Posted on 11/16/2003 11:49:41 AM PST by anotherview
Nov. 16, 2003
Hamas: Attack Israel, Iraq not Saudi Arabia
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas' bureau in Damascus, denounced the perpetrators of last week's deadly Riyadh suicide bombings and urged attacks on Israel and the US forces instead.
The Nov. 8 al-Qaida-linked attack on a residential compound in the Saudi capital killed 17 people and injured scores more. The attack, in which most of the victims were either Arabs or Muslims, angered many throughout the Middle East and was seen as a direct strike on the U.S.-allied Saudi royal family.
During a speech in the Lebanese capital Beirut, Mashaal urged Arab and Islamic militant groups "to stop tampering with our internal peace and security. This is not the arena for military confrontation."
"Whoever wants to fight, there are two arenas (and) they can choose one of them," Mashaal said in reference to US-occupied Iraq and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
"These are the arenas for legitimate violence ... (or) resistance against invaders and occupiers. We should not occupy ourselves with side battles, no matter what the motives and intentions are."
Earlier this year, Damascus, under U.S. pressure, closed the offices of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups Washington considers terrorist. Since then, Mashaal and others have been outspoken in Lebanon and silent in Syria. The United States wants Syria to expel Mashaal, a move Syria has resisted.
Hamas, which has been responsible for most suicide bombings in Israel, was joined by other Islamic militant groups, including fellow Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, in denouncing last week's Riyadh attack for killing innocent people.
Mashaal delivered his speech to a large audience including Lebanese legislators, two Cabinet ministers, Muslim clerics and the deputy leader of Hezbollah, a Shiite guerrilla group listed by America as a terrorist movement.
Mashaal also said the war in Iraq had proved more difficult for the American president than he had predicted.
Bush "thought Iraq was a bite that would be easy to swallow, to be followed by Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt," Mashaal said. "But the Iraqi bite proved to be a tough one to swallow and America choked on it."
Mashaal said the Syria Accountability Act and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which the U.S. Senate approved Tuesday, was "an expression of Bush's Iraqi dilemma."
The bill accuses Syria of sheltering terrorists and failing to muzzle forces hostile to the war in Iraq. The bill will return to the House of Representatives, which earlier adopted a different version of the measure, for another vote before being sent to the White House for signature.
The bill envisages banning U.S. firms from trading with Syria or investing in the country unless Damascus takes steps including ceasing its alleged support for terrorist groups and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
Mashaal said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced the same predicament as Bush.
"Sharon promised ... he would crush the intifidah (Palestinian uprising) and the resistance within 100 days. A year and a half has passed and he hasn't done that and he will not do that. The resistance will stay and Sharon will be finished," Mashaal said.
Also Sunday, a senior Syrian official said Israel's use of force would destabilize the Middle East and lead to attacks against the Jewish state.
"Syria stresses that the Israeli military might ... would never achieve security and peace. It would only yield resistance and a legitimate right of self-defense," said Suleiman Qaddah, the assistant secretary-general of Syria's ruling Baath Party, in a speech in Syria marking the 33rd anniversary of the so called "Corrective Movement," which brought the late Syrian President Hafez Assad to power.
Qaddah's remarks follow Israel's disclosure Friday that it had held military exercises in northern Israel last week and warned Syria and Lebanon that they would suffer if Hezbollah raised tensions further in the area.
Yep, and still there are many Americans who insist that we have no beef with those particular terrorist groups.
Translation: don't bite the hand that feeds you! Too late guys. You've already murdered your fellow Muslims. Your popularity among Muslims is therefore already dropping.
The bill envisages banning U.S. firms from trading with Syria or investing in the country unless Damascus takes steps including ceasing its alleged support for terrorist groups and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
Hmmmm... Shouldn't that be "Khaled Mashaal, alleged head of the alleged Hamas' bureau??? [/sarcasm]
Corrected title:
Hamas: Attack Israel, Iraq not Saudi Arabia...YET.
Minor disagreement: I don't consider isolationists and liberals to be "Americans." They're just wastes of food and oxygen that happen to be located within America's borders.
"Legal residents of the U.S." would've been more accurate.
Yes...but unlike me, they'd be wrong. ; )
We don't need to be divided in war time.
Tell that to the people who insist that Bush is Hitler and that America is Imperialist...not me.
We need to educate, not insult.
Liberalism and other anti-American sentiments weren't reasoned in, so it cannot be reasoned out.
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