Damascus Says U.S. Interfering in Lebanon, Syria

[Warsai]

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Damascus has accused the United States of interfering in the affairs of Lebanon and Syria, accusing Washington of bringing undue pressure to force a U.N. resolution last week on foreign influence in Lebanon.

In comments reported by state media on Tuesday, Defense Minister Hasan Turkmani accused Washington of "political escalation to interfere in the internal affairs of Syria and Lebanon under frail pretexts."

Turkmani, whose country has around 17,000 troops in Lebanon, slammed Washington's role in pushing through last week's U.N. resolution that called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon. The resolution also warned against foreign interference in Lebanon's presidential elections.

In a speech at a cadets' graduation ceremony, Turkmani said the resolution was a U.S. attempt to "confiscate" the authority of the Lebanese people and parliament "as if the United States is more keen than the Lebanese on their country and interests."

Defying the U.N., Lebanon's parliament voted last Friday to extend the term of Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud.

On Sunday, Lahoud reaffirmed that Beirut would continue to work closely with Damascus after the extension of his term, which Washington says was orchestrated by Damascus.

Traditionally tense ties between Syria and the United States have been further strained since the U.S-led war in Iraq.

Turkmani suggested a link between the U.S. "intervention" attempts and Israeli threats to strike targets in Syria for alleged complicity in bus bombings that killed 16 people in southern Israel last Tuesday.

"These threats coincided with U.S. political escalation," he said of the warnings that have raised the specter of an air raid similar to the one carried out deep inside Syria last October.

[kesann]

No one can ever accuse the present American administration of being too diplomatic....given their presence in Iraq, it's small wonder any "offerings" to any mid-east country regarding their operation is going to be met with hostility.
And it's not a big leap to make the connection to American support of Israel.

[plazul]

I'm expecting a major Israeli strike against Syria after our presidential election. They've already taken out some Hamas in reponse to the latest suicide bombing.

I wish both candidates would tell us how they plan to proceed with the "road map" to peace in Israel.

[kesann]

I'm a Canadian, but am trying to follow the two presidential hopefuls, and what they stand for.
With Bush,I'm pretty clear..there'll be more of the same...interference in other nations' affairs,and a lot of the "pre-emptive" baggage to deal with. American troops are being spread very thin, what with their presence in Iraq,Afghanistan,Russian Georgia, the Phillipines,etc...oh, perhaps they're still in Liberia.
I read in an editorial that one million jobs have been lost in the U.S., and that the national debt is in the hundreds of trillions. How can the American economy maintain itself? And what of issues important in daily life to Americans? Education,health care,jobs, safety,etc.

[plazul]

The United States account and trade deficits are roughly equal at a little over half a trillion each. That is not sustainable and if Bush's supply side tax cuts become permanent we're sunk.

Keep in mind that W's military advisors do have a plan. They tell us that world progress is impossible without democracy, something most of us agree on. To that end, they've devised an aggressive forward military strategy with preemtive war objectives that will cost America dearly in blood and treasure. But the pay off, as they see it, is worth it. Remember George Herbert walker Bush's new world order?

What they really want to do is make the world safer for plutocracy and multinational corporate commerce. When they achieve world peace they'll be able to exploit the world's labor force and plunder natural resouces with impunity.