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Today's Stories Peterside, Ogon, Watts and Zalik Delta Blues Again: Ken Saro-Wiwa, 10 Years Gone Lawrence R. Velvel Why Did Libby Lie? November 9, 2005 Gary Leupp The Niger Deception / Plame Affair: an Incomplete Chronology Tariq Ali Blair Defeated on Terror Laws Chris Floyd The Philosopher's Stone Elaine Cassel The Shocking Trial of an American Citizen: the Case of Ahmed Abu Ali Joshua Frank Sen. Max Baucus's NASCAR Pay Day Alison Weir Memo to Jon Stewart: Glad You're Against Torture, So Why'd You Give Israel a Pass? Diana Johnstone Rage in the Banlieue November 8, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Still No Jobs Roger Burbach Bush v. Chavez: the Imperial President Meets the Bolivarian Democrat Ron Jacobs An Interview with Behzad Yaghmaian on the Paris Uprising Ralph Nader "The Worst Marketed Disease on the Planet" Jim McGrath Voter Beware: a Cautionary Tale for Election Day David Bloom McCain, Israel and Torture: Setting the Record Straight Stan Goff Jimmy Massey, Ron Harris, and Ambush Journalism   November 7, 2005 Dick Reavis The Origins of Mr. Danger Jason Leopold Cheney and the Cover Up: the Vice President Lied Dave Lindorff What Country was Bush Talking About? Eli Stephens A Tale of Two Generals: the Lies of Colin Powell David Swanson The Bush-Cheney Ethics Refresher Course: a Syllabus M. Junaid Alam An Interview Stan Goff Matt Reichel Paris Uprising: a Rebellion in Real Time Naima Bouteldja Paris is Burning Jeff Halper Israel as an Extension of American Empire Website of the Day Dispatches from Paris   November 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Storm Over Brockes' Fakery: Guardian Fabricates Chomsky Quotes Lawrence R. Velvel Lying, Law Schools and Executive Power: What Senators Should Ask Alito Diana Johnstone Srebrenica: a Response to Certain Criticisms of My Essay Roosa / Nevins The Mass Killlings in Indonesia, 40 Years Later Niranjan Ramakrishnan Missing the Bus: When Conscience Bows to Calculation John Ross The Zapatistas' Otra Campaign for Mexico's Presidential Elections Mike Whitney Globalizing Sadism: the United States of Torture Mark Engler Will Big Business Turn On Bush?: the Economic Nightmare Unfolds Juliano Mer-Khamis They Shoot at Children, Too Ron Jacobs When Gen. Westmoreland Visited Jill S. Farrell Bird Flu and the Posse Comitatus Act Missy Comley Beattie Trent Lott's Untroubled Sleep Mitchel Cohen People of the Dome, Revisited Evelyn J. Pringle Bush-Cheney and Big Oil's Big Summer Reza Fiyouzat Signs of Life or Last Gasp? Structural Problems in the Democratic Party Charles Sullivan When Courage Fails: a White Southerner on Rosa Parks Zachary Richard Return to Louisiana Ben Tripp Beginning of the End? Don't Start Cheering Just Yet St. Clair / Vest Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week   November 4, 2005 Jeffrey St. Clair Blood on the Tundra, Betrayal in the Rotunda: Losing ANWR Dave Lindorff A Majority Now Favors Impeachment: If He Lied, He Must Be Tried Phillip Cryan Crackdown in Colombia Christopher Brauchli Katrina and Tax Breaks for the Very Rich William S. Lind Exit Strategy: You Can't Stay the Course in a Lost War Daryl G. Kimball Of Madmen and Nukes George Beres Laurels for Negroponte? Peter Montague Why We Can't Prevent Cancer   November 3, 2005 James Petras The Libby Affair and the Internal War Saul Landau Torn Families and Shot Down Planes: a Cuba Story Rep. Cynthia McKinney An Occurrence at Gretna Bridge Michael Dickinson Bang! Bang! You're Deaf! Sonic Weapons Over Palestine Joshua Frank Sham Behind Closed Doors Remi Kanazi Dancing with Perseverance Reza Fiyouzat Taxation or Racketeering? Website of the Day CIA Leak Investigation: Bigger Fish, Deeper Water?   November 2, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair Holy Alito!: Not as Crazy as Scalia, But Just as Bad Robert Oscar Lopez Saving Rosa Parks from American Hypocrisy John Walsh The Philosophy of Mendacity: From Leo Strauss to Scooter Libby Brian J. Foley Why Most Americans Don't Care About Gitmo (and Why They Should) Ramzy Baroud Rolling Back Syria M. Junaid Alam What Moral Values? Todd Chretien Judgment Day for the Governator Bruce K. Gagnon The Democrats' Slap Happy Day Website of the Day Hands Off Dave!   