Stunner: Syria Drops Bid to Join UN Human Rights Council

I guess the image of murdering your own citizens in public while pretending to care about human rights isn't going over well. What Bashar Assad needs to do is become a little more versed with a teleprompter, talk hopeychangey stuff and lay off the crushing of dissent for a little while. Next thing you know he'll be running the human rights show at the UN and, who knows, there could be a Nobel Peace Prize in his future.

Syria dropped its bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday following pressure from UN members. As Syria’s crackdown on anti-government protests continues, France's UN ambassador said it was "really not the time" for Syrian membership.

Whose time is it? North Korea, perhaps?

Several U.N. diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Kuwait had confirmed to Western officials that it planned to declare its candidacy for a spot on the 47-nation Human Rights Council in the Asian category.

They said Syria planned to trade candidacies with Kuwait, which was slated to run for the rights council in 2013, and drop out of the 2011 race for one of the four spots available to Asian countries. Other Asian candidates running this year are India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Ah yes, Kuwait, the longtime home of liberal democracy or something.

Here's the understatement of the year:

"It is not really the time for Syria to become a member of the council of human rights," French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters on Monday.

Like I said, pay a little lip service toward "freedom" and "transparency" and there's a spot waiting for you, Bashie.

Of course this council is a complete joke, something the grown-ups in Washington used to recognize.

The United States under former President George W. Bush had shunned the rights council, considering it a tool of anti-Israeli forces at the United Nations.

President Barack Obama reversed that policy two years ago, saying the United States could improve the rights council from within. The United States ran for and secured a seat.

Had Syria won a seat on the council, it would have followed other states accused of human rights abuses by rights watchdog groups including China, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Yes, that really worked out. Another win for Obama!

Muammar Gaddafi's Libya is a member of the rights council, but the General Assembly suspended its membership rights in response to its violent crackdown this year against anti-government demonstrators that sparked a civil war.

Despite Slaughter, Syria 'All But Assured' to Be Elected to UN Human Rights Council

Why should a little slaughter prevent Syria from ascending to a seat on the prestigious UN Human Rights Council?

In a move reminiscent of his brutal father, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched his armed forces to try to snuff out the country’s five-week-old democratic uprising.

Thousands of Syrian troops backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers stormed the southern city of Daraa on Monday, killing as many as 25 people, witnesses said. It was the first time the Syrian regime has resorted to such extreme measures against civilians in the current crisis.

“This is monumental,” said Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Centre in Herzliya, Israel, and author of The Truth About Syria. “All the Arab regimes have a three-level priority of response,” he explained.

At the level one, “they hope the protests will go away and can be waited out.” At level two, “they respond with a mixture of repression and promises,” just the way Mr. al-Assad has, Mr. Rubin said. At level three, they resort to “heavy repression and killing people in order to destroy the protests and intimidate people from participation.”

“Assad has now gone to the third level,” Mr. Rubin said, noting that “even in the Shah’s Iran in 1978, as well as Egypt and Tunisia in 2011, the regimes did not go to level three because large elements in the elite did not want to do so.”

But hey, the folks at the UN have their priorities.

Human rights groups and a growing number of governments are working to prevent Syria from being elected to the U.N.'s top human rights body, as President Bashar Assad's security forces crack down on pro-democracy protesters.

Syria's election to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council is all but assured as one of four candidates selected to fill four Asian seats unless another candidate enters the race or Syria fails to win a majority of votes in the May 20 election in the 192-member General Assembly.

Since the 53-member Asian Group endorsed its slate — which also includes India, Indonesia and the Philippines — for the council in January, rights groups and some governments have engaged in a behind-the-scenes effort to keep Syria off the council.

Those efforts have gathered steam since a crackdown on pro-democracy protests since mid-March has left more than 350 dead and hundreds wounded, diplomats said.

One diplomat involved in the process, speaking on condition of anonymity because the consultations are private, said he was confident that another country would be found to contest the election but declined to say which countries were being pursued.

Meanwhile, the White House has sprung into action and is now "considering" sanctions. That ought to scare the pants off Assad.

The White House is considering new sanctions against Syria amid a crackdown by that country’s government against pro-democracy demonstrators.

Syria is one of only four countries on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List and is already subject to heavy sanctions, limiting U.S. options.

As a result, new sanctions are expected to focus on the assets of Syrian officials close to President Bashar al-Assad. Such a strategy would mimic actions taken by the U.S. against Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

Obviously that's been such a success that Gadhafi is still in power. So why would Assad even blink?

U.S. President Barack Obama's direct attack on Assad's regime did little to deter the Syrian president, who apparently decided to escalate violence against the opposition on the assumption that the international community will not take dramatic steps against Syria - that is a similar move to the bombing campaign in Libya.

Assad is, in effect, mocking his international critics. He clearly has little interest in the international community's condemnation. He has understood that the reforms he offered the Syrian public not only did not quell the unrest, but may have even added fuel to the fire.

