SYRIA: American envoy taunts Bashar Assad with visit to besieged Hama

[brooklynite]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Syria reacted with fury on Friday to a visit by U.S. ambassador Robert Ford to the violence-stricken central city of Hama on Thursday (and possibly longer), saying it was proof that the unrest plaguing the country is nothing more than an American plot.

''The presence of the U.S. ambassador in Hama city without obtaining a prior permission from the Foreign Ministry as stipulated by instructions distributed repeatedly to all the embassies is clear evidence of the U.S. involvement in the ongoing events in Syria and its bids to aggravate the situations which destabilize Syria,'' an unnamed official at the Syrian foreign ministry was quoted as saying in a statement carried on the official Syrian news agency SANA.

The U.S. State Department said its embassy in Damascus had told the Syrian government that it was dispatching a diplomatic team -- without naming Ford personally -- to Hama, according to pan-Arab news channel Al Jazeera.

Ford toured Hama on Thursday in a bid to show solidarity with residents demanding the downfall of the four-decade authoritarian regime amid a bloody security clampdown on the city and fears that Assad's armed enforcers may launch a military assault on the resistance hotbed.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/07/syria-us-ambassador-interference-accuses-hama-visit-diplomatic-team-assad-crackdown-protesters.html

---

I take it Dennis Kucinich wasn't with him...

[harun]

1. Kucinich wasn't with him but I am sure the CIA was.

[AverageJoe90]

2. I'm sorry but I can't trust a damn word the Syrian gov't says.

Remember folks, the Assads were dictators, too.........just like Gadhafi in Libya.

[Turborama]

3. The Guardian have a different take: Syrian rebel city welcomes US ambassador with roses

Martin Chulov in Beirut
The Guardian, Saturday July 09 2011

Tens of thousands of people rallied in the Syrian city of Hama for a second Friday, calling for departure of President Bashar al-Assad, denouncing a government conference set to begin this weekend – and throwing red roses at visiting US ambassador Robert Ford. The unannounced visit acted as a lightning rod for activists, but drew a stern rebuke from the government, which accused Ford of meeting with saboteurs and conspiring to undermine the regime. Ford is understood to have left the besieged city before the protests started. Activists said security forces shot dead 13 people elsewhere, including six in Dumair, near Damascus. More than 40 were said to have been wounded. Violence was reported in the nearby city of Homs, as well as Qaboon in central Damascus and Meedan.

Ford's convoy was allowed through the Syrian army checkpoints on the outskirts of the city and along the road to the capital.

However government officials remain furious with the first public act of solidarity by a resident diplomat since the uprising began in March. Ford and other senior ambassadors had previously been criticised by some Syrian opposition leaders and by US lawmakers from remaining in Syria while the government crackdown against demonstrators continued.

=snip=

Ford's convoy was surrounded by Hama residents earlier today, some of whom threw red roses. Others waved olive branches as the convoy slowly made its way through the streets of Syria's fourth city in a highly symbolic victory, which was captured on cameras and quickly uploaded to YouTube.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/08/syrian-rebel-city-us-ambassador

[joshcryer]

9. It really sounds like Syrian government PSYOPS. They allow Ford in, and then blame the US for Hama.

"It is proof that Hama is backed by imperialists and they must be silenced."

Naturally some DUers will buy the hype... there's no way the Foreign Ministry was unaware of Ford's visit, they would not have been allowed to pass otherwise.

[geek tragedy]

10. Of course, many here will view this as the US wronging Assad.

Such people only pretend to care about human rights.

[bemildred]

4. Another Libya in the works? Hmmm. nt

[joshcryer]

6. Doubtful. Similar resolutions were drafted but China and Russia said they'd veto.

[bemildred]

17. I meant in the sense of getting another civil war going. nt

[daleo]

13. What's one more war?

The U.S. government can just shave a bit more off social security and medicare to pay for it. Same for the other NATO countries, once they join in the party.

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. can the US Gov't for ONCE refrain from such blatent provocations? *nt

[geek tragedy]

11. Supporting human rights is not a provocation.

Assad, not Obama, is the bad guy.

[Alamuti Lotus]

14. the US gov't does not support human rights

that ambassador would be making a trip to Riyadh or Tel Aviv if they did, or perhaps he would resign in protest of his gov't's brutal occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan.

[geek tragedy]

15. So you're outraged on behalf of Assad.

Very telling.

[Alamuti Lotus]

16. So you're making radically false assumptions.

Very typical.

Not that you care, or would understand anyway, but my "outrage" is actually because an overwhelmingly historically harmful force is trying to (further) hijack and exploit something that has a small possibility of turning into something decent on its own. KEY WORDS: ON ITS OWN. Not that KSA and the Ikhwanis haven't completely corrupted and wasted the situation anyway, but the paramount force of corruption (further) involving itself should be resisted as strongly as the forces of Assad the Lesser on the one hand, and KSA/Ikwanis on the other.

[joshcryer]

7. I don't understand how the military allowed Ford to go through while the ministry denounced it.

It's very peculiar indeed. They have the city blockaded, it makes no sense.

[EFerrari]

8. Oh, that's brilliant.

[geek tragedy]

12. Good for Ford, to hell with Assad and his supporters

and sympathizers.