November 1, 2005 Ron Jacobs An Interview with Kent State's Dave Airhart Gary Leupp The Plame Affair Leads to Rome John Ross Days of the Dead on the Border Bill Quigley Why Are They Making New Orleans a Ghost Town? Joseph Nevins From a Boundary of Death to One of Life Dave Lindorff Thinking About Impeachment Linda S. Heard Bashing Syria: Another Trojan Horse from the UN? Heather Gray Thank You, Mrs. Parks Michael Dickinson To Di For: Charlie and Camilla Cross the Pond Jeffrey St. Clair Kent State: Wise Up and Back Off   October 31, 2005 Elaine Cassel Libby's Lies Mark Weisbrot Pop Goes the Bubble: Bernancke and the Fed Mike Whitney Carry On, Patrick Fitzgerald Norman Solomon After the Libby Indictment, the Press Acquits Itself Farooq Sulehria Trading Weapons While Kashmir Burns Nicole Colson Scapegoating Immigrants Madis Senner Dhafir Sentenced to 22 Years: Another Erosion of Civil Rights Paul Craig Roberts Scooter and the Neocons October 29 / 30, 2005 Cockburn / St. Clair The Libby Indictment: Gotterdammerung for the Bushies? Peter Linebaugh The Wedges of Hephaestus Tim Wise Framing the Poor: Katrina, Conservative Myth-Making and the Media John Chuckman Bushspeak: Dark and Garbled Words Steven Higgs Green Hoosiers: Forging a New Democracy in the Heartland Brian Cloughley The Fifth Afghan War M. Shahid Alam Israel and the Consequences of Uniqueness Nikki Robinson Crack Down at Kent State Ralph Nader Let the PIRGs Begin!: Student Activism Thrives Joe DeRaymond Requiem for Bethlehem Steel? Joshua Frank Karl's Great Escape: Did Rove Rat on Scooter? Laura Santina Tongue-Tied on Iraq: Why Aren't the Dems Screaming Bloody Murder? Fred Gardner Death of an Organizer Michael Dickinson Insult Your Country Ron Jacobs Autumn in America Dr. Susan Block Fear and Sex: a Halloween Greeting Vanessa S. Jones Self-Portrait, 1994. Bronte Beach Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Marbet, Gardner, Ford, Albert, Engel, Krieger & St. Clair Website of the Weekend Red State Update   October 28, 2005 Jared Bernstein Inflation Up; Wages Down: Fastest Decline in Wages on Record Virginia Tilley Embracing the Anti-Aparthied Movement in Israel/Palestine Phil Gasper The Race to Execute Tookie Williams Jennifer Matsui It's Mardi Graft Time! Manual Garcia, Jr. Is the US Really Against Torture? Monica Benderman In the Name of Justice Jason Leopold Fitzgerald Focuses on the Forgeries Dave Lindorff Suddenly, Bush Endorses Right of Fair Trials Otober 27, 2005 Saul Landau The Scandal Isn't the Leak, But the Illegal War Stuart Hodkinson Bono and Geldoff: "We Saved Africa" Oh No, They Didn't! Ingmar Lee Stop the Troops!: No Glory or Honor in Iraq Lila Rajiva License to Bill: Gates Does India Ilan Pappe The Last Moment of Hope Niranjan Ramakrishnan Waiting for Fitzgerald Michael Donnelly Look Who's Talking Now: the GOP on Perjury Ron Jacobs Escape the Weight of Your Corporate Logo Cockburn / St. Clair White House in Meltdown   October 26, 2005 Kathy Kelly For Whom They Toll Gary Leupp Dialectics of the Plame Affair Mike Marqusee Empire of Denial Eric Ruder War Crimes in Afghanistan Patrick Cockburn Iraq: a Constitutionally Divided Nation Joshua Frank Fitzgerald v. the Bushies: Hold Your Elation in Check J.L. Chestnut, Jr. The Legacy of Rosa Parks Website of the Day Decent Work in America: the 2005 Work Environment Index     October 25, 2005 Paul Craig Roberts Condi and Syrian Regime Change: Could Somebody Recommend a President? Ken Sengupta / Patrick Cockburn Attack on the Palestine Hotel Conn Hallinan Sleight of Hand: Iran, India and the US Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Pulling the Court Strings Jackie Corr Barbara Bush: Poster Gorgon of the Houston Astros Robert Day Talk to Strangers John Sugg Judith Miller and Me   October 24, 2005 Dave Lindorff Revoke Judy Miller's Pulitzer Michael Donnelly Shades of Iran/contra Patrick Cockburn A Nation Stands on Trial Mike Whitney Apres Rove Norman Solomon Iraq is Not Vietnam, But... Bill and Kathleen Christison US Foreign Policy and Palestine   October 22 / 23, 2005 Alexander Cockburn When Divas Collide: Maureen Dowd v. Judy Miller Billy Sothern Letter from the Circle Bar, New Orleans Saul Landau Bush, an Assessment Ralph Nader An Open Letter to Bush on Harriet Miers Behrooz Ghamari Whose Justice Does Saddam's Trial Serve? Brian