The Bush administration’s crosshairs shifted east decisively yesterday, from Iran to Syria, and that country is now the chief target for the neocons and their friends. With Iraq now firmly in the anti-Syria camp and under U.S. tutelage, it seems like the time has come for implementation of part two of the grand design laid out in the famous “A Clean Break” memo, written by Richard Perle, Douglas Feith et al., which you can read (if you haven’t read it lately) here.
The assassination of Rafik Hariri, the Saudi-connected billionaire, could have been carried out by any number of factions—from personal, business enemies of Hariri’s, Hezbollah, other Shiite factions, Syrian intelligence, Israeli intelligence, Iran and even some factions in Iraq. To believe that Syria did it—thus making itself is the instant target of U.S. wrath—seems ludicrous. More likely, to speculate, it seems that the murder was carried out specifically as a provocation to embarrass Syria and to provide Washington with a pretext to do what it wants to do anyway: Regime Change II.
The chaos in Iraq makes chaos in Syria more likely. In Iraq, the Shiite fundamentalists, the Chalabi Iraqi National Congress, and both Kurdish parties have it in for Syria, which they blame for harboring leaders of the (mostly Sunni) Iraqi resistance. It is a no-brainer that various Iraqi factions are already plotting against Syria. Kurds and fundamentalists have been causing trouble in Damascus for two years now, and both will get support from Iraq, under its new regime.
The Bush administration—with no evidence—is already blaming Syria for Hariri’s death. It is in line with a Wall Street Journal editorial on Feb. 7, cited in this column, then, called: “Warning to Damascus.” The White House officially thundered against “the Syrian occupation” of Lebanon yesterday, and an unnamed administration official told the Times: “We’re going to turn the heat up on Syria, that’s for sure.”
The Wall Street Journal today carries an article entitled: “Beirut Terror Puts Syria on the Hot Seat.” Lebanese factions are already mobilizing for war against Syria, storming Syrian offices in Beirut. One of those factions is the Israeli-connected fascist party, the Phalangists, led by the Gemayel clan.