Candidate Obama Argues With President Obama Over Syria

Okay folks time to dust off the old memory banks and step into the way back machine. All the way back to 2007 when a certain other person was President of the United States and the Dems were in love with Syrian leader Assad, all with the intent of undermining then President Bush in the Middle East.

Remember this picture.

That is then speaker Nancy Pelosi with Syrian president Assad.

She wasn't there alone however.

Washington, (SANA)- Democratic Member of the US. House of Representatives and Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affaires Tom Lantos has underlined that Syria vehemently believes in the dialogue in its relations with the US and in dealing with the issues. In an interview on Tuesday, Lantos described the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Damascus as important to open dialogue channels with it as saying: "The visit expressed in a marvelous way interests of the US, that led to embarrassment of the current US administration which has closed doors for dialogue with Syria."
Lantos expressed desire to visit Damascus once more and that he will not comply with the policy of the US President George W. Bush regarding it.

Might go a long way to explaining the current occupant's of the White House reluctance to do anything in regards to Syria.

Of course candidate Obama professed that he would be willing to meet with the leader of Syria, along with other countries in the Axis of Evil, with no preconditions.

At A July 2007 Debate, Obama Announced He Would Personally Meet With Leaders Of Iran, North Korea, Syria And Other Hostile Nations "Without Precondition." Question: "[W]ould you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?" ... Obama: "I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them -- which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration -- is ridiculous." (CNN/You Tube Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate, Charleston, SC, 7/23/07)

And here is the video of that exchange.

So Mr Obama, are you ready to sit down with Assad now in light of his brutal crackdown of pro democracy demonstators?

This is the same debate where the southside Chicago gang banger union organizer community organizer also swore he would not send US troops into harms way without a clearly defined mission and goals.

In the absence of any evidence to the contrary I think it is safe to assume Barry O if he graduated from college, was at the bottom of his class. Now you know what law school graduates who can't work as actual attorneys do for a living.

The Noose Tightens as Libyan Rebels Flee

Our fearless wartime Commander-in-Chief might want to update his talking points. Here he is Tuesday interrupting his New York fundraising blitz to again repeat his stale line about the noose tightening on Moammar Khadafy.

With the end game in Libya still unclear, President Obama said Tuesday that Col. Moammar Khadafy's grip on power cannot last much longer.

"The noose has tightened around him," Obama told CBS News.

"Khadafy's camp, people around him, are starting to recognize that their options are limited and their days are numbered," he said.

"But that information may not have filtered to Khadafy yet."

Obviously it hasn't "filtered" to him yet since his forces are beating the snot out of the rebels according to the latest reports.

Libyan rebels have withdrawn from the oil town of Ras Lanuf under bombardment from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces, exposing their weakness without Western support.

The rapid reverse comes just two days after the rebels raced westwards along the coastal road in pursuit of the Libyan dictator's forces.

The government army had seen its tanks and artillery demolished in five days of coalition aerial assault in the town of Ajdabiyah, but now appears to have regrouped.

Col Gaddafi's troops first ambushed the insurgent convoy outside the leader's hometown of Sirte, then outflanked them through the desert, a manoeuvre requiring the sort of discipline entirely lacking in ragtag rebel force.

On the offensive, government tanks and artillery have unleashed a fierce bombardment on towns and cities, forcing the rebels to flee.

The tactic appears to have worked once again in Ras Lanuf, an oil terminal town 230 miles east of the capital Tripoli.

"Gaddafi hit us with huge rockets. He has entered Ras Lanuf," rebel fighter Faraj Muftah told Reuters after pulling out of Ras Lanuf.

Now if you're this rag-tag rebel bunch of guys who we can't even identify, do Obama's empty words provide any comfort for you? Especially with such clear, decisive statements such as this?

The United States and France have raised the possibility of arming the rebels, though both stressed no decision had yet been taken.

"I'm not ruling it in, I'm not ruling it out," US President Barack Obama told NBC overnight.

Well, gee, thanks for clearing that up, Colonel Obama. If I were a rebel on the run, hearing that you're neither ruling it in or out really provides a clear picture on what my options are. Let's see, should I stay where I am and have huge rockets rain down on me or should I wait around for a guy more interested in watching basketball before I clear the hell out if I want to live.

This is what it's come to. I firmly believe Obama has spent more time working on his NCAA picks and watching games that he has being briefed on developments in Libya. What other explanation is there? We have an obvious vacuum of leadership and the world sees this.

Putting aside Libya for a minute, what do you suppose the folks in Syria and elsewhere are thinking when they see this vacillating jellyfish offering up this nonsense?

Obama appears to be hesitating about which side to take, with signs that he might give the tyrant the benefit of a doubt. That would be a mistake.

Obama adopted such a position during the pro-democracy uprising in Iran in 2009. That made it easier for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to consolidate its coup and impose Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president for a second term.

Obama at first tried the same approach in Tunisia and Egypt, by supporting the despots -- but finally wound up siding with the people. As a result, America lost on both scores. By abandoning well-established allies, it was accused of being a fickle friend. But the switch to the people's side came too late to enable the United States to claim a share in ending the dictatorial regimes.

