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FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2314
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UNCLAS DAMASCUS 005187 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/S:STHIBEAULT AND 
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, DBENZE AND AFERNANDEZ, 
IIP/G/NEA-SA RWINCHESTER 
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC 
CENTCOM FOR CCPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Damascus Media Reaction: Arms Smuggling 
Accusations/Lebanon, Peace Process, Iraq, Palestinian Territories 
(11/2) 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian newspapers today reacted to statements by Terje 
Roed-Larsen, the UN Secretary General's envoy to Lebanon, and John 
 
Bolton, US Ambassador to the United Nations, saying that weapons 
continue to be smuggled to Lebanon from Syria. 
 
Papers featured a statement on Wednesday by Lebanese PM Fuad 
Al-Siniora denying that the Lebanese government has informed Terje 
Road Larsen of weapon smuggling taking place on the border with 
Syria. 
 
Papers also cited a statement by Lebanese FM Fawzi Salloukh denying 
the statement in Larsen's report that the Lebanese government 
informed him about weapons smuggling to Lebanon from Syria. 
Salloukh said that "no weapons cargo may escape capture and these 
are facts confirmed by the leadership of the Lebanese army." 
 
A third statement on the same topic was issued by a Lebanese 
military source, categorically denying that any weapons had been 
smuggled across the Syrian border since the Lebanese army assumed 
the mission of controlling the borders. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
"Hilary Clinton calls for dialogue with Syria and Iran in order to 
achieve stability in the region" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 11/2) 
 
"Chinese President:  'Land for Peace' is the main solution to 
problems in the region" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 11/2) 
"Calls to change the Lebanese government and confront all attempts 
to create sedition continue.  Lebanon denies Larsen's claims about 
weapons smuggling to Lebanon across borders with Syria.  Israel:  We 
will continue our violations of Lebanon's airspace;  Let Lebanon and 
the UN keep protesting" (Government-owned Tishreen, 11/2) 
"The Lebanese army denies smuggling of arms across Syrian borders. 
Al-Saniora and Salloukh:  The Larsen report is untrue; we did not 
feed such information to Larsen" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 11/2) 
"The Wall Street Journal:  Americans are bitter about the war in 
Iraq.   Opinion polls show that Democrats are approaching control of 
the Congress" (Government-owned Tishreen, 11/2) 
"Intelligence report shows Iraq sinking in chaos.  Killing of a US 
solider and scores of Iraqis in Baghdad and Al-Anbar" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 11/2) 
"A new Israeli massacre with a US green light:  Ten Palestinians 
martyred, 50 injured, as a result of the Israeli aggression against 
Gaza.  One Israeli solider killed, six settlers injured" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 11/2) 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
------------------------------------------- 
 
