White House to provide backstory for CMSF

[Sgt Joch]

I was tempted to post this in the General Forum, but since it provides the basis of a good backstory for CMSF, here it is:

White House Sees Evidence of Plot in Lebanon

By DAVID E. SANGER

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 — The White House said today that there was “mounting evidence” that Iran and Syria are involved in a plot to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon, but senior officials refused to describe in any detail the intelligence they said they had collected.

In an unusual statement, the White House said it was “increasingly concerned by mounting evidence that the Syrian and Iranian governments, Hezbollah and their Lebanese allies are preparing plans to topple Lebanon’s democratically elected government.”

American officials who were pressed today about the assertion on Lebanon said they had evidence that Syria and Iran were trying to engineer the creation of a new “unity” government that they could control, partly through the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. One senior American official, who did not want to be identified because he was discussing an intelligence issue, said there were also indications of “planning for a more violent” attack on the government, but he gave no details.

In the White House statement, issued by President Bush’s press secretary, Tony Snow, the administration said there were “indications” that Syria was trying to block passage of a statute by the Lebanese Parliament that would cooperate with an international tribunal being put together to try those accused of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. In a warning to Syria, the statement said the tribunal would be established “no matter what happens in Lebanon.”

Syrian intelligence officials, including close family members of President Bashar al-Assad, have been implicated in the attack. Syria has denied being involved in the attack in February 2005, which ultimately led to protests that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after nearly three decades.

In interviews in recent days, senior American officials have alluded less directly to concerns about Syrian and Iranian interference in Lebanon’s affairs. They have suggested that the concerns are one reason that the United States could not engage in negotiations with Syria or Iran, as several leading Republicans, including former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, have urged.

“Talking isn’t a strategy,” the president’s national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, said in an interview late last week, before he headed to Iraq. “The issue is how can we condition the environment that that Iran and Syria will make a 180-degree turn,” he said.

White House gives helping hand to Battlefront

If Syria/Iran staged a coup to setup a puppet state in Lebanon, that might justify a NATO/UN military action in Lebanon/Syria to restore the Lebanese government and/or punish Syria/Iran, maybe not in real life given the current situation, but it is certainly a plausible scenario for a game.

[Severin]

DON'T!

PLEASE!

WE'VE BEEN THERE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY TIMES.

Seriously, there is probably a couple of dozen threads on the topic. Some interesting stuff was said, but its time to move on.

[Sgt Joch]

Lighten up Severin, it has'nt been beaten to death anywhere near as much as the PBEM topic.

[Homo ferricus]

Originally posted by Sgt.Joch:

Lighten up Severin, it has'nt been beaten to death anywhere near as much as the PBEM topic.

or simulation of casualties, the exact amount of men in a sniper team, a special forces module, abstraction of air units and anti-air, oh yeah, and space lobsters.

[Battlefront.com]

Seriously though, this is not unexpected. Anybody that thought Syria pulled out of Lebanon without intending to go back in (one way or another) must have been smoking something from Lebanon

Steve

[MikeyD]

Maybe Syria is going be forced int a preemptive war as a reaction to Lebanon's well documented WMD programs.

[SlapHappy]

Maybe Syria is going be forced int a preemptive war as a reaction to Lebanon's well documented WMD programs.

O-U-C-H!

[Dirtweasle]

More form Syria -

Syria hints at resistance vs. Israel

By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer Sun Nov 5, 10:53 PM ET

QUNEITRA, Syria -

Syria could resort to armed resistance if peace negotiations do not lead to

Israel's return of the Golan Heights, the country's Information Minister said Sunday...

Armed resistance? What a nice choice of words to describe Syria making a threat. The story continues -

...Mohsen Bilal said international negotiations should lead to Israel giving back the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. If that does not happen, he warned Syria could resort to "other means, which struggling people have used at various points in history, beginning with legitimate resistance."

But Bilal said Syrians were eager to resume talks.

"The road for peace and stability in the region and the world goes through ending occupation" of the Golan Heights, he said, opening a three-day media forum geared at highlighting Syria's right to the Golan.

Israeli-Syrian peace talks broke down in 2000, with Syria demanding assurances it would get back all of the Golan Heights. Israel wanted slight modifications to the pre-1967 line, conforming to the international frontier, and insisted that issues of security and normalization be spelled out first.

On Sunday, Syrian President Bashar Assad, who was meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, called for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

Israel has brushed off Assad's previous calls to restart peace talks, saying Syria must first clamp down on the radical Palestinian groups it hosts.

