Iraq Reviews: Rice Increases Pressure on Syria, Iran

Iraq Reviews > Rice Increases Pressure on Syria, Iran

[The Grape's Vine] Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refused to rule out the use of military force against Syria and Iran. She also asserted that the President would not need to consult Congress before authorizing an expansion of the War on Terror into nations neighboring Iraq.

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[News Dissector Blog] Shadowboxing While Baghdad Seethes: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday refused to rule out US troops still serving in Iraq in 10 years or the possibility that the United States could use military force against neighboring Syria and Iran.

[King of Zembla] Symbols of the Pushback: The former ambassador described his successful efforts to free 150 American hostages from Iraqi custody between the invasion of Kuwait and the launch of Desert Storm, an operation for which then-president GHW Bush lauded him as a "true American hero." In the runup to the first Gulf War Bush Sr. would routinely ask, after briefings by his war cabinet, "What does Joe Wilson think?" -- which may explain why Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense under Bush I, has never had much love for Wilson.

[Proud Liberal - Proud Liberal Journal] Rice Refuses to Promise Bush Won't Break the Law: of State Rice basically refused to answer any questions about Iraq, Syria or Iran, and in what should have been a stunning revelation, she even refused to say in front of congress that the Bush Administration would go to the trouble of getting congresses OK before invading Syria or Iran. I say it should have been stunning because the American media doesn't seem to care.

[Dailywarnews.blogspot.com] Today in Iraq: This brings the analysis to the so-called Constitution of Iraq that was allegedly drafted by the puppet Interim Government of Iraq under the impetus of the United States government. Article 43 of the 1907 Hague Regulations on land warfare flatly prohibits the change in a basic law such as a state's Constitution during the course of a belligerent occupation: "The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country." This exact same prohibition has been expressly incorporated in haec verba into paragraph 363 of U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956).

[Littlegreenfootballs.com] lgf: the reality around us is problematic: Everything you see in this weblog was developed and programmed by Charles Johnson, including but not limited to the slideshows, polls, user preferences, contact form, referrer list, daily/monthly statistics, site search, news search tools, link management system, random Zappa quote, and last but not least, the weblog system itself, which includes a full commenting system with a recent comments list, automatic archiving, RSS generation for syndication, an email-an-article feature, and a whole bunch of editing and administration features behind the scenes.

[Lt-smash.us] The Indepundit: While Tehran denies any role in Iraq, Iranian officials privately confess that they are deeply involved in Iraq and that their western neighbor must neither be allowed to fully stabilize, nor fall apart. They point to Western collusion in the sudden spike this year in ethnic unrest in the strategic, oil-producing province of Khuzestan and describe it as proof of a shadowy war that is receiving far less coverage in the international press than events in Iraq.

[Coxandforkum.com] Cox & Forkum Editorial Cartoons: Mr ElBaradei's disinclination to make Iran fulfil its international obligations is, of course, one of the reasons that he has been awarded the Nobel peace prize, a decision that will have the mullahs falling about with laughter in Teheran this weekend. This, after all, was the same ElBaradei who said he had no evidence that Libya was building an atom bomb until Colonel Gaddafi saw the light after the Iraq war and publicly renounced his nuclear weapons programme.

[Weeklystandard.com] The Weekly Standard: It represents a total (and, I trust, final) repudiation of the Rumsfeld doctrine of "as Iraqis stand up, Americans will stand down." Instead, Rice outlined a victory strategy rather than an exit strategy, refused to speculate about reduced troop levels, spoke of Americans and Iraqis fighting side-by-side, and pledged a long-term commitment to success. If the administration's actions now match Rice's words, and if they can build on the success of the constitutional referendum and some of the military progress of the last few months, this could be an important milestone on the path to success in Iraq.