Cloughley Bush the Strategist: Pyrrhus Without a Victory? Diana Barahona Venezuela's National Workers' Union Fred Gardner Dershowitzed! Lee Sustar What the War on Terror is Really About Patrick Cockburn Murder of Saddam Trial Defense Lawyer Laura Carlsen Mexico City Seamstresses Recall 1985 Quake James Petras China Bashing and the Loss of US Competitiveness Joshua Frank Invading Iran: Who is to Stop Them? Manuel Garcia, Jr. Disasters are Us Michelle Bollinger When Abortion Was Illegal Missy Comley Beattie CSI: Iraq Kona Lowell Intelligent Design: Making High School Fun Ben Tripp Tanks for the Memories Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening To This Week Poets' Basement Albert and Engel Website of the Day Indictment Watch   October 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff The Democrats' Abortion Hypocrisy Winslow T. Wheeler Paying for Their Mistakes: Incompetence, Deception and the Defense Budget Col. Dan Smith The Destruction of the National Guard Norman Solomon Media at Crossroads: 25 Years After Reagan's Triumph Madis Senner Abusing Katrina Michael Donnelly Richard Pombo: DeLay in Cowboy Boots October 20, 2005 Dave Lindorff Impeachment Comes to NYC Ray McGovern 16 Fatal Words: Cheney's Chickens Come Home to Roost Jeremy Brecher / Brendan Smith Attack Syria? Invade Iran?: By What Constitutional Right? Patrick Cockburn Saddam Refuses to Recognize Court Kevin Zeese Was the Iraqi Constitution Vote Fixed? Ross Eisenbrey Millions Would Lose Pay and Protections Under Enzi Amendment Randy Shields James McMurtry Makes It in Dayton Justine Davidson Prosecuting Bush in Canada for Torture: a Small Victory After Lucas Cranach Judy and Holofernes Joe Allen The Scandalous History of the Red Cross   October 19, 2005 Christopher Reed Koizumi and the Rape of Nanking Stephen Soldz Bush and Avian Flu: the Excuses Begin to Fly Chet Richards War and Intelligence Patrick Cockburn Saddam on Trial Scott Richard Lyons Multicultural Columbus? Ralph Nader An Interview with Rev. William Sloane Coffin Website of the Day Shocking Video: Why Birds May Be Taking Viral Vengeance on Humans   October 18, 2005 Chet Flippo Merle Haggard: "Let's Get Out of Iraq" Ron Jacobs Dual Devotions: the Catholic Church and the US Flag Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor A Tale of Two Cities: From DC to Toledo Dave Lindorff Judy Miller: Little Miss Run Amok Virginia Rodino A Winter Patriot: Reflections on the Antiwar Movement Thomas Healy The Weather in Goshen: Still Radical After All These Years Ralph Nader A New New Orleans Stephen Lendman The Sorrows of Haiti Patrick Cockburn On the Eve of Saddam's Trial: a Divided Iraq   October 17, 2005 Peter Linebaugh Spinoza and the Black Limos Norman Solomon Judith Miller, the Fourth Estate and the Warfare State Cockburn / Sengupta "If the Sunnis Don't Like It, That's Their Problem" Mike Whitney Miller's Confession: Last Gasp Before Indictments? Uri Avnery Iraq Now: What Awaits Samira? Harold Pinter Torture & Misery in the Name of Freedom Website of the Day Al Joudi v. Bush   October 15 / 16, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ayatollahs of the Apocalypse Patrick Cockburn "This Constitution Won't Get Me a Job" Saul Landau Two Terrorists and a Lush: Osama, Posada and Bush's Drinking Neve Gordon "Beyond Chutzpah": Exposing Grave Moral Distortions Moshe Adler Poverty in New York City Christopher Brauchli Lynndie England's Burden Diane Farsetta The Emperor Doesn't Disclose: the Fight Against Fake News Sam Husseini Notes on Current Reporting About Judith Miller Monica Benderman From Chaos to Conscience to Peace Mickey Z. POW Abuse by US: Nothing New Going On Here Douglas C. Smyth George W. Bush, the Honorius of Our Time Lee Sustar Will Delphi Bust the UAW? Fred Gardner Cannabinoids Arrive in Realm of Established Fact Elizabeth Schulte A Former Panther's Georgia Campaign: an Interview with Elaine Brown Joshua Frank Will the Democrats Save Harriet Miers? David Vest Down with Formalism! Up with Values! Ben Tripp Epistle II: the Reawakenign Poets Basement Engel, Albert, Ford and Louise Website of the Weekend The Hidden Canyon   October 14, 2005 Farrah Hassen A Somber Ramadan in Syria Ron Jacobs The Black Panthers: They Haven't Forgotten; Neither Should We Sasha Kramer USAID and Haiti: the