The Real War on Terror
By: Elie Atme /
http://www.10452lccc.com
October 11, 2003

"No war will be without Egypt, and no peace will be without Syria."
Henry Kissinger

Since the end of the Yom Kippur war three decades ago, Syria has continued with one single policy in the region--undermining the peace and freedom in the Middle East--while pursuing the path of state terrorism never been accounted for its wrong doing.

Last weekend, Israel finally held Syria responsible for promoting a kind of terrorism in its neighbouring countries, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel. Ambiguously, the UN chief Mr. Anan and other diplomats denounced Israel's air raid on Syria as a dramatic escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and went on to describe the situation as a threat to peace but thus far failing to make out the real threat in the region.

Since the current Baathist regime came to power this terrorist country,Syria, is by far the hub for world renowned terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Jihad, PPLP, etc. Syria--the original recipient of the title "terrorist state" and ranked top on the US list of terrorist countries--has been sponsoring and exporting terrorism without punishment for a long time.

Let's not overlook how Syria's Baathist regime has turned the occupation forces in Lebanon into a guardian of terrorism by establishing a political and security umbrella over all terrorist groups in occupied Lebanon, in addition to strengthening the terrorist training camps in the heart of its occupation in Lebanon which is the Bekaa valley.
Once free, a nation the world media now associates with terrorism is Lebanon! We should ask ourselves, "Why this extreme behavioral contradiction on Lebanon's part; why a political jump from one end of the political spectrum to the other?

The logical answer is the presence of Syrian occupation forces in Lebanon and the running of a Syrian single policy in an occupied country, witnessed by no other than Mr. Anan and his organization the UN that is allowing the Syrian regime to defy the implementation of a UN resolution 520 previously voted on and accepted more than two decades ago.

In his last testimony on Capitol Hill to the US Congress, Mr. Paul Bremer, the US civil administrator in Iraq, noted that "out of the 248 foreign terrorists captured in Iraq 123 are Syrian." They crossed the border from Syria; the Baathist regime allowing these various terrorist groups (including Al-Queda) to move in and out of Iraq for the sole purpose of spelling the blood of the US soldiers in Iraq and to undermine the new regional strategic and political order which is, democratizing the region by the US presence in Iraq.

The Stalinist like Baathist regime in Syria cannot endure the new wind of change blowing toward the Middle East for the reason that they will be the first affected by this change. The Syrian government continues to support terrorist groups by sheltering and protecting them from the arms of justice for their despicable actions. While we don't forget amongst all the acts of terrorism the bombing of the US Marines compound in Lebanon (it is true that the Iranians are the ultimate supporters of Hezbollah), the true fact remains that according to various political leaders and media commentators the Syrian occupation of Lebanon as "the power broker" in Lebanon is responsible for everything that takes place within the country--including terrorism.

If we take count of terrorist activities in Iraq and the progressions of these acts starting with the daily attacks on the US soldiers, the targeting of the Iraqi infrastructure, the bombing of the UN compounds, the assassination of prominent Iraqi religious leader Mr. Baker Hakim, the assassination of a political leader Mrs. Hashem, etc. ... this must be a deja -Vue, Lebanon during the 70's - 80's; we all know who perpetrated these acts in Lebanon! Yes, no other than its "sisterly" neighbour Syria. Perhaps the Syrians are extending their "sisterly" relations to their other neighbour, Iraq?

One would think that the Nations of Democracy learned from their mistakes in Lebanon when they allowed the Syrian wolf to shepherd the Lebanese sheep by surrendering one of the few parliamentarian countries in the region into the hands of evil where the people's representatives are not elected anymore; rather they are appointed by a Stalinist regime experienced with one form of political practice which is: enforcing their will on the people.

Perhaps the Israeli's years of experience in fighting terrorism finally reached a painful conclusion: the only way to save Lebanon, the battered and exhausted democracy in our region, is to start a shock treatment to revive the collapsed and dazed war on terror overpowered by Syrian loathing.