Syrian State Televison: 9 Dead in US Helicopter Border Strike From Iraq

[FVZA_Colonel]

Source: Haaretz

Syria: 9 dead in U.S. helicopter border strike from Iraq
By Yoav Stern and News Agencies


Syrian state-run TV and witnesses said Sunday that American helicopters attacked an area close to the Iraqi border zone, killing at least nine people.

Local residents in a Syrian border town said that American forces killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syrian territory. State-run TV later raised the number of dead to nine.

Doctors in the town of Al-Sukkariya, some eight kilometres from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been delivered to a nearby clinic after the attack.

The eyewitness accounts said that four helicopters were involved in the operation, with two of the helicopters landing in the town and eight American soldiers disembarking. The eyewitnesses said that the seven killed men were supposedly construction workers.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1031568.html

[carlotta]

1. Bush is creating an international incident.....

...in order to change the discussion right before the election. Don't think it's gonna work, though.

[Raschel]

3. Freepers are excited, they need to grow up.

They're jumping up and down with glee saying "October Surprise!" How warped is that?

For whatever reason this is happening, it will not bode well for McCain. A HUGE portion of America is very tired of war and do not want more.

[FUCK_BUSH]

24. Freepers Love to see american soldiers get killed so their candidate gets couple of points?

[Raschel]

37. They're very excited that this may help McCain. Losers.

[kentuck]

4. Or it's a part of his psychology?

He wants to get even with Syria for anything they might have done or were thinking about doing, before he left office? He calls it a "pre-emptive" attack. Others might call it a psychosis of some sort??

[AlphaCentauri]

33. maybe braking dialog channels for the next US president

a psychological pre-destructive attack

[patrice]

2. Just like purging voter-lists, they live near Syria, so they MUST be the enemy and, even if they

aren't, close is good enough.

[El Fuego]

5. The October surprise, right on schedule. Or rather, the October distraction.

[ohio2007]

7. right up there with the June invasion as usual. the source"Haaretz" is shallow on details

Just how many civilians killed ? Any state approved Syrian sources reporting it yet ?
kinda reads like a Turkish incursion into Iraq story

Afterwards, the US helicopters then left Syrian airspace with all the soldiers again on board.

There was no initial U.S. comment about the reported incident. If confirmed, it would be the first time that American forces had carried out an attack on Syrian soil.

Certainly nothing like a Russian incursian into Georgia suprise.


No, this isn't an 'october suprise'

jmo
this would be a suprise;



http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3613122,00.html

[Nambe]

6. BBC 'US aircraft attack Syria border' but no news of US casualties.

I have a feeling the very covert prone Syrian military was waiting for this to happen. Could there be a worse time for the US to be killing people outside a war zone?.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Syria: 9 dead in U.S. helicopter border strike from Iraq (Haaretz)

Bush's October surprise!

Syria: 9 dead in U.S. helicopter border strike from Iraq

By Yoav Stern and News Agencies

Tags: Israel News, Syria, U.S. army

Syrian state-run TV and witnesses said Sunday that American helicopters attacked an area close to the Iraqi border zone, killing at least nine people.

Local residents in a Syrian border town said that American forces killed seven men in a helicopter-borne commando attack inside Syrian territory. State-run TV later raised the number of dead to nine.

Doctors in the town of Al-Sukkariya, some eight kilometres from the Iraqi border, said seven corpses and four wounded had been delivered to a nearby clinic after the attack.

The eyewitness accounts said that four helicopters were involved in the operation, with two of the helicopters landing in the town and eight American soldiers disembarking. The eyewitnesses said that the seven killed men were supposedly construction workers.

Afterwards, the US helicopters then left Syrian airspace with all the soldiers again on board.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1031568.html

[Pavulon]

12. Hard way to kill people

using infantry when a bomb could "accidentally" do the job. Maybe we wanted to confirm who was being killed.

That seems like lots of work to kill some construction workers..

