping to clear up the American mess in his neighbourhood. The summit is also likely to boost the credibility of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and do much to repair the frosty relationship between Syria and the current president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani.

Incredibly, the summit is also expected to pave the way for a return of full diplomatic ties between Syria, Iraq and Iran, a result of the chaos of the Iraq War not predicted in detail by the pro-war or anti-war think tanks. Sryia and Iraq were all but warring enemies for much of the past 24 years, since Syria backed Iran after Iraq attacked Iran, backed unofficially by the United States, in the early 1980s.

From the UK Guardian :

Iran already has close relations with the Iraqi government. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, as well as the largest Iraqi Shia party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, were based in Iran in exile during the Saddam Hussein era.

US officials have repeatedly accused Syria of allowing former Ba'athist insurgents as well as al-Qaida sympathisers to pass into Iraq from Syria. The Iraqi Ba'athists are said to have training camps in Syria - a charge that Syria denies. It says it cannot control its long, largely desert border with Iraq but has improved security patrols in response to US requests.

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SYRIA STOPS TERROR ATTACKS ON AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC TARGETS

CNN reports :

U.S. officials praised Syrian security forces for thwarting Tuesday's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus despite the usually tense relationship with the Middle Eastern country.

The Syrians killed three attackers and apprehended a suspect outside the embassy after a car exploded near the walls of the American compound, the Syrian Information Ministry said.

"I do think the Syrians reacted to the attack in a way that helped to secure our people, and we very much appreciate that," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said while visiting Canada.

Four attackers detonated the car bomb before attempting to storm the compound, the Syrian ministry said.

The Syrian forces met the attackers, and an embassy guard was killed battling them, the ministry said.

Fourteen people were wounded, including the suspect, an embassy policeman, a security worker and 11 civilians, among them two Iraqis and a Chinese official, according to Syria's state-run news agency, SANA.

China's state-run Xinhua News agency said a senior diplomat was slightly injured by shrapnel while standing on a rooftop in the nearby Chinese Embassy compound.

The Syrian Information Ministry said none of the embassy staff was wounded and the building was not damaged. As a precaution, the embassy and its affiliated school were closed until Thursday.

Usually about 30 Syrian guards are posted around the embassy 24 hours a day, said Imad Moustapha, Syria's ambassador to the United States.

Video from the scene showed the burned-out wreckage of a car and blood-soaked streets near the embassy, which is in a residential neighborhood of Damascus.

Syrian authorities found and dismantled another car bomb outside the embassy's walls. The vehicle was rigged with explosives, including some bombs made with propane gas tanks, according to Syria's state-run news agency and video from the scene.

Syrian authorities successfully defused other explosive devices found around the embassy, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Moustapha said Syrian officials suspect an al Qaeda offshoot group linked to other attacks in the country.

"In the past two years, low-scale terrorist attacks took place in Syria and some were related to a group called the Soldiers of Levant -- Jund al-Sham in Arabic," Moustapha told CNN.

"There might be a relation to this group in this attack, but things will be clarified very soon."

U.S. officials -- including Rice -- cautioned that it's too early to know for sure, pointing out several al Qaeda splinter groups operate in Syria.

"Clearly it was an organized terrorist attack on our embassy, but exactly who was responsible for it and ... who they might be affiliated with, what their motives are, are just things we'll have to look at as the days go on," Casey said.

American officials have accused Damascus of staging anti-U.S. demonstrations in the past, but they publicly thanked Syria for foiling Tuesday's attack.

The top U.S. diplomat at the embassy, Michael Corbin, telephoned Syria's deputy foreign minister and hailed the handling of the attack, according to a U.S. Embassy statement obtained by SANA.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said, "The U.S. government is grateful for the assistance Syria provided in going after the attackers. ... It illustrates the importance of the Syrians playing a constructive role in fighting terrorists."

But Casey said the United States stands by its classification of Syria as a state sponsor of terror that allows certain groups to operate freely in Damascus.

He cited "ongoing concern" about a possible attack in Syria and among U.S. embassies in the Middle East because of deteriorating relations.

The United States pulled its ambassador to Syria following the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an attack partly blamed on the Damascus government.

Moustapha said Syria's secular government also "is concerned about the rise of extremism and terrorism" in the region, blaming U.S. policies -- including its support of Israel's military action in Lebanon -- for fueling such groups.