← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Hilaire Belloc
Thread ID: 10995 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2003-11-08
2003-11-08 17:35 | User Profile
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=12&u=/nm/20031108/ts_nm/syria_usa_dc[/url]
Paper: Syria Slams U.S. Middle East Democracy Push
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria's official press slammed President Bush (news - web sites)'s call for democracy in the Middle East on Saturday, saying freedom could not be imposed by force and that Arabs did not need lessons on democracy.
Bush challenged foes Iran and Syria as well as key ally Egypt on Thursday to adopt democracy, saying past U.S. policies of supporting non-democratic Middle East leaders had failed.
But analysts said Bush mainly criticized U.S. foes rather than the region's least democratic states.
In a front page editorial, Syria's daily al-Thawra newspaper accused Washington of trying to act as a regional guardian.
"The American administration is practicing the role of guardian over sovereign states. Threatening to impose democracy by force kills democracy and assassinates freedom," it said.
"The people of the region are not in need of lessons in democracy and freedom."
Syrian-U.S. ties are strained over accusations by Washington that Damascus is turning a blind eye to militants crossing its borders into Iraq (news - web sites) to fight U.S. troops. Bush has blamed "foreign terrorists" in part for a wave of violence in Iraq.
Syria, which said on Wednesday relations with Washington were the most negative in years, says it is working to secure the border, and called on the United States to do the same on the Iraqi side.
Syria also questioned how Washington can call for democracy in the Middle East while it is occupying an Arab state.
"Can there be a democratic revolution by occupying sovereign countries' land? Can it be by jets and cannons and destructive weapons?" the paper said.
"This speech...is not in the interests of the United States of America at all, and it is not in the interest of the region."
Syria is also under heavy U.S. pressure for its backing of Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas and Palestinian groups opposed to Israel, which last month bombed what it said was a training camp for militants deep in Syria for the first time in 30 years.
The U.S. House of Representatives also voted last month to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions on Syria until the White House says it no longer supports "terrorists."
If the Senate approves the measure as is expected, Bush could sign it into law.
2003-11-08 18:50 | User Profile
Bush's idea of democracy is the ZOG-type system we have in the United States, i.e., the Republicrats with television, the one-eyed Jew, in every home to tell lemmings what to think. Enlightened folks balk at such tyranny, which gives rise to violent and repeated insurrection, Iraq, for example.
-Z-