[ohio2007]

13. depends on what was being constructed. Still waiting for a Syrian news source to mention it

lol

[Arctic Dave]

28. Probably less about the target then the reaction to an incursion.

Or, maybe both. Maybe the US wants to get an over reaction from tyhe Syrians so they can justify escalation? Or maybe an over reaction from Syria inside of Iraq, this way the US can point to it and say you must sign the SOFA or else more security problems could arise? Who knows.

[The Stranger]

29. Sounds like they needed to get something or someone -- and leave with it intact.

The U.S. media blackout regarding this is alarming.

[ohio2007]

50. ...but its the best way to "grab" some #2..#3 or whatever paint by # was holed up

Somebody sold out 'a friend of a friend'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3565120

[shotten99]

9. is this confirmed?!

[progressivebydesign]

10. October Surprise! the PNAC is NOT going QUIETLY!!!!

Syria was next on their list, and they are not going away without starting something there.

[walkaway]

11. John McCain has finally sunk to the lowest rung of the ladder

Bush/McCain have now put thousands of American lives on the line to win an election at the last minute....again.

Will the American voters fall for this horrible theater of blood the Rovian players are producing this season?

Nine dead? I believe that makes John McCain a murderer at least nine times that we know of.

[IndianaGreen]

14. Al-Jazeera: Syrians die in 'US helicopter raid'

Syrians die in 'US helicopter raid'

Al-Dunia, a private television channel, said that American helicopters attacked the village of al-Sukkiraya, which lies 550km northeast of Damascus, during the raids.

"Nine people were killed and 14 wounded in the raid, which hit a group of builders while they were working," the television station reported.

"All victims were civilians," it said.

US soldiers stormed a building during the raid, Syrian state television reported.

Residents told the Associated Press news agency that two helicopters carrying US soldiers launched an attack on Hwijeh village, 17km inside Syria's border.

It was not immediately clear from the reports whether there was one raid or several different attacks.

"We are in the process of investigating this," Sergeant Brooke Murphy, a US military spokesperson, told the AFP news agency in Baghdad, Iraq's capital.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/10/20081026182232891957.html

[Tutonic]

21. If this report is true that these were civilians, then John Mccain's fate

is sealed. This would suggest the attack was contrived for political gain and even the 65+ age group will not stand this.

[IndianaGreen]

25. There is a festering dispute with the US on military raids. Read this!

Iraqi party protests at shooting

Saturday, 25 October 2008 00:33 UK

The largest Sunni party in Iraq says it is suspending all official contacts with US civilian and military personnel after the killing of a man in Fallujah.

The Iraqi Islamic Party said the dead man was one of its senior members and that he had been killed during a joint US-Iraqi raid on Friday.

The party alleged that the raid had been politically motivated.

The US military acknowledge that one man was killed and another arrested during a raid in the city.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7691458.stm

[wvbygod]

61. Believing syria over our own soldiers is quite a leap

Besides, Obama wants us to go into Pakistan to root out the evil doers too.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

65. Yeah, Syria = Pakistan. They're all towelheads anyway, innit?

[xchrom]

15. recommend -- not only is the surge not working -- it's getting worse. nt

[ohio2007]

16. Residents said the attack targeted a house in the area in which a man and his four sons and two near

Residents said the attack targeted a house in the area in which a man and his four sons and two nearby workers were killed.

http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Syria/237226

meth lab ?

/sarc

[The Stranger]

30. The humor you keep expressing regarding this is getting tiresome.

Invading other nations and killing their civilians is not funny. And, if this is true, then add it to the list of war crimes.

[entanglement]

38. Some folk are consumed by racial/religious/nationalist hatred. They lose no opportunity to gloat

at the misfortunes and suffering of those they perceive to be the 'other'. You are best off by ignoring these sad specimens of inhumanity. How does one even argue with someone who draws pleasure from the deaths of innocents, just because they're a designated enemy / Two-minute Hate object? You just hope they're in the minority and move on.