Of course such obvious humiliation and fecklessness didn't prevent Obama's pom-pom media for celebrating his masterful foreign policy, but they can't sustain much longer pretending one thing is happening while our eyes tell us a completely different story.

Hey, Who's Up for a Day of Rage in Syria?

Now that it appears Hosni Mubarak will be heading for the exits, it'll be curious to see how much attention the media and the Obama administration pays to this. How quickly will they summon the courage to stand with the rebels in Damascus?

Syrians are organizing campaigns on Facebook and Twitter that call for a “day of rage” in Damascus this week, taking inspiration from Egypt and Tunisia in using social networking sites to rally their followers for sweeping political reforms.

Like Egypt and Tunisia, Syria suffers from corruption, poverty and unemployment. All three nations have seen subsidy cuts on staples like bread and oil. Syria’s authoritarian president has resisted calls for political freedoms and jailed critics of his regime.

Syria's also had no problem crushing any dissent. Let's see how much coverage this gets. Something tells me Bashar Assad won't be heeding international calls to step aside.

The main Syrian protest page on Facebook is urging people to protest in Damascus on Feb. 4 and 5 for “a day of rage.” It says the goal is to “end the state of emergency in Syria and end corruption.” The number of people who have joined Facebook and Twitter pages calling for protests on Friday and Saturday is still relatively small, and some are believed to live outside the country.

President Bashar Assad said in an interview published Monday that his nation is immune from the kind of unrest roiling Tunisia and Egypt.

Gee, I wonder why? They may also have a little trouble getting the word out.

Facebook is banned in Syria, which makes organizing more difficult — even though many Syrians manage to access the social networking site anyway. More than 2,500 people have joined the page calling for protests on Feb. 4-5, with another 850 joining a page in favor of President Assad.

One thing in Assad's favor, at least with the left and the media, is his hatred of Israel. So he'll be portrayed sympathetically.

He is seen by many Arabs, however, as one of the few leaders in the region willing to stand up to arch enemy Israel. And his support for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups opposed to the Jewish state as well as his opposition to the US invasion of Iraq has won him more support among his people than other Arab rulers.

'We Can’t Say for Sure What is Going On, But it is Clandestine and Secretive'

Something secretive going on between Iran,. Syria and Venezuela? You don't say. Don't worry though. The crack team of Obama, Napolitano and Clinton are on the job.

A Venezuelan airline's “mystery” flight that shuttled among the capitals of three of the world’s most terror-friendly nations — Venezuela, Syria and Iran — has abruptly canceled its regularly scheduled departures amid accusations that it was used primarily to transport spies, terrorists and lethal cargo among the pariah counties.

“I am sorry, but we are no longer flying to Tehran and I do not know when the flights will resume. It was a flight that left Caracas on Tuesdays, but it no longer does,” Jenny Gil Romero, who handles international departures for Conviasa, the national airline that operates the flight, said in a message to FOX News.

Messages to the airline seeking further information went unanswered.

Romero's comments came in response to FOXNews.com's efforts to buy tickets on the regularly scheduled, 48-hour round trip from Caracas to Damascus to Tehran, then back again.

Intelligence analysts with both the CIA and Israel said that, despite the listing of the flight as a regular commercial route and a code share with Iran air -- Flight IR744 is also Flight VO3744 -- there was no way that anyone could buy a ticket and travel without being vetted by the Venezuelan or Iranian government. And without passport controls, flight manifests and other documents, it meant some of the world's most dangerous men could travel without fear of being uncovered.

Curiously, unlike most other bookings on the national airline, calls for reservations on this particular flight were routed to a cell phone in Argentina, rather than to Conviasa's regular service in Caracas.

The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States had defended the flights as recently as two weeks ago in response to criticism in a State Department report that cited the flight’s questionable route and procedures. Messages left at the Venezuelan embassy's press office and the ambassador's office were not returned, and a list of questions submitted to the embassy's press office was not answered.

For the past three years, every other Tuesday, Flight VO3744 would roll out to a secluded loading platform at Simon Bolivar Airport in Caracas. Shrouded from public view and unencumbered by the normal exit procedures, a select passenger list would board the flight.

Over the next 48 hours, according to Western intelligence agencies, Venezuelan opposition figures and a former Iran-based spy for the CIA, the flight would carry illicit, lethal cargoes -- such as explosives and possibly radioactive materials -- and provide safe passage to terrorists, spies, weapons experts, senior Iranian intelligence operatives and members of both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Reza Kahlili, the pseudonym for an Iranian who the CIA has confirmed once spied for the United States as a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, told FoxNews.com these "special flights" have been "instrumental in creating an Iranian dominated worldwide terror network that now reaches the United States." He said the flights were used to expand Iran’s efforts to create a base of operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Peter Brookes, a former Defense Department analyst and CIA employee now with the Heritage Foundation, said there was a steady stream of elite Al Quds officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who were transported to Venezuela aboard the flight and took up positions in the Latin American country’s intelligence service.

