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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0025/01 0091327
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091327Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2759
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6484
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4266
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2871
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7441
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1488
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4829
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1048
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7171

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000025 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/R/MR:STHIBEAULT AND 
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, AZAIBACK, AND 
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA MDAVIDSON 
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC 
CENTCOM FOR CCPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Syria/Germany, Syria/Nigeria, Syria/Spain, Iraq, Lebanon, 
Palestinian Territories (1/9) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Jan. 9 reported that President Asad 
held talks on Jan. 8 with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder 
focusing on current developments in Iraq, Lebanon and the occupied 
territories and prospects of economic cooperation between Syria and 
Germany, particularly on the level of investment companies in the 
two countries. 
 
President Asad also received a message from Nigerian counterpart 
Olusegun Obasanjo on bilateral ties. According to a Syrian 
presidential statement, Nigerian Ambassador in Beirut Ali al-Siyouti 
handed the message to the Syrian president. 
 
On Syrian-Spanish relations, papers reported that on January 8 
Information Minister Bilal criticized US Middle East policies, which 
he said escalate problems in the region.  Bilal made the criticism 
in a meeting with a delegation of the Spanish Communist Party, the 
official SANA news agency reported.  "Syria is not against the 
American people, but it criticizes the U.S. administration's 
policies in the region which escalate problems in it," the minister 
was quoted as saying.  The head of the delegation, Miguel Lawrence, 
also said that US policy in the Middle East "is wrong and witnesses 
a real dilemma."  He underlined the important role of Syria in 
solving regional crisis, saying that there would not be a 
comprehensive and genuine peace in the Middle East without Syria, 
according to SANA. 
 
Papers also featured President Mubarak's statement to the Middle 
East News Agency (MENA) on Jan. 8 stressing the credibility of Syria 
in working to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle 
East.  President Mubarak called on Israel to prove its seriousness 
over the resumption of the negotiations on the Syrian track and 
withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan. 
 
All papers reported that on Jan. 8 Pope Benedict XVI condemned the 
Israeli war against Lebanon considering this war an example that 
reflects the failure of military solutions, noting that Lebanon's 
future depends on its people's unity and the fraternal relations 
connecting its different religious and social groups. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad reviews with former German Chancellor Gerhard 
Schroeder the general situation in the region and economic 
cooperation with Germany and receives a message from the Nigerian 
President Olusegun Obasanjo on bilateral relations and a follow-up 
on the outcome of President Obasanjo's recent visit to Syria" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 
 
"Information Minister Bilal discusses regional developments with the 
British-European Parliamentary delegation.  Bilal reviews 
Syrian-Spanish relations and the situation in the Middle East with a 
delegation of the Spanish Communist Party in Catalonia" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/9) 
 
"President Mubarak calls on Israel to prove its seriousness over the 
resumption of negotiations on the Syrian track and withdrawal from 
occupied Golan" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/9) 
 
"The Lebanese opposition escalates anti-government protest.  Speaker 
of Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri accuses French Ambassador and 
Jumblatt of blocking his initiative to solve the current Lebanese 
crisis" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/9) 
 
"Hamas calls on Fatah leaders for dialogue.  An Israeli move to 
expel Palestinians from the West Bank to neighboring countries" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/9) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
"Care of the International Community" 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
 
Muhammad Khayr al-Jammali, an editorialist in government-owned 
Al-Thawra, wrote (1/9):  "News reports from Iraq revealed that an 
American unit in Iraq stopped a taxi and killed its five occupants 
in front of eyewitnesses, although they were not armed or wanted.... 
Crimes and massacres committed by the occupation forces in Iraq are 
worse than those committed by the Nazis.... 
"Although the United States will always try to justify such actions 
as self-defense or isolated cases, they remain, in the eyes of 
international law, war crimes and crimes against humanity.... Since 
international law considers the occupying power to be responsible 
for the security and lives of the inhabitants in the areas under 
occupation, the US Administration, represented by President George 
Bush, the Pentagon leadership, and the officers and soldiers 
involved in these crimes bear the responsibility under international 
law and must, therefore, be referred to the competent international 
court.... 
 
"International judicial and human right organizations must set up an 
international tribunal to examine US war crimes in Iraq and try 
those involved in them in order to serve international justice and 
guarantee the rights of the victims of these crimes, and in order 
that the crimes not go unpunished." 
 
-------------------- 
 
"US Failure in Iraq" 
 
-------------------- 
 
Khalid al-Ashhab, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
commented (1/9):  "The Bush administration failed to transfer and 
settle democracy in Iraq and turn it into a model for the Arab 
region to emulate.  But it succeeded, with distinction, in 
destroying the foundations of Iraq's security and stability and in 
pushing Iraq toward devastating strife and turning it into an 
endless series of mass graves and random killings around the 
clock.... 
 
"The Bush administration failed to reconstruct and develop Iraq and 
turn it into a spot radiating civilization and science, but it 
outstandingly succeeded in returning the country to the medieval 
ages and in rendering it void of awareness, culture, and even 
history, exactly as Donald Rumsfeld promised on the eve of Iraq's 
occupation.... 
 
"The Bush administration also succeeded in breeding whirlpools of 
killing, repression, and despotism in Iraq and turning the country 
into a bogeyman frightening others from the poisoned American 
honey." 
 
------------------------------------------- 
 
"Israel, a Threat to the Whole Arab Nation" 
 
------------------------------------------- 
 
Salim Abbud, a political analyst in government-owned Al-Thawra, said 
(1/9):  "Those who argue that the conflict with Israel concerns 
Palestinians alone and that Israel is not a threat to other Arab 
countries are tampering with the facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict 
and with the future and existence of Palestinians and the entire 
Arab nation.... 
 
"Arab peace advocates must realize that the state of conflict will 
continue, even if its management requires means and ways -- other 
than war -- to fit with certain situations.  They must realize that 
Israel in particular is a threat to individual and pan-Arab 
security, and that the organic link between the security of every 
Arab country and the destiny of the Palestinian cause will remain 
because the conflict, in its essence, is an Arab-Israeli conflict. 
Dealing with HAMAS as if it were a tool for blowing up the situation 
in the region because of its refusal to recognize Israel and blaming 
it for the current situation in the Palestinian territories -- just 
as blaming the Lebanese resistance for the current situation in 
 
Lebanon -- reflect not only a erroneous political calculation, but 
also a shortsightedness that might lead to positions that do not 
ultimately serve the interests of Arabs and Palestinians, and that 
help Israelis and US neoconservatives realize their objectives...." 
 
Roebuck