[The Stranger]

63. What many don't realize (perhaps they are too young) is that the crosshairs of "Other" change.

If we do not look out for others -- and do away with viewing people as "Other" -- then we are all at risk. Indeed, the lessons of history are easily forgotten.

[cal04]

17. U.S. soldiers raid building in Syria-Syria TV

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LQ650758.htm

U.S. soldiers stormed a building during a raid on Sunday by U.S. military helicopters in Syria near the border with Iraq, Syrian state television reported.

The state news agency SANA said four U.S. helicopters had taken part in the raid on a civilian building under construction in the Bou Kamal border area. Eight civilians were killed in the raid, it said.

[Gadzooks1]

18. It would be the first time the US has...

carried out an OVERT attack on Syrian soil. Covert operations inside Syria by US forces and their agents have been going on for quite some time. Let's get honest, here.

[bemildred]

19. Your Guide To America’s New War In Syria

Finally, the October Surprise! (Ashley Todd’s cut-nut negroid fantasies were in no way worthy of the title.) We have a war, of sorts, in Syria! Who knows why or anything. It’s the Kissinger Doctrine all over again: Just bomb shit, everywhere, whenever you feel like it. Who’s gonna stop you, HEHNGHH?

---

# U.S. helicopters are raiding some village or villages near the Iraq border.

# Seven or nine people have been killed, so far — maybe Syrians, maybe Barack Obama’s brothers from Kenya.

---

McCain should come waddling out shortly to hiss that this is “my destiny, HENGH HEHNGGH!” and demand Cheney turn over the nuclear codes NOW. Barack Obama will shake his head with dignity.

http://wonkette.com/403823/your-guide-to-americas-new-war-in-syria

[Faygo Kid]

20. October surprise? What's coming this week? Where's Cheney?

Been quiet. Way too quiet.

[IndianaGreen]

22. According to news accounts, we killed and wounded construction workers

apparently we attack anything not being built by Halliburton's KBR division.

Remember that Iraqi Sunis just broke with US on account of American killing civilians in raids.

[dipsydoodle]

23. BBC News : 'US aircraft attack Syria border'

US helicopter-borne troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people including a woman, Syrian authorities say.

The official Syrian news agency Sana said the raid took place in the Abu Kamal border area, in eastern Syria.

It said that American soldiers on four helicopters had stormed a building under construction on Sunday night.
>
"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 16:45 local time (1345 GMT) on Sunday," state television and Sana news agency said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7692153.stm

[IndianaGreen]

26. Syria has summoned the US and Iraqi charge d'affaires to Damascus

Al-Jazeera is updating the news on its website:

Syria has summoned the US and Iraqi charge d'affaires to Damascus, to protest against the raid, Sana reported.

<snip>

The area targeted by Sunday's raid lies close to the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which in the past has been a crossing point for fighters, weapons and money used to fuel the armed Sunni opposition against Iraq's Shia-led government.

The raid comes ten days after Iraqi forces arrested seven Syrian "terrorist" suspects at a checkpoint near the city of Baquba, a base for al-Qaeda fighters, the Iraqi government said.

But last month, Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s president, told his US counterpart George Bush that Iran and Syria no longer pose a problem to Iraqi security.

Syria's first ambassador to Iraq in 26 years took up his post in Baghdad this month, bringing more than two decades of discord between the nations to an end.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/10/20081026182232891957.html

[shotten99]

27. This freaked me out at first, but

did bombing Cambodia help Nixon's standing?
Are people really happy with the war in Iraq, "surge" aside?
Isn't this more proof that the Surge-stunt didn't succeed?
C'mon.

[undeterred]

31. Damascus: US Soldiers Attack Building in Eastern Syria, Killing 8 People

Source: Voice of America News

Damascus: US Soldiers Attack Building in Eastern Syria, Killing 8 People

Syrian media and witnesses say U.S. soldiers have attacked a building in eastern Syria during a helicopter raid, killing eight people.