“We can’t say for sure what is going on, but it is clandestine and secretive,” he said.

By the end of the day Hugo Chavez will be parroting Media Matters in denunciations of Fox News.

Link to the report here.

Another Mysterious Israeli Hit?

When it comes to the Israelis, paranoia runs deep. Though I have to tip my cap to them. When they want someone dead they usually get the job done efficiently.

In a possible sequel to the Dubai assassination, Israeli spy planes flew uninvited and unannounced over Budapest the same day a Syrian man was shot to death in his car, Hungarian media reported yesterday.

Two Israeli air force Gulfstream V-type jets, equipped with sophisticated intelligence gear, flew more than 1,300 miles over Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania on Wednesday before flying over eastern Budapest and then disappearing, the reports said.

The incident occurred the same day Budapest police said a 52-year-old Syrian was gunned down while stopping his black luxury car at a traffic light on the east side of the capital.

The attacker fired several shots before stealing a black briefcase from the car and fleeing on foot, authorities said.

Police have yet to identify the victim or give a motive.

The incident follows the Jan. 19 assassination of a senior Hamas official in Dubai, which United Arab Emirates police blamed on an Israeli hit team. Investigators accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of planning the hit on Mahmoud al-Mabhouh for more than a year and using dozens of bogus passports or phony identities to enter Dubai.

Hungarian Defense Minister Imre Szekeres yesterday demanded an investigation of Wednesday's overflights, which the ministry said were made without prior notification from Israel.

The MTI news agency said experts believed the planes approached Ferihegy International Airport at a low altitude before veering off. They said there was no attempt to land.

The Israeli Embassy in Budapest said the planes were on a diplomatic mission, but did not elaborate. "Of course, they were not spy planes," said Ambassador Alice Bin-Noun.

The Hungarian Foreign Ministry refused comment when asked about a possible diplomatic motive for the flights.

Over the years, Israeli operatives, including Mossad agents, have been credited with assassinating dozens of targeted Arab terrorists, often in Europe.

Some attacks occurred far from the Mideast, such as in Athens, Paris, Rome, Cannes, Norway and even Uruguay.

Syrian Suspect Arrested in al-Hariri Assassination

Some shocker, huh, that Syria was likely behind the murder of Rafik al-Hariri?

A MAIN suspect in the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates, an Arab television station reports.

UAE-based Al Arabiya said Mohammed Zuhair al-Siddiq was arrested in the emirate of Sharjah and was being held by UAE security authorities. It gave no more details.

An international court convened in The Hague in March to try suspects in the murder, four years after the politician's death.

Hariri and 22 other people were killed in a car bomb blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005 that sparked an international outcry.

Many anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians accused Syria of being behind the bombing, a charge Damascus denied. But the protests and political pressure that mounted after the killing forced Syria to withdraw forces it had maintained in its smaller neighbour since 1976.

This guy was charged several years ago while residing in France, although some French judges wouldn't allow an extradition.

The whereabouts of Siddiq, a former Syrian intelligence officer, have been unknown since March 2008 when he left France.

Lebanon's prosecutors believed Siddiq had an indirect role in the February 14, 2005, killing of Hariri and 22 others, and they charged him with murder in October 2005.

Siddiq was arrested in a Paris suburb that month after an international arrest warrant was issued for him, but French judges rejected Beirut's extradition request because they received no guarantees he would not face the death penalty.

He was freed in 2006.

There's some French-style justice for you.

Lurch Meets the Chinless Ophthalmologist

I know, it sounds like some sort of horror flick. And, well, it is.

Here you have the failed former presidential candidate picking up where Nancy Pelosi left off: sucking up to a leader of a terrorist state that allowed killers of our troops into Iraq.

Refresh me if I'm incorrect, but isn't this Hillary Clinton's job?

The United States and Syria are exploring the possibility of better relations after years of tension—but questions remain over just how much common ground exists between the two.

In a sign that President Barack Obama may be seeking better ties, several U.S. congressmen have passed through Syria in the last few days, including Sen. John Kerry, who arrived Saturday and met with President Bashar Assad.

The State Department also announced Friday it has scheduled a meeting next week with Syria's ambassador to the U.S. to discuss differences between the two countries—the first such meeting in months.

U.S.-Syrian relations have long been tense. Damascus' support for the militant organizations Hamas and Hezbollah has drawn the ire of Washington, which has also accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross into Iraq. Syria, which staunchly opposed the 2003 invasion, insists it is doing all it can to safeguard its long, porous border.

Relations soured further when the Bush administration pulled the U.S. ambassador out of Syria in 2005 to protest Syria's suspected role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Damascus denied involvement in his death, but in the uproar that followed, it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence.

The congressional delegations, led by Democrats, are carrying the message that America wants to engage countries it has been at odds with if they are willing, as Obama puts it, to unclench their fists.

