Official confirms that Syria allowing Qaida to operate in Lebanon

September 2, 2002 11:14 AM

Official confirms that Syria allowing Qaida to operate in Lebanon Ok Israeli intelligence so I assume some will dismiss this as propaganda, though clearly US knows of this and works along with Israeli intelligence. And Syria occupies Lebanon with thousands of troops and thus runs the country. Meanwhile, we will (or will not) busy ourselves with Iraq.
posted by Postroad (17 comments total)

Is this all you care about?
posted by interrobang at 11:38 AM on September 2, 2002

Syria arrested that al-Qaeda recruiter who brought Mohammad Atta and other 9/11 hijackers into the organization and allowed the US to question him and all that. They aren't exactly allies but I don't think they have any interest in more attacks on the US. Israel is another story of course, and I doubt Syria would have a problem covertly sending terrorists into their midst.
posted by mogwai at 12:05 PM on September 2, 2002

The war on terrorism is like fighting a four alarm fire with a barrell of jello pudding pops. The hotspots are everywhere. Taking our Iraq will probably just have the three headed hydra raise its ugly face in Syria or elsewhere. It's a rather fruitless endeavor, the way the big wigs are going at it.
posted by ZachsMind at 12:23 PM on September 2, 2002

Israel is another story of course

I'm beginning to think certain elements in Israel would love to see us attacked again, if only to further align our horrible foreign policies.
posted by donkeyschlong at 12:30 PM on September 2, 2002

The war on terrorism is like fighting a four alarm fire with a barrell of jello pudding pops. The hotspots are everywhere.

As any firefighter could tell you, the way to deal with this is: (1) don't waste time trying to save property that is already lost, and (2) use a controlled burn to deny fuel to the fire.

What worries me with this analogy is that we're not talking about houses and trees; we're talking about nations and people. And there are people (not you, ZachsMind, but others), that fail to make this distinction. They are seriously considering "controlled burns" to reduce potentially "flammable" cultures and peoples.

Are there really no alternatives to dealing with terrorism, other than surrender (abandoning the lost) or extermination (the burn)?
posted by SPrintF at 1:23 PM on September 2, 2002

Well, SPrintF, it seems to me, and I have yet tor ead it anywhere in the press, that there's a serious global class war going on, with much resentment of US power and wealth being disguised as foreign policy crap.

And at the rate things are going, the US is screwed, because no one is in our corner. Even Blair is having to distance himself.

To be fair, some of that is due to the current whitehouse admin having very little credibilty, politically, ethically and electorially.

But the bottom line is, everybody's aiming to take the US down a few notches, and not is a straightforward sort of a way. So that begs the quesion, to what lengths are we willing to go to offset this ugly trend?
posted by Fupped Duck at 3:39 PM on September 2, 2002

[language police] Fupped Duck: please don't use the term "begs the question". It's a mistranslation of "petitio principii". It doesn't mean what you think it does. Thank you. [/language police]
posted by signal at 3:49 PM on September 2, 2002

Signal: Fupped Duck actually said "begs the quesion." Quesion ,I believe, is a type of pressed cheese popular in mediterranean countries. The phrase "begs the quesion" is actually an ancient one, meaning that one should beg the big cheese, or head of state, for guidance. In a democracy the state is governed by the people. In this context I believe that Fupped Duck meant that we all, as a community of Quesions or small big cheeses, need to answer the question "to what lengths are we willing to go to offset this ugly trend."
posted by dchase at 4:23 PM on September 2, 2002

I thopught that Latin meant: small principal Why can't people all speak English the way ordingary decent folks do?
posted by Postroad at 4:53 PM on September 2, 2002

Official confirms that Syria allowing [sic] Qaida [sic] to operate in Lebanon [sic] Ok [sic] Israeli intelligence [sic] so I assume some will dismiss this as propaganda, though clearly [sic] US knows of this and works along with Israeli intelligence. And Syria occupies Lebanon with thousands of troops and thus runs the country. Meanwhile, we will (or will not) busy ourselves with Iraq."

Indeed, Postroad. I, too, have often "thopught" [sic] how wonderful it would be if "people all [spoke] English the way ordingary [sic] decent folks do."
posted by Sinner at 5:36 PM on September 2, 2002

When Language Cops Attack!
posted by websavvy at 5:38 PM on September 2, 2002

where?!!
posted by clavdivs at 5:50 PM on September 2, 2002

Signal, how about dropping some enlightenment on those of us who majored in non-humanities subjects? I wouldn't mind being told that something I said didn't mean what I thought it meant if you told me what it really meant.

Oh, and on topic: Syrian source claims Israili source "doo doo head"
posted by hob at 6:09 PM on September 2, 2002

When Language Cops Attack!

where?!!

Oh, hi, how's your Labor Day Weekend been goin'?
posted by y2karl at 6:21 PM on September 2, 2002

I think I'm gonna be [sic].
posted by alumshubby at 7:26 PM on September 2, 2002

Just as long as you're not sick on the subway. It is, after all, Monday.
posted by kindall at 7:35 PM on September 2, 2002

In addition to relocating their people, it looks like al Qaeda is also moving their gold, in this case to one of their old haunts:

"Financial officers of al Qaeda and the Taliban have quietly shipped large quantities of gold out of Pakistan to Sudan in recent weeks, transiting through the United Arab Emirates and Iran, according to European, Pakistani and U.S. investigators."
posted by homunculus at 8:50 PM on September 2, 2002