Syrian media say four U.S. helicopters took part in the raid Sunday on the town of Abu Kamal, near the Iraqi border. They say U.S. soldiers who emerged from the aircraft stormed a civilian building under construction and fired on workers, killing eight of them.

Syrian media say the U.S. helicopters flew to Iraq after the attack. The French news agency quotes a U.S. military spokesperson in Iraq, Sergeant Brooke Murphy, as saying the U.S. military is "investigating" the reports.

No other information about the reported attack was immediately available.



Read more: http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-26-voa20.cfm

[slinkerwink]

32. dupe, please delete

[OwnedByFerrets]

34. I live in a country of fucking bullies....

if a country invaded the US and pulled this kind of shit, there would be a declared war lickitysplit. But because we spend 700 billion dollars a year on "defense" no one dares to retaliate against us. We are shameful.

[qwlauren35]

52. If they have common sense, they are waiting.

I have no doubt that any country that Bush chooses to attack within the next 10 days is going to want our blood.

But I also think that they are intelligent enough to realize that any action they take will screw up our election, and put a warhawk in office.

Hopefully, the first thing our nation will do after Obama wins is condemn our current president. The thought of impeaching him is starting to resonate with me.

Didn't DU have a poll a few months ago as to whether Bush could do any more damage in the last 6 months of his term? And didn't most of us say "yes"?

[Judi Lynn]

35. Earlier Reuters story: 8 dead as US choppers attack Syrian village: reports

8 dead as US choppers attack Syrian village: reports
By Washington Correspondent Kim Landers

Posted 1 hour 55 minutes ago
Updated 22 minutes ago

Attack reported: US helicopters over Iraq (Reuters)
The Pentagon is refusing to comment on reports that US troops have killed eight people in an attack on a Syrian village not far from the border with Iraq.

Syrian media is reporting that four American helicopters flew across the border and landed US soldiers, who attacked a civilian building under construction, firing at the workmen inside.

Syria says eight people, all civilians, were killed.

The reports said the attack happened in the village of Al-Sukkiraya, around 550 kilometres north-east of the capital Damascus.

More:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/27/2401661.htm?section=world

[kitty1]

36. 3 days before O's speech and shit starting to hit the fan......

already. The big distraction coming up will timed to keep the masses occupied on fear and peril.

[Satyagrahi]

39. U.S. military official: "We are taking matters into our own hands."

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq in an area where the Americans have been unable to shut it down because it was out of the military's reach.

"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

-snip-

The U.S. military official said that while American forces have had considerable success, with Iraqi help, in shutting down the "rat lines" in Iraq, and with foreign government help in North Africa, the Syrian node has been out of reach.

"The one piece of the puzzle we have not been showing success on is the nexus in Syria," the official said.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ianwYiLFrnJxFSAgjT1DqydYeinQD942DS980

[DogPoundPup]

40. US special forces launch rare attack inside Syria

Source: Yahoo News

DAMASCUS, Syria – U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression."

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military's reach.

"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.

The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081026/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria_us_raid

[hobbit709]

41. How do we know it was "an extremely rare attack "?

This kind of thing used to be considered an act of war.

[ashling]

45. Simple -any attack into a sovereign state that they will admit

that they will admit to is by definition extremely rare. Now as for the ones they won't own up to ..... :shrug:

[soothsayer]

42. taking matters into our own hands? aiyee.

[dbonds]

43. Bush/Cheney have one more war in them waiting to get out.

[redirish28]

44. Is this going to turn out to be the October Surpise ?

[MasonJar]

46. Why are we attacking another sovereign nation ?

[Nihil]

62. Habit.

You may as well ask why a crack addict steals.
:shrug:

[stillcool]

48. Easy Guide to How to Learn to Love U.S. Bombs...

and who is bombable..