So far all Obama has gotten is a series of clenched fists upside his head.

Hugs for Thugs: Carter Meets With Hamas Leader in Syria

Failed president Jimmy Carter hits the daily double: He meets with the leader of a terrorist organization in a terrorist state. I guess if you asked Carter if there's a terrorist leader he wouldn't meet with, I suspect he might say it's George Bush.

Former President Jimmy Carter met with the leader of Hamas in Damascus on Sunday, the same day the Palestinian terrorist group marked its 21st anniversary and signaled its intention to end an erratically-upheld ceasefire.

It was Carter’s second meeting in the Syrian capital with Khaled Meshaal, whose group has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. Carter's previous visit to Damascus, last April, drew criticism from the State Department and Israel.

Carter said then, and since, that the search for peace requires dialogue with all sides.

Carter also held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who praised his peace-making efforts, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Of couse the chinless ophthalmologist would praise Carter. Without him, these terror states and organizations wouldn't be nearly as strong as they are.

Amazingly, one group of terrorists refuse to meet with the feckless Carter.

The former president’s visit to Damascus followed one to Lebanon, where he met with a number of political leaders and parties but was rebuffed by the Shi’ite terrorist group, Hezbollah.

Assad's 'Right-Hand Man' Assassinated

I'm sure the Israelis will be blamed, whether they're behind it or not.

Arab media reported on Sunday that a brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been assassinated.

The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.

The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Sunday quoted "informed sources" in London as saying that a senior Syrian officer had been found dead.

"The circumstances of the incident are not clear," the London-based paper said in its report, which said the sources suggested that the slain officer had been "in charge of sensitive files and closely linked to the Syrian top brass."

Al-Bawaba, an Arab news website, named the officer as Mohammed Sleiman and said he was "Syria's liaison officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement."

Hard to say at this point, but this may well make Nancy Pelosi's good friend Bashar Assad a tad nervous.

The Lebanese anti-Syrian daily al-Mustaqbal quoted a Syrian news site as saying Sleiman was the head of security at the presidential palace in Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad's "right-hand man."

The initial link has his name misspelled. It's actually Mohammed Suleiman.

A senior Syrian officer, in charge of Syrian President Bashar Assad's liaison with the Hezbollah guerilla group, was shot dead in mysterious circumstances in northern Syria last week, Arab media reports said on Sunday.

Pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper, quoting "well-informed" sources in London, said the officer had been found dead on Friday night-Saturday morning. It said the officer had been in charge of "sensitive files" and was close to the Syrian leadership.

Lebanon's Future News television station identified the officer as Brigadier General Mohammad Suleiman whom it said was a military aide to Assad. It said his body was found at a hotel in the northern port city of Tartous.

Hezbollah Now Firmly in Control of Lebanon

There is no other way to say it or try to sugar coat it.

They now have veto power over anything the elected government wants to do.

The ruling party led by Fuad Siniora caved into the demands, portrayed as a deal brokered by Arab mediators from Saudi Arabia, made by Hezbollah while getting nothing in return. I predict very dark days ahead for the large Christian population inside of Lebanon and, really, for any Sunni Muslims, since Hezbollah is a Shiite sect.

Of course Iran and Syria were the first to send their congratulations.

I wonder what kind of pie-in-the-sky statement the Obamamessiah will make about this if any. Given his complete lack of knowledge of anything outside of Chicago, I doubt he even realizes what possible dire consequences this agreement has. Iran has, once again through its proxies, managed to take over a country with impunity. Now with both Lebanon and Syria basically Iranian satellite nations, and more western governments deciding that Hamas is just a little bitty terrorist group and therefore worthy of talking to, Israel is once again back in the crosshairs.

The only thing that can delay the looming conflict between Israel and its neighbors again is if the Hamas and Hezbollah gangs go after each other, which would probably be short-lived since their hatred of Israel is greater then their hatred of each other. After they get rid of Israel they will return to the job of settling their centuries-old conflict over which group is the true descendants of the blood god they worship.

Nancy Pelosi was unavailable for comment

Gateway Pundit is doing all of the heavy lifting on reporting of the Hezbollah takeover of Beirut, but I shamelessly lifted this picture and caption from his site. Be sure to visit his site for all the details.
A Hezbollah gunman poses as he flashes a victory sign after putting up posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and taking over of an office of the Future group loyal to Saad al-Hariri Majority leader, in the Rass al-Naba'a area in Beirut May 9, 2008. (REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir)

IAEA Springs Into Action, Plans to Probe Syrian Nuke Reactor Destroyed Seven Months Ago

Do not fear, Mr. Potato Head is on the job!

Totally laughable, of course. Shouldn't have this alleged watchdog group known of the existence of the Syrian reactor?

If this doesn't expose them as frauds, nothing ever will.

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog pledged on Friday to investigate what he called serious U.S. accusations that Syria secretly built a nuclear reactor with North Korean help.

