Sunday, October 26, 2008
The October Surprise ?
This could be what McCain and the neocons were waiting for. Opening of another front in the volatile Middle East and then emphasize "experience" and "national security" in the hope that vulnerable voters will switch to the Republican ticket? Nine days before the election, they had no other cards in the deck.
Is it going to work? After what we learned about the Bush Administration's cooked up war against Iraq it would be unthinkable that the American public would fall for another con game. But for the McCain-Palin team it is the answer to their prayers. If some more of our young men and women lose their lives in the phony war they will say they died for a good cause -- to keep Republicans in office. Sickening.
Is it going to work? After what we learned about the Bush Administration's cooked up war against Iraq it would be unthinkable that the American public would fall for another con game. But for the McCain-Palin team it is the answer to their prayers. If some more of our young men and women lose their lives in the phony war they will say they died for a good cause -- to keep Republicans in office. Sickening.
BBC News 26 October 2008
Syria has said American troops carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people - if the claims are true then this will be the first military incursion by the US into Syrian territory from Iraq. But its timing is curious, coming right at the end of the Bush administration's period of office and at a moment when many of America's European allies - like Britain and France - are trying to broaden their ties with Damascus. Whatever the local military factors involved in this US operation, it would be unthinkable to imagine that an incursion into Syria would not require a policy decision at a high-level. The movement of insurgents and foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq has long been a bone of contention between Damascus and Washington. The US argument has always been that the Syrians are not doing enough to control the border. The Syrians have always countered that they are unfairly being blamed for turmoil inside Iraq that is not of their making. Quite apart from their differences over Iraq, Washington sees Syria as unhelpful in Lebanon and as far too friendly with Iran. |
"War hath no fury like a non-combatant."
--C.E. Montague
