The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

The Convenient "Confessions"

This morning a very small and toubling story appeared on the BBC.

It details how Iraqi rebels confessed to being directed and sent from Syria. As US pressure increases on Bashar & Co. in the wake of the Hariri assassination, in which no evidence has been marshalled of Syrian involvement, it appears certain interests are preparing a multi-layered smear campaign against the Syrian government.

To quote:
A US-funded Iraqi television station has aired what it says are confessions by Iraqi insurgents who claim to have been backed by Syrian intelligence.

Appearing on al-Iraqiya TV, the men say they were trained and financed by Syrian intelligence. The claims could not be independently verified.

The US accuses Syria of sheltering Saddam Hussein loyalists and allowing insurgents to cross borders.

Pressure has also mounted on Syria over an assassination in Beirut last week.

While the US has stopped short of blaming Syria for the bomb attack which killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri, calls have intensified for Damascus to pull its troops out of Lebanon.

'Cause chaos'

The allegations made by the apparent rebels on al-Iraqiya TV would, if verified, back US and Iraqi claims of Syrian meddling in Iraq's affairs.

A man who was identified as Syrian intelligence officer Lt Anas Ahmed al-Essa said he and his group had been recruited to "cause chaos in Iraq... to bar America from reaching Syria," the Associated Press reported.

"We received all the instructions from Syrian intelligence," he said in the video broadcast.

He claimed he infiltrated Iraq two years before the US-led invasion, because Syrian intelligence were convinced the US would invade.


This is just all too convenient.

I can see that US citizen, servant of neo-con power, and wanna-be Chalabi - Farid Ghadry - sitting in Washington smiling. Saddly, those willing to use any excuse to ideologically and strategically marginalize Syria in the region and in future peace talks will employ this Khara to prove their points.

We know....WMDs, uranium from Niger, and a capability to launch an attack in 45 minutes.
And failing that its all about democracy.