Syria, which denies the U.S. allegations, accused the United States of involvement in an Israeli air attack in September that Washington says destroyed the site of an atomic reactor in a remote part of the Arab state.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the allegations by U.S. intelligence against Syria would be investigated with due vigor.

"The Agency will treat this information with the seriousness it deserves and will investigate the veracity of the information," ElBaradei said in a statement.

Sure.

Naturally, the schmuck criticizes the United States.

He criticized the United States for not disclosing its intelligence information sooner. Israel should have given IAEA inspectors a chance to investigate any Syrian nuclear activity before bombing the site, he added.

This reactor started going up seven years ago and this supersleuth was totally clueless. Now it's CYA time.

ElBaradei bemoaned Washington's failure to turn the information over to the IAEA on the alleged reactor, said to have been launched in 2001, much earlier to help "enable us to verify its veracity and establish the facts".

"In light of the above, (I) view the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime," he added.

What a comedian.

Is Nancy Pelosi actively assisting the enemies of America?

After reading these stories at Atlas and over at Gateway Pundit it sure seems so. Now I don't have any high profile secret sources or contacts with anybody inside the Beltway or even an inside track to the guy who screens the letters to the editors at our local newspaper, so I can't really add anything to the story. All I can do it point it out and direct you to go read the information. I don't ascribe to black helicopter conspiracy theories or Big Brother monitoring my every move, but the circumstantial evidence presented sure doesn't paint a very good picture of Madame Pelosi and her Democratic allies in congress.
When I wrote about Nancy's maneuvering and changing the House rules to prevent the vote on the Colombian Free Trade agreement I said at the time that Chavez would benefit the most from this move and that this was something we would have expected from Chavez but not the United States House of Representatives and apparently the South American press think the same.
So at a time when our congress critters are investigating everything from steroids in baseball to videotaping football games I wonder what the chances would be of anybody even bothering to question the speaker publicly on the floor of the house? Not much since politicians of all stripes when it comes down to it cover each others backsides better then Cling Wrap on a grapefruit.
Go read for yourself and see if you don't at least feel a slight tremble that somebody this high up in our government could be willing to put you and your loved ones on a target list just to score political points

On The Wings of Pelousi

Czech Social Democrat leader meets Syrian Baath officials
Czech opposition Social Democrat (ČSSD) leader Jiří Paroubek Wednesday met senior officials of the Syrian ruling Arab Socialist Baath Party, but the talks had no "specific political content," he said.

Paroubek was reacting to the server iDnes.cz that wrote that the Social Democrats had established contact with a brutal dictatorial party openly sponsoring terrorism and that they discussed cooperation.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek said Paroubek's trip was regrettable. "The so-called foreign policy of the opposition runs counter to the Czech Republic's interests," Topolánek told journalists in the White House.

Topolánek is now on a visit to the USA.

Topolánek said the trip had to be discussed. "While in the opposition, we never pursued any foreign policy different from that pursued by the government," he added.

Topolánek said he would prefer Paroubek and Social Democrat deputy chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Lubomir Zaoralek to travel to Syria as tourists.

Topolánek said he had been donated from U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, who was of Cuban origin, a white bracelet, a symbol for which people were sent to jail in Cuba at present.

"Upon my return, I will wear it on account of Paroubek and Zaoralek," Topolánek added.

Baath is a pan-Arab party with the headquarters in Damascus. It seeks Arab unity from the Persian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean.

It has been ruling in Syria since the 1963 coup. No parties but Baath and its allies are allowed in Syria.

Referring to the Syrian media, the server iDnes says that Paroubek stressed at a seminar on European policy that Syria had to be part of any peace process and voiced support to the Syrian right to the return of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.

Paroubek said the ČSSD had consulted Czech Foreign Ministry before his visit to Syria and the delegation was accompanied by the Czech ambassador to Syria.

"As a result, all talks of the ČSSD delegation are being conducted in keeping with the Czech foreign policy official line towards Syria," Paroubek said.

Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova confirmed to ČTK that the office knew about the Social Democrats' visit to Syria.

"According to our information, these are the talks on the party level. As a result, we cannot or will not comment on them," she said.

Paroubek is accompanied by his wife Petra and Zaoralek, ČSSD shadow foreign minister.

The Syrian side invited the Social Democrats and has covered the costs of their accommodation.

The ČSSD delegation is scheduled to meet representatives of Syrian industry and trade but also top representatives of the state administration and parliament, for instance, the Syrian parliament chairman and the foreign minister.

The visit was organised by the Czech-Central Asian mixed chamber of commerce within its efforts at improving the Czech Republic's trade relations with central Asian countries, the ČSSD said.

Syria's about as geograhically central to Asia as China is to the Mid-West.

Via The Prague Monitor

Meanwhile, SANA, the Syrian news agency, reports that

Assistant Secretary General of al-Baath Arab Socialist Party Abdullah al-Ahmar discussed on Tuesday with Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party Jiri Paroubek means of bolstering the cooperation between the two parties.

So much for no 'specific political content'.