Friendly Face of Imperialism? Katrina Yeaw The Student Struggle in Italy Nicole Colson Bird Flu: Militarizing Health Care Raúl Zibechi Survival and Existence in El Alto Nikolas Kozloff Hugo Chávez and the Politics of Race Website of the Day LA Filmmakers Cooperative October 13, 2005 Jeremy Scahill Mr. Bush Goes to Tikrit (Sort Of) Jeff Birkenstein A Thoreau for Our Time: Why Cindy Sheehan Matters Brendan Smith / Jeremy Brecher Harriet Miers: Bush or the Constitution? Stan Cox Did You Know This About Iraq? Anis Memon The Curious Case of Russ Feingold Gary Leupp Miller, Libby and the June Notes Dave Zirin A Tribute to August Wilson Matthew Koehler America's Endangered Forests Werther The Two-Headed Monster Website of the Day Hurricane Song October 12, 2005 Omar Waraich Britain and the Quake: Mean and Stingy William Cook Voices Behind the Entombment Wall Phil Gasper Countdown to a Legal Lynching Dave Lindorff Impeachment Now and Then: Clinton, Bush and the Polls Matt Vidal Capital, Power and Class John Gautreaux New Orleans will Never be the Same Diana Johnstone Srebrenica Revisited: Using War as an Excuse for War Mark Weisbrot The IMF Has Lost Its Influence Brian J. Foley Gitmo Tribunals Endanger Public Safety Website of the Day Columbus Day Lies   October 11, 2005 Roger Morris / Steve Schmidt Strategic Demands of the 21st Century Lila Rajiva Live from New Orleans: Abu Ghraib Bill Quigley New Orleans: Leaving the Poor Behind Again Paul Craig Roberts Natural Born Liars Dave Lindorff Recruiters in Schools: No Lie Left Untried Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Suspect Thy Neighbor Mitchel Cohen Showdown at Chuck E. Cheese Tariq Ali Pakistan will Never Forget This Horror Website of the Day L'Heure Americaine   October 10, 2005 Cindy and Craig Corrie Rachel's Words Live Joshua Frank Washington's War Dems Gideon Levy The Beautiful Life Without Arafat Alan Wallis The Fight for Free Speech at Union Square Mickey Z. In Defense of Liars CounterPunch News Service Vermont Independence Convention Paul Craig Roberts The Police State is Closer Than You Think Website of the Day Dylan's Chronicles   October 8 / 9, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Rhetoric and Reality in the Business of Getting Rid of Black People Ralph Nader Katrina and the Growls of Greed Jennifer Van Bergen New American Law: Legal Strategies in the Dharfir Case Saul Landau An Oily Religious Dream Jeff Halper Setting Up Abbas Lenni Brenner The Millions More Movement and Zionism Nikolas Kozloff Bird Flu and Bush Brian Cloughley Training Soldiers in Iraq Alice Slater A Nobel Prize for Chernobyl? John Gautreaux A View from Cajun Country Fred Gardner Does the Controlled Substances Act Mean What It Says? Niranjan Ramakrishnan The Leveethan Approach M.G. Piety Rot in the Ivory Tower: Collusion, Cover-Up and Kierkegaard Tom Gorman The Hitchens Doctrine Mike Whitney Bunker Days with George Aseem Shrivastava Beyond the Wasteland: Lessons from Afghanistan Ben Tripp Religion, an Epistle Poets' Basement Albert, Engel and Ford   October 7, 2005 Larry Johnson The Plame Case: the Real Issues Will Youmans Why Do We Hate Our Freedom? Recruiters and Thugs on Campus Dave Lindorff Bird Flu: Evolution or Intelligent Design? Judith Scherr Haiti's Children's Prison Russell D. Hoffman Nukes for Peace, Revisited?: Nobel Prize Debacle Jared Bernstein Katrina and Jobs Jennifer Van Bergen New American Law: the Case of Dr. Dhafir Website of the Day FBI Witchhunt October 6, 2005 P. Sainath "Take That, Tom Friedman": Indian Masses Reject NYT's Neoliberal Idol Again Scott Parkin When Antiwar Activists Get Mugged Paul Craig Roberts Blundering into Syria Andréa Schmidt Haiti's Biometric Elections: a High-Tech Experiment in Exclusion Dave Lindorff Easy Money in the Big Easy Joshua Frank In Defense of Lew Rockwell M. Junaid Alam Jackboots at George Mason Matthew Koehler Cock and Bull on the Bitterroot Robert Pollin Is the Dollar Still Falling?   