Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(April 2005)
An ex-Brit gives his views - (without
fear or favor) - of the American Scene
Lebanon/Syria
situation:
Dateline: Tuesday 8th of March 2005, Beirut, Lebanon.
It
has been reported that up to 500,000 pro-Syrian supporters
waving flags and shouting anti-American slogans answered
a call by the militant Shiite Moslem Hezbollah organization
to assemble in a central Beirut square and participate
in a counter-demonstration against the anti-Syrian demonstrations
which have taken place since the assassination of former
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14th 2005.
Immediately
after the assassination the United States Administration
- well President Bush really - responded with a warning
to Syria to withdraw its 15,000 troops.
 Syrian
President Assad announced shortly thereafter that Syrian
troops, (who had spent nearly three decades in Lebanon),
would be partially withdrawn to the Bekaa Valley but
he didn’t
set a deadline for a complete withdrawal. Washington
rejected the pull back as being insufficient and stated
that they want a full withdrawal of all Syrian forces.
Look who’s
calling the kettle black - I do not see Washington demanding
that Israel withdraw all its forces from the Golan Heights
or from the West Bank.
Syria has had troops in Lebanon
since 1976 when they were sent there as a peacekeeping
force during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and
have remained there ever since. Mr. President perhaps
you have forgotten that in 1982, at the request of the
Lebanese government, the United States sent a peacekeeping
force to intervene between Muslims and Christians in
Beirut. The Muslim forces viewed the American troops
as enemy occupation forces, and on October 23rd 1983,
a large Islamic Jihad truck carrying 2,500 lbs of explosive
crashed through the main gate of the American Marine
base killing 241 American servicemen and wounding 81
others.
On that same day there was a similar occurrence
at the French base two miles  away killing 58 French troops.
American intelligence sources stated that the bombings
were carried out by Hezbollah terrorist organization
with the help of Syrian intelligence officers and Iranian
financing. President Emile Lahoud, who has been quoted
as a staunch supporter of Syria’s
29-year involvement in Lebanon, cancelled plans to attend
an Arab summit meeting after a bomb recently exploded
in the Jdeideh Christian neighbourhood of Beirut which
could indicate that Lebanon is destined to return to
a state of Muslim versus Christian civil war.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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