Al-Ahmar briefed Paroubek on the economic reforms in Syria, pointing out to Syria's encouraging investment atmosphere. He also briefed him on the latest regional development and the party's stances regarding them.

For his part, Paroubek affirmed his country's interest in pushing the peace process in the Middle East forward and developing relations with Syria in all fields.

Later, in a seminar on the European policies towards Arab causes, Paroubek affirmed that Syria is a key player in the region, adding it is wrong to overstep it. He stressed that Syria must be a part of any peace process, expressing his support of Syria's right to restore its occupied land in the Syrian Golan.

Paroubek added that his party follows a balanced policy towards all parties in the Middle East, and that it is necessary to find a peaceful resolution to the region's problems.

Regarding Syrian-Czech relations, Paroubek underlined the need to boost trade, tourism and cultural relations, pointing out to Syria's historical sites that are considered an important tourist attraction.

In another entry, SANA provided a more revealing angle

President Bashar al-Assad discussed with Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party (SDP) Jiří Paroubek means of further enhancing and developing the existing cooperation and friendship between al-Baath Arab Socialist Party and the SDP for the best benefit of the two countries.

President Assad and Paroubek also reviewed the latest developments in the Middle East, stressing necessity of establishing a just and comprehensive peace in it.

The meeting was attended by Assistant Secretary General of al-Baath Arab Socialist Party Abdullah al-Ahmar, the delegation accompanying Paroubek and the Czech ambassador in Syria Tomas Ulicny.

Mr. Paroubke on Wednesday highlighted Syria's active role in the region in solving the Middle East problems, calling for enhancing Syrian-Czech relations in economic, culture and tourist fields.

Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Via SANA

Hezbos Blame Israel for Moughniyah Slaying, Arrest Palestinians

These clowns need to get their talking points straight. If you're going to pin the blame on the Israelis, rounding up some Palestinians for whacking this guy is going to be a tough sell.

In the meantime, the fanatical killers have appointed an unnamed successor to the mutant Imad Moughniyah, who reportedly was in such rough shape the 72 virgins took a pass on Valentine's Day.

Lebanon's Hezbollah has appointed a successor to its senior guerrilla commander Imad Moughniyah who was assassinated in Syria this week, a Lebanese security source said on Friday.

The source said the appointment was made hours after the announcement of Moughniyah's death in a car bomb in Damascus on Tuesday. He did not identify the successor who would now command Hezbollah's formidable and well-armed guerrilla army.

A joint investigation into the bombing by Syrians, Iranians and Hezbollah was well under way and suspects had been arrested in the Syrian capital, the source said.

Hezbollah and its main backer Iran have accused Israel of killing Moughniyah, who was among the United States' most wanted men. The Israeli government has denied any links, though its Mossad spy service had been hunting him for two decades.

"A successor to Imad Moughniyah has been appointed, which is natural," said the source, who requested anonymity. "That's how Hezbollah works, they move quickly to choose successors of fallen leaders."

So if it was the Israelis, why are they rounding up Palestinians residing in Syria?

The suspects arrested were mostly Palestinians residing in Syria, the Lebanese source said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki agreed with Syrian officials during a visit to Damascus on Thursday to set up a joint team to investigate the killing, Mottaki's deputy Alireza Sheik-Attar said on Friday.

The Syrians claim they will present irrefutable proof the Israelis are behind this.

Sure.

SYRIA would soon present "irrefutable" proof of who was behind the assassination of the Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah, the Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moualem, said, hinting that Israel was responsible.

"As a state, we will irrefutably prove the party involved in this crime and who stands behind it. An investigation is ongoing," he said on Thursday.

"We hope that you will soon hear the results of this mighty effort," Mr Moualem said after meeting his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki. Mr Mottaki came from Beirut, where he had attended Mughniyah's funeral.

Asked if Tuesday's killing, in a district of the Syrian capital swarming with security, would undermine chances for peace with Israel, Mr Moualem said the assassination killed "any effort to revive the peace process".

"Whoever wants peace does not commit terrorism, whoever wants peace does not lay siege to Gaza with a million-and-half Palestinians struggling for the minimum to survive," he said.

Update: I considered this when it first occurred, and how funny would it be if true: Mughniyeh: Killed in a Work Accident?

Sarkozy Suspends Ties With Syria

There are a lot of American politicians who should take a cue from Nicolas Sarkozy.

France is to suspend diplomatic contacts with Syria, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced.

Links will be restored only when France has proof that Syria is not blocking progress towards installing a consensus president in Lebanon, Mr Sarkozy said.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, as rival pro- and anti-Syrian factions argue over who should fill the post.

"I ask Syria to... work to create agreement," said Mr Sarkozy.

France "will not make any more contacts with Syria... as long as there is no proof of Syria's willingness to let Lebanon choose a consensus president," he told reporters, during a visit to Egypt.

Speaking of American politicians, an odd pairing of useful idiots are over in Syria making nice-nice with Assad's people.

There is "a real opportunity" for Syria and Israel to resume peace talks with help from the United States, Sen. Arlen Specter said Saturday after arriving for a two-day visit.

