News from Lebanon
 

Are you whacko liberals following the news from Lebanon?


George W. Bush is right again!






Pathetic Earthlings! No one can save you now!

"Horvath" wrote in message
...
Are you whacko liberals following the news from Lebanon?


George W. Bush is right again!

Why? Did he assasinate anybody?

Isnt it great to see democracy spreading throughout the Arab world!

There is good news in what we are witnessing in Lebanon - tens of
thousands of young men and women, Christian and Muslim alike, bringing
down the pro-Syrian government of Lebanon. This show of democratic
strength harkens to recent successful efforts in Ukraine. It could be
another "tipping point" in democratizing the Arab world.

Today, the Syrian leadership is completely exposed, lacking any
political cover. Its occupation of Lebanon - under the guise of
defending civil peace - is called into question by the sight of those
tens of thousands of young Lebanese flooding the streets of Beirut and
carrying signs reading, "Syria Out."

The protesters in Beirut were heard throughout the Middle East. Key
Arab leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King
Abdullah II of Jordan, asked Syria to leave Lebanon and comply with
U.N. Resolution 1559.

Assad is faced with a more difficult situation than the one faced by
Saddam in 1990. The regional environment has been fundamentally altered
by the advent of satellite media in the Middle East. Along with their
leaders, the people of the Arab world have closely followed these
developments - through the coverage of pan-Arab television such as
al-Jazeera and al Arabiya, as well as the Lebanese Future television,
owned by the family of Rafik Hariri, the recently martyred former prime
minister.

Globally, the cover for Syrian domination of Lebanon has been blown
away by the U.N. resolution and the consensus reached between the
United States and Europe on this matter. France's President Jacques
Chirac, leader of Lebanon's former colonial power, attended Hariri's
funeral.

Syria is completely isolated, locally by the Lebanese crowds, and
regionally as important Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi
Arabia have backed the protesters in their demand that the Syrians
withdraw from Lebanon. After a period of cool relations following the
Iraq war, the United States and France have come together to call for
the immediate implementation of 1559.

So, as the Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara traveled to Cairo
and Riyadh during the last two days, he confronted great trouble in
getting any help from his traditional friends.

Even the most authoritarian regimes who have managed to quell their
internal dissent must take into account this fact: The United States is
next door in Iraq. Syria has based its policies inside and out on fear,
intimidation and power play. Few Arab citizens or states are likely to
be sympathetic to Syria's present plight.

To bad the liberal whiners are not under the thumb of a Saddam type or
Assad type. Bet they would change thier tune in a heart beat.

Joe

Joe wrote:
Isnt it great to see democracy spreading throughout the Arab world!


Yep. It will be even nicer if those democracies become secular (ie
non-religious) constitutional (ie following consistant written law)
states with good respect for human rights... doesn't automatically
happen, but there's a good chance.


There is good news in what we are witnessing in Lebanon - tens of
thousands of young men and women, Christian and Muslim alike, bringing
down the pro-Syrian government of Lebanon. This show of democratic
strength harkens to recent successful efforts in Ukraine. It could be
another "tipping point" in democratizing the Arab world.


Could be. OTOH it would have been nice if the Bush Administration had
paid attention to Lebanon 4+ years ago... the Syrians were occupying for
decades... shucks I went there 'way back when I was in the Navy...



.... Key
Arab leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King
Abdullah II of Jordan, asked Syria to leave Lebanon and comply with
U.N. Resolution 1559.


There's that darn UN thing again... tell us Joe, are you for it, or
agin' it??


Syria is completely isolated

Funny thing... up until a short while ago Syria was a key U.S. ally in
the region... they have a secular & stable gov't with little or no
vulnerability to fundamentalist pressures... and were providing good
cooperation on counter terrorist intel & ops... we detached them from
the alliance against Israel and replaced all their Soviet bloc weapons
with our stuff (for a profit, of course).

But hey, that was then, this is now... the key message here is that Bush
& Cheney can make friends with whomever they like, then turn on them in
an instant. Sounds good, huh?



Even the most authoritarian regimes who have managed to quell their
internal dissent must take into account this fact: The United States is
next door in Iraq.

And counting the minutes until we can leave.


To bad the liberal whiners are not under the thumb of a Saddam type or
Assad type. Bet they would change thier tune in a heart beat.


Yeah! If we could only torture them all, then they'd change their minds.
Those dadgum libby-rulls need to see who's boss, huh?

BTW Joe where did you cut-n-paste the above article from?

DSK

The news paper

Joe

Whats wrong Doug? Things not turning out as you expected?

Are you just so sad to see democracy spreading throughout the middle
east?


What would be funny is you liking your nextdoor neighbor, and then he
pulls out a gun and holds your other neighbors hostage. With your line
of reasoning you would still be friends with that neighbor no matter
how he acts. It just down right lowdown if you change your opinion of
your neighbor right? Im mean you can make friends with whomever you
like, then turn on them in an instant. Right? Sounds good, huh?

Joe

Joe wrote:
The news paper


Did you *think* about it, or just begin trumpeting it as a "Great
Triumph For Bush's Foreign Policy"?

I think it's a great positive step... unfortunate that it followed the
assassination of a Lebanese statesman... it's certainly not an
earth-shattering revelation or a tremendous revolution in the order of
things.

It would be much better if the U.S. could bring about positive change
without getting thousands... or tens of thousands... of people killed...
especially our own young men & women. For example, there is a large &
economically powerful group of moderate middle-class Iranians who would
like to reduce or even eliminate the mullah's stranglehold on their
gov't. But they will unite with the mullahs against the US with our
current policy of saber-rattling. What do you think would be the smart
course of action? Nuke 'em all, right?

And as I said, the situation in Lebanon has existed for at least twenty
years. Better late than never, though!

Regards
Doug King

Joe wrote:
Whats wrong Doug? Things not turning out as you expected?

Are you just so sad to see democracy spreading throughout the middle
east?


Here we go, more name-calling and false quotes. It's like deja-vu all
over again.

Please re-read my post, Joe. *Where* did I say I was sad, or that I
thought things in Lebanon were going wrong? Can your ideas not stand on
their own, you have lie about others?

DSK

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 06:59:12 -0800, Joe wrote:

Isnt it great to see democracy spreading throughout the Arab world!

Let's see, a former Prime Minister is assassinated and a mob forces the
Cabinet to resign. Interesting concept of democracy you have there.

There is good news in what we are witnessing in Lebanon - tens of
thousands of young men and women, Christian and Muslim alike, bringing
down the pro-Syrian government of Lebanon. This show of democratic
strength harkens to recent successful efforts in Ukraine. It could be
another "tipping point" in democratizing the Arab world.

Clearly, you didn't pay any attention in history class. Lebanon has been
either in a Civil War or waiting for the next Civil War, essentially from
it's date of Independence. Hopefully, it will attain a stable and
democratic government, but it ain't there yet.

Oh, and those evil Syrian troops were necessary to restore order. Without
them, the Lebanese bloodshed would have continued.

Oh come on Doug..according to you the evil Bush and Cheney and
Halliburton are destroying the earth. The sky is falling....The sky is
falling. Assinations, torture, lies, all for nothing.

We are saber ratteling physcos willing to have 1000's killed for
nothing remember?

Well to bad... so sad.........You were wrong...Your whole stand on the
war with Iraq was wrong.. People in the middle east are getting a taste
of freedom and they love it. It's spreading thru the region like
wildfire.

You can thank George W Bush right now.

BTW I did not call you any names...I took that part out before I
posted.

Joe