"Why Fabricate Allegations against Syria?" 
------------------------------------------- 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, commented 
(11/2):  "In a suspicious harmony between Roed-Larsen and John 
Bolton, both talked about continued smuggling of arms from Syria to 
Lebanon....  We wonder if Roed-Larsen received his information, 
which he attributed to the Lebanese Government, from the Lebanese 
prime minister personally or from one of the ministers who are known 
for their adoption of American and Israeli positions.... 
"Has this new dirty game been concocted by Roed-Larsen, Bolton, and 
some of those who carry Lebanese identity by name and 
American-French identity by word and deed?  Why this new lie at this 
particular time?  Is it to mar and abort Parliament Speaker Nabih 
Birri's call for consultations by showing Hizbollah as arming itself 
when the February 14 team is calling for disarming the party as a 
precondition to any successful dialogue, and rejecting in advance 
any government change or reshuffle to accurately reflect the 
political balance on the ground and the desire of the Lebanese 
people?  Is the fabrication of this new lie at this particular time 
related to the midterm elections that will take place in the United 
States within days, with the aim of diverting the attention of the 
American public, which is complaining about the policies of the Bush 
administration, toward a foreign 'threat,' whether in Iraq, 
Afghanistan, or Lebanon, in an attempt to pull the rug from under 
the feet of the Democrats, who, according to American opinion polls, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
will achieve a big election win?  Why this return to the fabrication 
of lies against Syria?  Is it because the international community 
and its big powers, like Russia and some European countries, have 
started talking about the crucial Syrian role in the peace process 
and about the need to revive this process...? 
"Irrespective of the true objective of such leaks and false 
information and their sources, origins, and tools, and irrespective 
of the fact that Hizbollah stressed that it does not need weapons, 
perhaps for the next two years the Bush administration and those who 
benefit from it and implement its orders in the world and in Lebanon 
want to hide facts with lies and to change the course of history. 
Through what it did and is still doing, together with its partners, 
this administration proves that it is enemy number one for Syria, 
the Arabs, and other nations.  But this is no longer useful: lies 
and masks have fallen forever." 
------------ 
"A New Tune" 
------------ 
Ali Qasim, a columnist in government-owned Al-Thawra, wrote (11/2): 
"While Israeli planes were flying low over the Lebanese capital, 
Beirut, and the south, staging mock raids, Terje Roed-Larsen 
repeated his tune about the smuggling of weapons to Hizbollah.... 
"John Bolton, the US representative in the United Nations, did not 
let this opportunity pass.  He immediately announced that he, too, 
has information about the smuggling of weapons.  He said he obtained 
the information from parties in the Lebanese government, but added 
that the information is not detailed because the parties that gave 
it fear assassination.  Condoleezza Rice, for her part, went 
further, saying she has information about a plan to assassinate 
Lebanese figures, including Al-Saniora. 
"Since Rice has the information, why doesn't the US Administration 
reveal these plans?  Or is it that no one else knows about these 
plans, and perhaps no one else is drawing up these plans other than 
this administration, in order to level new accusations against 
Syria, now that all previous accusations have reached a deadend and 
lost their credibility? 
"This harmony shows the gravity of what is being prepared for the 
region after the failure of Lebanese parties to implement what they 
were asked to implement.  And it largely reflects a bankruptcy in 
the American agenda that relied on those parties. Consequently, 
those parties are now a burden to US policy itself, and there might 
be a need to get rid of them, and this is why the way is being paved 
with elaborate talk about and warning against the return of 
assassinations, especially in the identification of the targeted 
persons.... 
"It is no secret that such warnings might be a cover for alternative 
scenarios aimed at creating confusion inside Lebanon, and an attempt 
to save Al-Saniora's government and obstruct the consultation 
meetings for which Parliament Speaker Birri has called.  While the 
nationalist Lebanese figures welcomed Birri's call, other parties 
are working hard to put spokes in the wheels and push things toward 
the unknown." 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
"Will Spain Succeed in Convening a Middle East Peace Conference?" 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Dr. Sa'id Musallam, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (11/2):  "The idea of a new international conference on peace 
in the Middle East enjoys the support of the EU, Russia, and 
China....  Although the United States played down the significance 
of the Spanish call for such a conference, some people believe that 
the US Administration, suffering under its many crises, might 
ultimately agree to the idea.... 
"Will the Spanish initiative succeed in creating a new international 
climate from which the countries of the region in general will 
benefit, or will the American intransigence and the major ambitions 
of the oil cartels in the United States, France, and other 
countries, in temporary alliances forged to serve personal 
interests, spoil the climate of diplomacy and escalate the tone of 
blackmail and arrogance up to the use of force, in which case no one 
will benefit?" 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Changing Policies, or Changing Tools?" 
--------------------------------------- 
Khalid al-Ashhab, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
commented (11/2):  "Would Democratic domination of the US Congress 
after the midterm elections next week mean a qualitative change in 
US foreign policy, preventing the Bush administration over the next 
two years from bringing the world, primarily Arabs, back to the 
state of coercion and anxiety that it has been experiencing for 
years?  Is it just a change in tools and methods while policies 
remain the same...? 
"Arabs need to answer this question and then search for a salvation 
that is not linked to the fluctuating whims of American elections." 
Corbin