How to Learn to Love U.S. Bombs
by Norman Solomon
from Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), October 1998

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Public_Relations/OrwellianLogic.html

* When terrorists attack, they're terrorizing. When we attack, we're retaliating. When they respond to our retaliation with further attacks, they're terrorizing again. When we respond with further attacks, we're retaliating again.
* When people decry civilian deaths caused by the U.S. government, they're aiding propaganda efforts. In sharp contrast, when civilian deaths are caused by bombers who hate America, the perpetrators are evil and those deaths are tragedies.
* When they put bombs in cars and kill people, they're uncivilized killers. When we put bombs on missiles and kill people, we're upholding civilized values.
* When they kill, they're terrorists. When we kill, we're striking against terror.
* At all times, Americans must be kept fully informed about who to hate and fear. When the United States found Osama bin Laden useful during the 1980s because of his tenacious violence against the Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan, he was good, or at least not bad-but now he's really bad.
* No matter how many times they've lied in the past, U.S. officials are credible in the present. When they vaguely cite evidence that the bombed pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum was making ingredients for nerve gas, that should be good enough for us.
* Might doesn't make right-except in the real world, when it's American might. Only someone of dubious political orientation would split hairs about international law.
* When the mass media in some foreign countries serve as megaphones for the rhetoric of their government, the result is ludicrous propaganda. When the mass media in our country serve as megaphones for the rhetoric of the U.S. government, the result is responsible journalism.

Bombing A La Mode
The U.S. right to police, rule, and exterminate
by Edward S. Herman
Z magazine, December 1998
Rules of the Bombing Game
The rules of the bombing game are simple: if you are a friend and useful ally, you automatically possess legitimate "security concerns" and can cross borders, kill, and ravage, free of any bombing threat; but if you are an enemy or otherwise obstruct the achievement of our objectives, your crossing of borders and killing, at home or abroad, cannot be tolerated and you are bombable.
---------------
Iraq, of course, became eminently bombable after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. It had crossed us, and there were other important reasons to bomb: the right-wing pundits were screaming for blood, Bush was in political trouble, and the military establishment needed a post-Soviet military budget rationale and had large inventories of bombs to run down and weapons it wanted to put on display. With the help of the media, the long appeasement and support o f Saddam Hussein was ignored, and the many efforts to allow him to withdraw from Kuwait with dignity were brushed aside. So bombs away.
It is enlightening that Iraq was not bombable before the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, despite its doing some pretty awful things, like attacking Iran and using chemical weapons against its indigenous Kurds in 1986. As Saddam Hussein was then a U.S. friend, a recipient of U.S. aid, and performing a desired service-killing Iranians, when Iran was a high-ranking enemy-these matters could be overlooked by us and by the "international community."
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/BombingalaMode_Herman.html

[harun]

49. Mr. Danger is at it again

No one can tell me this wasn't for purely political reasons. What a bunch of BS.

[Native]

47. Ground Forces????

Update: The only two people I can think of who might justify an operation in Syria are al-Masri, the leader of AQI, and Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who’s long been rumored to be hiding out there. Roggio will have other guesses, certainly. A snatch and grab operation of some high-ranking insurgent would explain why boots were on the ground and why they felt they had to act now, even with the election so near. Short of that, the only explanation I can come up with is that there was some sort of cargo in transit that simply had to be seized and secured, even at the risk of casualties.
Update: Roggio to the rescue. He thinks it’s plausible and that al-Masri was the likely target.


http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/26/report-us-choppers-attack-targets-inside-syria/

[ohio2007]

51. and whatever happened to the cargo carried by that Iranian ship that pirates let go ?

Assad will never let this sight be examined up close by the MSM as the previous IDF air strike sight was .....


;)


lol

so many possibilities and so little truth will ever be leaked.

[Doctor_J]

53. Maybe Bush can land on a carrier again before 11/4

that's the only reason I can think of to try to start another war now.