October 5, 2005 Heather Gray Militarization is Not an Answer for Reconstruction: the Case of the Philippines Robert Jensen Is Bush a Racist? Ramzy Baroud Bush's Final Choice: America or the Empire Col. Dan Smith Keeping Promises to Iraq: "Everything is Bad" Dave Zirin Barry Bonds Laughs Last Paul Craig Roberts Liberal Guilt? How the Neocons Took Over Alan Maass Doing the Right Wing's Dirty Work   October 4, 2005 Nikolas Kozloff Shocking the Two Party System: a Political Opportunity for Sheehan and the Antiwar Mvt. Mike Roselle Houston, You've Got a Problem Joshua Frank The Scoop on Harriet Miers John Chuckman War Porn: What the Gruesome Images Say Alan Farago Storm Warning for Jeb: Developers, Hurricanes and the Keys Mickey Z. An Interview with Thaddeus Rutkowski Christine & Ethan Rose Home Depot Exploits Hurricane Victims Gary Leupp An Earlier Empire's War on Iraq: a Lesson from Roman History Website of the Day Rodney Crowell on Bob Dylan   October 3, 2005 Vijay Prashad Desperation at Holyoke Paul Craig Roberts Condi Rice: Gunslinger Joshua Frank An Interview with Cindy Sheehan Seth Sandronsky The Hiring Crisis for Black Teens Jeffrey St. Clair The Great Green Scare             Subscribe Online

One Final Push! Annual Fundraising Appeal We interrupt your regular reading habits to bring you the following important announcement: CounterPunch needs your financial support! We're not in the habit of making idle threats and this isn't one. Either we meet our fundraising goal of $60,000 over the next three weeks or we'll be forced to drastically curtail the operation of our website. It's near the end of our year and the wolf is at the door. CounterPunch's website is supported almost entirely by subscribers to the print edition of our newsletter. We don't clutter the site by selling annoying popup ads. We tried getting money out of Google, but they gave us the boot. We aren't on the receiving end of six-figure grants from big foundations. George Soros doesn't have us on retainer. And we don't sell tickets on cruiseliners. The continued existence of CounterPunch depends solely on the support and dedication of our readers. And we know there are a lot of you. 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To contribute by phone you can call Becky or Deva toll free at: 1-800-840-3683 Onward, Alexander, Jeffrey, Becky and Deva November 10, 2005 Syria in the Crosshairs Constructive Engagement or a New Tonkin Gulf? By ANTHONY NEWKIRK While the war in Iraq is today the main test of the power of the United States in the Middle East, U.S. intentions in neighboring Syria are often ignored. While there seems to have been a major shift in relations with Syria over the past two years, it should be seen in the context of a decades-old process of "constructive engagement." Accusations that the Syrian government was responsible for the grisly assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February have brought Syria into public view like never before. For instance, the establishment liberal Hillary Rodham Clinton told a private group early this year that terrorism "flows from Damascus" to a very "dangerous neighborhood"-evidently, her shorthand for the Middle East. We should not be so quick to rush to judgement because Damascus is not the only party being considered in connection with the crime and the UN-sponsored investigation is not yet finished. It is also taken for granted that there has been, in the words of the right-wing Middle East Bulletin, a "seismic shift in American-Syrian relations" over the past two years. The truth of the matter, though, is actually more complex. A variation on containment based on the "carrot and stick" principle, constructive engagement aims to gain influence with states outside the U.S. sphere of influence. This policy has two basic "phases": persuasion: granting some form of material assistance or preferential treatment to encourage actions not opposed to U.S. interests; and coercion: withdrawing assistance and applying varying degrees of force to discourage actions opposed to U.S. interests. Negotiations with Egypt and Mainland China in the 1970s are noted examples. The U.S. government has used constructive engagement with other nations, including Syria. Syrian constructive engagement is well into the coercive phase-if it has not been replaced altogether by the goal of "regime change." The U.S. claim is that Syria is anti-American and meddles with its own neighbors. But this does not sit well with the facts that Syria belonged to the anti-Saddam coalition in 1991 and Washington supported the Syrian occupation in Lebanon at least until early 2003. So why is