[J Ruddy]

Originally posted by Severin:

DON'T!

PLEASE!

WE'VE BEEN THERE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY TIMES.

Seriously, there is probably a couple of dozen threads on the topic. Some interesting stuff was said, but its time to move on.

So I tellz them, I sez youz busters best not be planning no modern like theatre for yer next combat mission game, and they sez "shut up turkey, we know what we are doing" and I sez, a can o worms buster, a big ole can o worms, and they sez "a can o' whoop ass is whay you're gonna get if you keep on complaining" so I sez, ya well, theres no way in hell you're gonna make your money back unless you have a U.S. government contract! Ya! That's it, yuo jerks are selling us all out for a nice fat cheque (sic) and they sez, "no way brother, we only want to give you the best game evar (sic)" and I sez, then give me Nazi's versus Space Lobsters, and they sez, "if we have to model one more Panzer IVH our heads will explode" so I sez, if I gets my way around here it's gonna be the fourth of July all over again there buck-o so maybe ye better start thinking of another dubbya dubbya eye eye game and they sez, "no, you are getting modern and you're gonna like it" I asks will I control entire divisions? and they sez "It will be a smaller game and a larger game, a new paradigm of player interaction that might have PBEM and might not, may play in turns and may be RTS, but will play in a way that promotes harmony and peace across the world" and I sez, ya right, that's what microsoft said about windows 95, hotlips, now tellz me this, what kind of machine am I going to need to run this puppy, I mean, will I need a dual Pentium Duo-Core 5 Ghz with 8 gigs of ram or what? and they sez, "if you bought a machine in the last 2 years that meets the specifications that we might one day release, it will work" and I sez, oh ya? well what if I bought myself a Nintendo Wii? What then buster. and they sez "then you are gay and should be marching in a parade somewhere instead of filling this forum with your nonsense." and I sez, nonsense? you mean like invading Syria? And they sez "it's our game and we are making it the way we want to" and I sez, that's great, I hope you enjoy playing it.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Dirtweasle]

re- possible backstory details;

DOD assessment of conditions in Iraq

Despite repeated warnings by the United States, the Syrian regime continues to provide safe haven, border transit, and limited logistical support to Iraqi insurgents, especially elements associated with the former Iraqi Ba’ath Party. The Syrians also permit former regime elements to engage in organizational activities, such that Syria has emerged as an important organizational and coordination hub for elements of the former Iraqi regime...

-- Page 20

[MikeyD]

And another twist on the old Bush admin-supplied backstory:

Syria in Bush's Crosshairs

...one U.S. official familiar with the proposal said: "You are forced to wonder whether we are now trying to destabilize the Syrian government."

[Battlefront.com]

Heh... I just saw that Time report as well. More fodder for Bush critics, especially now that the Congress officially wants to be a part of the process of governing again.

Steve

[MikeyD]

In Bush's defense (sorta), its not like we wouldn't be trying to destabilize Syria if anyone else was occupying the White House. The CIA has been in the business of organizing “regime change” for 50 years, and you can't help but get the the creepy feeling that this is a doctrine run well outside of the normal political structure. Fom installing the Shah of Iran on his throne in 1953 to the 1963 Iraqi coup that brought Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party to power. I even recall a well-documented CIA plan in the early 60s to stage attacks on U.S. soil and blame Castro in order to drum-up support for a full-on Cuban invasion. Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon... Did it ever make any difference back then WHO was in the White House?

[ December 20, 2006, 09:59 AM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

[aka_tom_w]

Operation Northwoods?

web page link

Operation Northwoods was the code name for a set of proposals by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962 intended to create a pretext for a war on Cuba. The operation called for a series of false-flag terrorist attacks by the Pentagon against US ships and aircraft, and Cuban refugees.

Operation Northwoods was developed in secret and remained secret for thirty-five years, being declassified in late 1997. Following that, its contents were publicized in increments.

November 18, 1997: The John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board declassified about 1500 pages of previously secret military records, including the Northwoods documents. 1

November 6, 1998: The National Security Archive published "Appendix to Enclosure A" and "Annex to Appendix to Enclosure A" of the Northwoods documents online.

November 29, 1998: CNN airs "Episode 10: Cuba" as part of its televised Cold War documentary series. 2

Late April, 2001: James Bamford's book "Body of Secrets" is published. Billed as an expose on the NSA, the book functioned primarily to highlight Operation Northwoods.

April 30, 2001: The National Security Archive published the Northwoods documents online in a form that included the memoranda.