Specter said he hoped Syria's participation in last month's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., was a step toward "a new beginning for real efforts" to reach a Mideast peace, including between Syria and Israel.

"I think there is a very important moment in the Middle East and there is a real opportunity if the parties are ready to move," Specter, R-Pa., told The Associated Press. "It's up to the parties. It's up to Syria and Israel, but the United States, I think, is in the position to be helpful."

Specter, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke in Damascus shortly after arriving with Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Just what we need, a RINO and a Kennedy pandering to the Syrians.

Report: Israelis Hit Syrian Nuke Plant

This story keeps evolving in bits and pieces, and it appears likely Syria was well into processing nuclear weapons.

ISRAEL’S top-secret air raid on Syria in September destroyed a bomb factory assembling warheads fuelled by North Korean plutonium, a leading Israeli nuclear expert has told The Sunday Times.

Professor Uzi Even of Tel Aviv University was one of the founders of the Israeli nuclear reactor at Dimona, the source of the Jewish state’s undeclared nuclear arsenal.

“I suspect that it was a plant for processing plutonium, namely, a factory for assembling the bomb,” he said. “I think the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] transferred to Syria weapons-grade plutonium in raw form, that is nuggets of easily transported metal in protective cans. I think the shaping and casting of the plutonium was supposed to be in Syria.”

All governments concerned - even the regime in Damascus - have tried to maintain complete secrecy about the raid.

They apparently fear that forcing a confrontation on the issue could spark a war between Israel and Syria, end the Middle East peace talks and wreck America’s extremely complex negotiations to disarm North Korea of its nuclear weapons.

The political stakes could hardly be higher. Plutonium is the element which fuelled the American atomic bomb that destroyed the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

Critics in the United States say proof that North Korea supplied such nuclear weapons material to Syria, a state technically at war with Israel, would shatter congressional confidence in the Bush administration’s diplomatic policy.

From beneath the veil of military censorship, western commentators have formed a consensus that the target was a nuclear reactor under construction.

But Even said that purely from scientific observation, he had reached a different conclusion - that it was a nuclear bomb factory, posing a more immediate danger to Israel. He said that satellite photos of the site, taken before the Israeli strike on September 6, showed no sign of the cooling towers and chimneys characteristic of nuclear reactors.

Syria’s haste after the attack to bury the site under tons of soil suggested that hundreds of square yards were contaminated and there were fears of radiation, the professor added.

Since then the Syrians have sealed up the location, levelled the site and diverted curious journalists to a place that had not been attacked by Israel.

A clueless Mohammed ElBaradei was unavailable for comment.

NY Times Faults Bush on Syrian Nuke Program

Just harken back to 2003 for a minute. Suppose George W. Bush called a press conference and told the world he had evidence Syria was building a covert nuclear facility and the United States was prepared to take action.

What do you suppose the reaction would have been from the media?

Well, now we know for sure they indeed were building such a facility and, thankfully, the Israelis took it out.

Yet here we now have the New York Times pointing the finger at the admiistration, taking them to task for not doing something.

Just imagine the reaction if we leveled the place four years ago.

Yet Another Photo of Site in Syria, Yet More Questions

To their credit, the Times manages to hold off until the second paragraph before taking Bush to task.

The mystery surrounding the construction of what might have been a nuclear reactor in Syria deepened yesterday, when a company released a satellite photo showing that the main building was well under way in September 2003 — four years before Israeli jets bombed it.

The long genesis is likely to raise questions about whether the Bush administration overlooked a nascent atomic threat in Syria while planning and executing a war in Iraq, which was later found to have no active nuclear program.

A senior American intelligence official said yesterday that American analysts had looked carefully at the site from its early days, but were unsure then whether it posed a nuclear threat.

In the time before the Iraq war, President Bush and his senior advisers sounded many alarms about Baghdad’s reconstituting its nuclear program. But they have never publicly discussed what many analysts say appears to have been a long-running nuclear effort next door.

If Bush came out on national television holding up satellite images of what he said was a Syrian nuke plant, the New York Times and the nutroots would have gone wild, accused him of doctoring photos.

You just cannot win with these people.

Of course, back in 2003, John Bolton raised the specter of Syria developing nukes, but was dismissed by some in the intelligence community.

Apparently, he was right all along.

The progress of the site in late 2003 also raises new questions about a disagreement at the time between intelligence analysts and John R. Bolton, then the State Department’s top arms control official.

In the summer of 2003, Mr. Bolton’s testimony on Capitol Hill was delayed after a dispute erupted in part over whether Syria was actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. Some intelligence officials said Mr. Bolton overstated the Syrian threat.

“There was disagreement about what Syria was interested in and how much we should be monitoring it,” Mr. Bolton said in an interview yesterday. “There was activity in Syria that I felt was evidence that they were trying to develop a nuclear program.”

I wonder who those intelligence officials are and whether they're man enough to step up and apologize to Bolton?