Syria considered a member of the Axis of Evil? A full answer is not yet available to the public. But the magnitude of official dishonesty becomes clearer when recent Syrian-U.S. relations are examined. The Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party formed in Damascus in 1947, has controlled the Syrian Arab Republic since the early 1960s. The Syrian Ba'ath-not to be confused with the group that ruled Iraq with an iron fist between 1968 and 2003-claims to be dedicated to protecting "the Arab nation" (after a short interlude in the late 1950s, the Syrian and Iraqi Ba'athists became bitter enemies). Minister of Defense Hafez al-Assad led a bloodless coup against a civilian government in 1970 and ruled Syria until his death in 2000, when the Ba'ath installed Hafez's son Bashar as president. Bashar is perhaps a puppet of the Ba'athist "old guard" committed to perpetuating his father's policies of a command economy, martial law, secularism, and formal opposition to the United States and Israel. But while analysts generally agree that it was comparatively less brutal than Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, the Syrian Ba'ath nevertheless has used force to stay in power. A serious threat to Ba'athist authority in Syria is the banned Muslim Brotherhood, a conservative Sunni party. The Ba'ath ruthlessly crushed a Sunni uprising in Aleppo and Hamah in the early 1980s. Membership in the Muslim Brotherhood is now a capital crime. Human rights activists and both religious and secular dissidents are regularly imprisoned. The Syrian Ba'ath claims it is making a series of political reforms, but how far reaching they are-and how much they result from foreign "pressure"-is debatable. Besides rehashing Pan-Arabist rhetoric, Ba'ath leaders nominated Assad for another term as president at the 10th Party Congress in June. The Congress' original achievement was legalizing some small "socialist" parties opposed to religion and regional autonomy. By giving concessions to a chosen few, the Ba'ath is co-opting potential enemies-tactics valued by any dictatorship wanting to survive. The Assad regime has had pragmatic relations with the United States. Syria is a poor nation surrounded by hostile states with diplomatic styles not as nuanced as Washington's. The Ba'athists deal with Turkey to the north over water rights and Kurdish rebels living in Syria. Talks on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, though, are stalled. Israeli warplanes bombed a purported Islamic Jihad training camp in Syria two years ago. Numerous sources indicate that there has been, in the words of RAND Corporation analyst Steven Simon, "bilateral cooperation" between Syria and the United States in the War on Terror; perhaps the Syrians hope Washington will influence its Israeli and Turkish allies. The key to understanding Syrian-U.S. relations is the U.S. Mid-East agenda, which is about access to Persian Gulf and Iraqi oil fields. For obvious reasons, American officials speak in more idealistic terms, which is why they stress that Syrian interference in Lebanon impeded regional stability. But this conflicts with something neither the jingoistic neoconservatives nor anyone else in governing circles care to publicly admit: the United States used to endorse Syrian aggression in Lebanon. Some 40,000 Syrian soldiers invaded the Bekaa Valley in 1976 and remained as occupiers until 1991, after the civil war ended. In the interim, Damascus cultivated sectarianism to guarantee its predominance in Lebanon. Shifting alliances with the right-wing Phalange militia and the Israeli occupiers of South Lebanon, and betrayal of Palestinian factions showed how little pan-Arab ideology really mattered to the Ba'ath in establishing the "Pax Syriana." While U.S. participation in a "multi-national" peace-keeping force in Lebanon in the early 1980s is remembered, not so is American support for the Pax Syriana. In 1989, members of Lebanon's parliament negotiated a "cease-fire" known as the National Reconciliation Accord at T_'if in Saudi Arabia. The pact did not set a clear timetable for Syrian withdrawal and gave Syrian military commanders discretion over "redeployment." Nevertheless, it was hailed by the government of George Herbert Walker Bush. The Clinton administration openly