Word: assads
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...fact, a sickening sight: The newly released hostages pictured in their first news briefing beneath the all-knowing gaze of Syrian President Hafez el-Assad. We had to thank our suddenly pro-Western friends, Iran and Syria, for their deep concern for human life...
...feverish rhetoric about democratic values has not been notably effective in practice. Not only are many Americans disgusted with their own politics, but Kuwait, which continues to oppress Palestinians and its other foreign workers, has made hardly a move toward actual democracy. Saddam Hussein remains in power. Hafez Assad of Syria is prospering. The Kurds are still dying, at the hands of Iraq and of our ally Turkey...
...collapse of the Soviet Union and the cutoff of most of its aid carried a blunt message to Syria, another major backer of terrorists. There was no longer any likelihood of becoming a regional superpower with armaments supplied by Moscow. As Iran took a more moderate course, Syrian President Assad had to worry about becoming isolated if he continued to support the extremist factions...
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait marked the beginning of the end of the hostage drama. First, 15 pro-Iranian terrorists were released from prison in Kuwait, eliminating one of the Hizballah factions' principal demands. Then Assad weighed the odds and joined Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the international coalition arrayed against his archenemy Saddam Hussein. When Iraq's army was destroyed, Arab extremism and rejectionism suffered a devastating blow. The U.S. emerged as the only superpower with influence in the region and was actively trying to restart the Middle East peace process...
...Assad decided to try diplomacy, the only game in town. The U.S. responded to the shift and to Syria's cooperation against Iraq with modifications of its own. Washington signaled that instead of trying to force Syria out of Lebanon, where its "peacekeeping" forces had settled in, the U.S. might be able to live with Syria as the dominant power there...