Congress wants to know if Syria is arming Hezbullah; Obama administration has no clue why
Congress is demanding answers regarding Syrian arms supplies to Hezbullah. One Middle East insider told The Cable that the concern is coming primarily from Capitol Hill. "There is serious concern in Congress about just how bad Syria's behavior has been lately, from their flagrant ties with terrorist groups and Iran, to deeply worrying arms shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon."The administration is clueless about Syrian arms supplies. Or at least they're claiming to be.
A Senate leadership aide confirms that there is now at least one hold on the nomination of Robert Ford to become the first U.S. ambassador to Syria in more than four years. Some congressional sources said there were multiple holds. The lawmakers are said to be pressing for more intelligence-sharing on the Syrian weapons transfers as part of their demands before considering Ford. (Other reasons why senators are holding up the Ford nomination can be found here.)
The administration sources we spoke with they had no clear understanding about exactly what the current state of play was regarding the weapons. That has led some to privately wonder why the situation wasn't being more closely tracked, although that may very well be going on at levels we can't see.What Hammer also apparently doesn't get it is why Syrian arms supplies matter.
National Security Spokesman Mike Hammer told The Cable that the administration is "increasingly concerned about the sophistication of the weaponry being transferred and have continued to reiterate our strong concerns to the Syrian and Lebanese authorities."
"The transfer of weapons from Syria to Lebanese Hizballah undermines the Lebanese government's ability to exercise sovereignty over all of its territory and risks sparking a conflict that no one needs," he added.At this point, the Lebanese government - which is dominated by Hezbullah thanks to Obama's weakness - would probably love to go to war with Israel. The arms being provided by Syria, with which the Obama administration would like to 'engage,' will fuel any such future conflict.
But Lebanon has already been lost. The issue now is that supplying arms to Hezbullah will encourage them to attack Israel.
What could go wrong?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:00 PM
3 Comments:
First of all, Congress knows exactly what Syria is up to. Furthermore, so does Obama.
Having said all of that there are two ways to go. Cut the snake at the head or appease the snake to not bite without teeth. Thus far not one US administration has dared to cut the snake at the head!! Now we have Obama whose full blown Chamberlinesque viewpoints flirt with the snake in a more dangerous way.
One sounded tough the other is no more tough then a soggy marshmallow.
Sadly, in the end both roads have led to this junction. Believe me, wagging a finger at Syria did nothing either. For that matter past US efforts of appeasing Lebanon with all kinds of false praise, good bits of whitewashing, skewing the truth and tons of $$$ did not one bit keep Lebanon out of the arms of Syria.
When will the populace that go to vote learn a lesson? Believe you me, both sides have gotten taken for quite a ride indeed.
Only until we take the partisan blinders off our eyes and understand ACTIONS not mere words are what separates a good leader from all the rest we will continue to be taken to the proverbial cleaners.
Nomatter,
I know you won't believe this, but if you read back in the archives I was quite critical of the Bush administration, particularly from the first days of this blog in early 2006 until the National Intelligence Estimate at the end of 2007. But on Syria, your criticism is overdone.
According to Meyrav Wormser, who was employed by the Bush White House in the summer of 2006, the Bush administration - which had recalled its ambassador from Syria in 2005 - gave Israel a green light to attack Syria during the Second Lebanon War and expected Israel to do so.
Unfortunately, Olmert didn't have the you-know-what's to do it, and the best he could do was attack a couple of weapons shipments from Syria to Hezbullah after they crossed to the Lebanese side of the border.
As a result, the Bush administration lost confidence in Israel, and began to treat it like a second class ally. That continued right up to the Annapolis Conference, when Olmert - who would have done anything to stay in power - prostrated himself before Bush and went along with everything Bush wanted at Annapolis. At that point, Bush decided that he loved Israel, but that he didn't have to be more Zionistic than Olmert and went along with whatever Olmert wanted, until it was clear that Olmert was finished.
The lesson is Israel has to stand up for itself. Israel's leaders should not sit around expecting America to take care of its problems.
It will never happen.
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