ignored the continued Syrian military presence in Lebanon after the civil war. Responding to questions during a congressional hearing in June, 1997, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David C. Welch was evasive. While stating that "Lebanon should be free of all foreign forces," Welch cautioned that it was in "the Government of Lebanon's" opinion that Syrian forces remain "for now, for the purposes ofinternal stability." While admitting that the Syrian withdrawal was not taking place on schedule, Welch stated, "I am not here to judge agreements between Syria and Lebanon." He added that: some aspects of the [T_'if] Accord are unfulfilledredeployment from Lebanon to Syria has not yet been completed; nor has it been negotiated [I]n terms of our judgment as to whether this thing will be implemented is that there are parts of it that have yet to be done. So it is a less than complete result. Today Welch is Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and is the superior of Elizabeth Cheney, Vice-President Richard Cheney's daughter. Ms. Cheney runs the Administration's "democracy promotion" effort in the Middle East. George W. Bush was evasive during his first presidential administration about the Syrian presence in Lebanon. In March 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell briefed the House International Relations Committee on the new Bush administration's diplomatic activities. When asked by Representative Eliot Engel, sponsor of the 2003 Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act (SAA), if a Syrian troop pull-out would benefit Lebanon, Powell said he "would like to see it [happen] tomorrow, but it is not going to happen tomorrow." As no one on the committee asked him to elaborate, the matter was dropped. By all accounts, the notorious "shift" in policy with Syria occurred in 2003. On April 30, J. Cofer Black, State Department Coordinator of Counterterrorism, gave a press conference on the just-released report, Annual Patterns of Global Terrorism 2002. A CIA veteran with Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America experience, Black made an intriguing comment: We designate Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism despite some cooperation on al-Qaida. Syria continues to host and support terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad There are some good things. Syria quickly condemned the attacks of September 11th, and has provided valuable information on al-Qaida that has helped save American lives. Nonetheless, we want to make absolutely clear to Syria that nothing short of full cooperation against all terrorist groups is acceptable. Then, on September 16, 2003, Under-Secretary of Arms Control and International Security John R. Bolton appeared before the International Relations Committee. The infamous neoconservative ideologue had a dire message about what were, in the words of committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, "Syria's nefarious activities." Bolton announced that the Syrians backed Hizbollah and other anti-Western factions in Lebanon, and let foreign terrorists enter Iraq from Syria. Bolton stressed that Syria had a weapons of mass destruction program, which put it among the ''rogue states'' led by Iran and North Korea. Citing unnamed "press reports," Bolton admitted that his claims were tenuous. He summarized the administration's position this way: While there is currently no information indicating that the Syrian government has transferred WMD to terrorist organizations or would permit such groups to acquire them, Syria's ties to numerous terrorist groups underlie the reason for our continued anxiety. During the Senate debate this spring over Bolton's appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, The New York Times reported that his dealings with the CIA in mid-2003 over the WMD issue were acrimonious. Agency officials had reported to Congress that they found no basis for Bolton's claims-except to say that Damascus would need "Russian expertiseshould it decide to pursue nuclear weapons." A train of "coercive" events had already been set in motion. In April, 2003, The Guardian reported on a U.S. "war plan" to be implemented against Syria after victory in Iraq. While supposedly rejecting the proposal, President