Rick Warren on Syria

Joseph Farah of WorldNewDaily takes Rick Warren to task for his support of Syria. I must admit that I find it a bit incomprehensible that Rick Warren would be so undiscerning on this issue. Read the article.

Nuclear plant in Syria?

On September 23 Recliner Commentaries commented on an Israeli raid on Syria. LGF has an update.

Six Syrians detained

CBS news is reporting that six Syrians have been detained in Panama City because of suspicious behavior.

Nuclear material in Syria

Last week Recliner Commentaries reported that dozens of people had recently been killed in Syria when Iranian engineers were attempting to place WMD chemical weapons on missiles.

Now, according to a report in today's TimesOnline:

Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring
raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month,
according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem. The attack was
launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown
evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say. They
confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North
Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in
seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Jihad Watch calls it a "1938 alert." I agree.

WMD's in Syria

According to a report published today by the Jerusalem Post:

Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the development and
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a
Jane's Magazine report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers
were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.

According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas and VX gas.

I wondering how we can be sure they didn't get some of this gas from Saddam Hussein. Since this seems like a pretty significant story, I'm also wondering why I only heard about it from talk radio (Hugh Hewitt) and not TV news. I guess they were too busy covering OJ.

Israel air strikes in Syria

Did Israeli planes take out North Korean nukes in Syria? (Ya Libnan).

Aftermath of the Pelosi visit

You may recall Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria several months ago. The New York Observer did some investigation into the aftermath (quoted in LGF):

Many Syrian dissidents and pro-democracy activists have privately expressed
dismay at Ms. Pelosi’s message of friendship to the government of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad. They say that Ms. Pelosi’s visit, no matter how
well-intentioned, has effectively pulled the rug out from under them, critically
damaging their efforts to create momentum for reform from within.

“Pelosi’s visit made the regime feel that Americans were divided on how to deal with
Syria,” said a Damascus-based women’s-rights activist who, like five other activists interviewed for this article, asked that his name be withheld because he feared punishment. “This sends a message to the regime that the pressure is off, that it can do what it likes.”

It has certainly seemed that way in the weeks since Ms. Pelosi’s departure, during
which time the government has imprisoned Kurdish opposition figures while maintaining travel and work bans on political activists.

Pelosi in Syria

According to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Nancy Pelosi got the message wrong when she went to Syria.

Pelosi said, that her meeting with the President of Syria “enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well….” But Olmert denied that he had asked Pelosi to communicate that message:

Olmert emphasized that although Israel is interested in peace with Syria, “that
country continues to be part of the axis of evil and a force that encourages
terror in the entire Middle East…”

“In order to conduct serious and genuine peace negotiations, Syria must cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizballah and bringing about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in Iran…” (CNSNews).

Apparently Nancy Pelosi was more interested in delivering a sound bite which made her sound like a great peacemaker than she was about the truth.

Syrian deployment?

Fox news just reported that, according to Israeli intelligence, Syria is deploying tanks along the border of the Golan heights. They are also removing land mines.

War with Syria?

This morning, both Ynet News and Debkafile are reporting that Syria is now threatening to enter the war.

NATO: Put up or shut up?

In a recent article (February 15, 2006) Ann Coulter made the following statements:

"…I believe we are legally required to be bombing Syria right now. And unlike the Quran's alleged prohibition on depictions of Muhammad, I've got documentation to back that up! “Muslims in Syria torched the Danish Embassy a few weeks ago, burning it to the ground. According to everyone, the Syrian government was behind the attack - the prime minister of Denmark, Condoleezza Rice and White House spokesman Scott McClellan. I think even the gals on "The View" have acknowledged that Damascus was behind this one. McClellan said: "We will hold Syria responsible for such violent demonstrations since they do not take place in that country without government knowledge and support." We are signatories to a treaty that requires us to do more than "hold Syria responsible" for this attack. Syria has staged a state-sponsored attack on our NATO partner on Danish soil, the Danish embassy. According to the terms of the NATO treaty, the United States and most of Europe have an obligation to go to war with Syria. Or is NATO - like the conventions of civilized behavior, personal hygiene and grooming - inapplicable when Muslims are involved? Liberals complain about "unilateral action," but under the terms of a treaty created by Dean Acheson and the Democrats, France, Germany, Spain and Greece are all obliged to go to war with us against Syria. Why, it's almost like a coalition! OK, Mr. Commie: Saddle up!"

Ms. Coulter always has an entertaining way of making her point—but she does have a good point. I’m not sure NATO should start bombing Syria without further ado, but I do have to wonder what good is NATO if they won’t even respond to such an outrageous and unprovoked attack against a member country.