[IndianaGreen]

54. Update: Looks like US screwed up again, as we have been doing in Afghanistan

Syrian TV showed footage of a
compound and an injured woman

The dead include a man, his four children and a married couple, the Syrian report said, without giving details of the children's ages.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7692153.stm

[Shardik]

55. Christ, that's sad. Not in my name.

We need to get out of there ASAP and hold the people who did this accountable.

[Shardik]

56. Kick.

This story does not deserve to sink so quickly.

[Zhade]

57. Not in my name.

Not in my name.

[Shardik]

58. So agreed.

[roberto]

59. OCTOBER surprise ...!!!

They needed that, just a week before the elections. The republicans want blood and fear ... Blood and Fear...

[NoSheep]

60. I heard this on NPR this morning and immediately realized this is their way

of giving McCain a shot in the arm. It's so disgusting I can't stand it. It has to be deliberately timed. I hate these assholes.

[bdab1973]

67. What assholes

So are you saying that the tactical leadership on the ground near al Qaim decided "gee, let's go conduct an operation in Syria so McCain can win the election"? That area has a significant US presence for one reason...Syria uses that area to aid the funneling of arms and terrorists into the country. You can argue whether crossing into Syria was a good idea or not, but sometimes I can't believe the people on this site...as if anything the military does at a tactical level is somehow linked directly to the top. You make it sound like George has say in what every operation, convoy and patrol does. Having been in the military for 17 years, operations are done with a specific goal in mind, not to simply go rough up some Syrians to help a politician. It amazes me that I see threads accusing the GOP of not supporting the troops (which they haven't), but then see people take a huge dump on the honor of those very people by implying that they are war criminals or GOP puppets. Give it a break.

[NoSheep]

68. Saying I'm taking a dump on your honor is outrageous.

The ASSHOLES I hate are the ones that make the decisions to do these things. The people in the military are just doing their job, in my opinion. A very dangerous job. I'm old enough to have seen a ton of information come to light about who controls what.

You seem to have been swayed by the message the GOP wants you to hear: That people who don't support military action in ALL cases aren't supportive of the troops.

How on Earth can you say I don't support the troops? You have no idea how much time and effort I've put into trying to get them out of harm's way when the GOP sent them to war without equipment or a reasonable plan and they sent them in order to pad the pockets of their buddies in the oil and gas, defense and aerospace industries. Follow the money. Then go read a book. I doubt VERY, VERY seriously a soldier would be the first to know where his orders are coming from.

You are MEAT to them. And I despise that and am working to change it. The military brainwashes you, man. You are MEAT. And you might like it but I don't. I don't think it's fair.

I don't think it's fair that our military has to fight wars for phony reasons and I don't think it's fair that the tax payers have to pay for them. Do you think the Bush Administration gives a damn about Democracy in Iraq? They don't give a damn about Democracy in the USA! They've shit on our constitution. Used it to wipe their asses. Then lie to you and tell you you are serving your country.

It is not normally my way to argue with a soldier, if you are one, but you are clearly way off base thinking the military has much control at all over what they do.

Dick Cheney and his shadows control what they do. The Pentagon controls what they do. From thousands of miles away. Haven't you been listening to the news for the past 7 years? There's WAY too much money at risk for this war to end anytime soon.

This information is old news.

[NoSheep]

69. I'd like to add, in the event it isn't clear, that it seems you thought I was saying

I hate the soldiers. That was NOT what I was saying at all, as I explained and I didn't think I had to clarify that because everyone here would automatically KNOW who I was talking about. You haven't been around long enough perhaps but I promise, you are the only person here who would misunderstand my point. I'm wondering what you are doing here at all.

[bemildred]

70. No, not talking about "tactical leadership" at all.

"Tactical leadership" would be given a lot of support here, being in a tough spot: whether to follow stupid orders motivated by domestic politics or protest/refuse and face legal action, dismissal. Responsibility for this lies at the top, not the bottom.

