Epstein Secrets

_031948 --- PAGE BREAK --- 9 Article 3. New York Post High stakes in Syria Amir Taheri November 16, 2011 -- As Arab foreign ministers met in Rabat, Morocco, yesterday to discuss Syria, one question was on every mind: Is the country already in a civil war? Some of the facts on the ground suggest so. With

look like a torrent. In October, the number was around 800. The best total now available is about 17,000. The defectors have organized themselves as the Free Syrian Army and are creating credible command-and- control structures. Since September, the FSA has carried out a number of symbolic attacks against the regime.

bilateral problems with Israel to the NATO platform. Some ministers went so far as to vow to veto the participation of Egypt, Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco and other partner countries in the activities of the Mediterranean Dialogue if Turkey continues to do so against Israel, something they called "a v

come from traditional communities and the radicalism of those associated with the global jihadi movement, said Joseph Holliday, who is researching the Free Syrian Army at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington and believes extremists are a small minority. "While there are elements [in the opposition] tha

s interests. They were constant, if not always agreeable, companions. Egypt's Mubarak, Jordan's King Hussein, Tunisia's Ben Ali, Yemen's Ali Saleh, Morocco's King Hassan II, Saudi Arabia's kings Fand and Abdullah. The PLO's Yasir Arafat rounded out the group photo. America's arrangements with the acqu

re confusing and opaque. Insurgencies are by definition loosely organized. But the relationship between those armed elements doing the fighting and the Free Syrian Army, nominally headquartered in Turkey, is not at all clear when it comes to chain of command or formal affiliation. And we know very little about fore

ime minister twice. "I think there has been enough of a promise of reform to keep people taking a wait-and-see attitude, which is what happened in Morocco as well," says Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about the North African nation whose King Mohammed VI retained con

luding giving them weapons to defend themselves." The positions of other regional actors are less clear. But whether or not they supply weapons to the Free Syrian Army -- the armed opposition composed of defectors and local militia -- all these Sunni states now want the Assad regime to crumble because it is an al

there EFTA00684008 has been some progress in the Muslim world. Iraq, Tunisia, and Libya may be better off than they were before their upheavals. Morocco, Jordan, Turkey, the Emirates, and even in an odd way, Saudi Arabia, some of the other Gulf states, and the eastern Muslims, especially Indonesia a

ing that word anywhere in the Middle East), are now awaiting events, fatigued by ineffective internecine combat. It is hard to figure out who is in the Free Syrian Army, Supreme Military Council, and the Syrian Revolutionaries' Front and where each ends and the other begins. The Islamic Front, with around 50,000 pa

rime minister twice. "I think there has been enough of a promise of reform to keep people taking a wait-and-see attitude, which is what happened in Morocco as well," says Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace about the North African nation whose King Mohammed VI retained con

cluding giving them weapons to defend themselves." The positions of other regional actors are less clear. But whether or not they supply weapons to the Free Syrian Army -- the armed opposition composed of defectors and local militia -- all these Sunni states now want the Assad regime to crumble because it is an all

from a radical, violent strain into a modern, outward-looking variant. In Tunisia a party close to the Brothers won power and has started well. In Morocco a similar party has served in coalition, albeit under the king's writ. Even the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brothers, Hamas, has been groping

andard SeeingSyria Clearly Lee Smith June 15, 2012 -- The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House is helping to coordinate logistics for the Free Syrian Army, but not providing arms. "U.S. intelligence operatives and diplomats have stepped up their contacts with Syrian rebels in part to help organize the