Syria, Lebanon, and the UN

From AP:

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations is returning a team to Lebanon to investigate U.S. claims that Syrian intelligence agents are still operating in the country in violation of a Security Council resolution.

...In Damascus, Syria's information minister denied that his country still had agents in Lebanon, calling such claims "non-objective and untrue."

"All Syrian troops, of all their different divisions, have withdrawn from Lebanon," Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah told the official SANA news agency.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan told members of the Security Council at their monthly lunch "that he intends to send a verification team back to Lebanon, but at this point no date has been set," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad called U.S. accusations "a smear campaign" and insisted all Syrian intelligence operatives have been withdrawn from the country as of April 26.

...The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution in September demanding the withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence assets. But it was the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, which set off huge anti-Syrian protests, that spurred the Syrians to leave.

The opposition has blamed Damascus and its Lebanese supporters for killing Hariri as well as Kassir. Syria vehemently denies the allegations.

Mekdad said the anti-Syria campaign by the United States reflects U.S. displeasure at the results of recent elections in Lebanon and is an attempt "to deepen differences between different Lebanese forces, and to create problems for a constructive relationship between Syria and Lebanon."

The militant Hezbollah group and its Shiite Amal ally — which have close ties to Syria — won all 23 seats in parliamentary elections in south Lebanon earlier this week. The United States, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, expressed concern over the party's success, saying an armed militia should not have a role in a democratic system.

Imagine. The U.S. "considers" Hezbollah a terrorist group. What should the U.S. consider Hezbollah? A humanitarian group?

What is Hezbollah?

Hezbollah is a Lebanese umbrella organization of radical Islamic Shiite groups and organizations. It opposes the West, seeks to create a Muslim fundamentalist state modeled on Iran, and is a bitter foe of Israel. Hezbollah, whose name means “party of God,” is a terrorist group believed responsible for nearly 200 attacks since 1982 that have killed more than 800 people.

What major attacks is Hezbollah responsible for?

Hezbollah and its affiliates have planned or been linked to a lengthy series of terrorist attacks against the United States, Israel, and other Western targets. These attacks include:

---a series of kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon, including several Americans, in the 1980s;

---the suicide truck bombings that killed more than 200 U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983;

---the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane’s pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head;

---and two major 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina—the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy (killing 29) and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center (killing 95).

Syria is whining about the U.S. conducting a smear campaign. Syria has smeared itself.

Where's Amnesty International? Hezbollah is a group of gulag keepers. Why don't they hassle these terrorists?

Because AI has no credibility and an anti-American agenda.

As usual, the UN refuses to act in a timely fashion, thus giving the terrorists a break.

"Secretary-General Kofi Annan told members of the Security Council at their monthly lunch 'that he intends to send a verification team back to Lebanon, but at this point no date has been set.'"

NO DATE HAS BEEN SET.

The UN under Kofi Annan is a corrupt, impotent body. This is just one more example of its irrelevance. Worse yet, by its inaction, the UN is knowingly propping up terrorists.

Why in God's name do Dems place so much faith in this utterly incompetent and dangerous organization?

I think both the UN and the Democrats are beyond redemption at this point.