[Dover]

64. Might this have something to do with this pipeline deal along the Syria/Iraq border?

Syria-Turkey gas link in the pipeline

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News


A Russian pipeline builder partly owned by Gazprom, Russia's largest company, plans to extend a gas link from Syria to Turkey that may help supply the Nabucco project, The Moscow Times reported yesterday.

The company Stroitransgaz has signed an agreement with state-owned Syrian Gas, and the new pipeline will link Aleppo, in northern Syria, with the Turkish border, Syrian Oil Minister Sufian al-Alao said in comments published late Monday by the Syrian state-run news service Sana.

Syria, which began importing gas from Egypt this year through a pipeline that crosses Jordan, now plans to import gas from Iraq's Akkas field, near the border with Syria, by 2010. Stroitransgaz, which built the Syrian section of the pipeline from Egypt, will now construct the 62-kilometer extension in 18 months, at a cost of $71.2 million, Alao said....>

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=117592

==========

Authorities to develop the Akkas field - Iraq

According to local media sources, the Iraqi Government has plans to develop the Akkas field in the province of Anbar, close to the Syrian border. The timetable for the development has not been disclosed but it is believed the objective is to raise production capacity to 500 MMcf/d, approximately 10 times the current production capacity. The Akkas 1 discovery was drilled in 1993 to a total depth of 4,238m and tested light oil and condensate from sandstones within the Silurian Akkas Shale Formation, plus gas from the Upper Khabour. The structure has been successfully appraised with SPC completing the last well, Akkas 5, in early 2003. In August 2007, it was reported that Iraq and Syria had agreed to rehabilitate an 880km oil pipeline from Kirkuk in Iraq to the Syrian port of Banyas that has been shut since March 2003. The two countries also reportedly agreed to construct a new pipeline from the Akkas field near the Syrian border to a gas treatment plant at Deir Ez-Zor

http://energy.ihs.com/News/WW-News/news-2008/Authorities-to-develop-the-Akkas-field-Iraq.htm?WBCMODE=p

==========

January 2008

Shell and Total square up over gasfield in Iraq’s Sunni heartland

Shell and Total are vying to develop a huge gasfield in what was Iraq’s most violent province as a source for exports to Europe.

The Iraqi Government held talks with a number of potential companies last week regarding development of the Akkas field in Anbar province, northwest of Baghdad.

Akkas, close to the border with Syria, is thought to contain up to seven trillion cubic feet of gas – up to 6 per cent of Iraq’s estimated total of 112 trillion cubic feet. The field is capable of producing up to 50 million cubic feet a day, but this could be raised to 450 million cubic feet per day if developed further.

The Iraqi Government is keen to get the field operational as quickly as possible, using nearby Syria as an export route to Europe to restore revenues. A statement from Shell said that the Iraqi Oil Ministry had asked Shell to undertake “a long-term production test”. Total was unavailable for comment, but is also understood to be interested...>

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article3155904.ece

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Back in April of 2003 (just after our invasion of Iraq)


US 'blocks' Syria pipeline

The US says it has blocked a pipeline used to pump Iraqi oil to Syria, in volume that allegedly violated UN sanctions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2951327.stm

[Eugene]

66. AP: Syrian villager says 2 men grabbed in US raid

Source: Associated Press

Syrian villager says 2 men grabbed in US raid

By HUSSEIN MALLA, Associated Press Writer
32 minutes ago

SUKKARIYEH, Syria – A resident of the village that
was the scene of a U.S. raid says he saw at least two
men taken into custody by American forces and whisked
away by helicopter.

The villager spoke on condition of anonymity because
he feared for his life.

Another villager at the site displayed amateur video
footage he took with his mobile phone that shows four
helicopters flying toward them as villagers point to
the skies in alarm.

An Associated Press journalist at the attack site in
far eastern Syria on Monday saw the grainy video.

A U.S. military official in Washington confirmed
Sunday that special forces had conducted the raid in
Syria, targeting al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters.
At least seven men died.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081027/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria_us_raid