Bush nevertheless considered invasion an option. In October, 2003, Israel bombed the alleged Islamic Jihad camp near Damascus. While Syria protested its national sovereignty, Israel stated that the incident proved that Damascus continued to plot against it. The Bush administration publicly endorsed Israel's right of self-defense. Two months later, President Bush signed the SAA into law. The SAA's intended goal is to force Damascus to withdraw from Lebanon, stop supporting "terrorist" groups, end its WMD program, halt oil imports from Iraq, and crack down on weapons-smuggling to Iraq. In May, 2004, President Bush placed some American exports to Syria under sanction for a year in keeping with conditions of the Act. On September 2, 2004, the United Nations Security Council passed Security Council Resolution 1559, which had been introduced by the United States and France. Resolution 1559 mandated a complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarming of Hizbullah, a foe of both Israel and America. Regardless of responsibility, the Hariri bombing on February 14 of this year had the effect of hastening the Syrian withdrawal. The same incident seems to have only quickened the pace of "coercive" actions. On May 5, 2005, President Bush extended economic sanctions against Syria indefinitely. Two days later, the Pentagon launched Operation Matador along the Syrian-Iraqi border allegedly to capture militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the justification being that Syrian border police are not stopping "insurgents" from entering Iraq; Damascus has long denied this charge. In September, the Bush administration did not invite President Assad and Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud to attend a meeting of heads of state with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in New York on the occasion of the UN's 60th anniversary. Why did the U.S. position harden in 2003? There are several explanations. One is that it was a means to divert public attention away from the military failures and corruption scandals in Iraq. Another explanation is that the Bush administration's neoconservative policy-makers have rejected constructive engagement in favor of regime change in Syria. Finally, some argue that the neocons want to attack Syria to protect Israeli strategic interests. Someday, the truth may be known. In any event, Michael Hudson, director of the Center for Comparative Arab Studies at Georgetown University, attempted to address the issue as it has applied to Lebanon after the Syrian withdrawal this spring. Speaking at the American University of Beirut in May, Hudson alluded to the practice of constructive engagement. He observed that: One of the demands thatRice is making on the Syrians is "It's not enough that you got out of Lebanon. We want you to be proactively helpful in keeping the Lebanese from falling apart now that they're on their own [Y]ou can influence them, but we're watching you. If your aim is disarming Hizbullah, then that's fine, but if you're going to do the same old thing then it's not." The U.S. government's Syrian policy is duplicitous and conceals the true nature of the situation. A stream of threats about Syrian "misbehavior" continue to come from Washington, as do announcements of more "counterinsurgency operations" on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The latter activities, in fact, may result in what online journalist Justin Raimondo calls "a new Tonkin Gulf." If we do not want such provocations to widen the war in Iraq, with all of their dreadful consequences, we must learn the truth and act on it. Hopefully, it will not be too late. Anthony Newkirk may be reached at: newkirab@hotmail.com         What You're Missing in the Special Expanded Print Edition The War So Far: a Failure Worse Than Vietnam by Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad "The need for the White House to produce a fantasy picture of Iraq is because it dare not admit that it has engineered one of the greatest disasters in American history. It is worse than Vietnam because the enemy is punier and the original ambitions greater." Get the answers you're looking for in the subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. 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