November 2,2008:
On October 26th, four American helicopters crossed from Iraq into Syria.
Two of the helicopters landed near the village of Sukariyya, and Special Forces troops engaged in a brief
gun battle with members of the Abu
Ghadiyahas network, who had been using the village as part of the smuggling
network that brought money, weapons and suicide bombers into Iraq. Eight people
died, two were taken captive, and the American soldiers left unharmed.
The timing
of the strike is somewhat curious. President Assad of Syria had been moving to close off the border for
terrorists, and was making other overtures, though slowly, probably trying to
figure out how to stay in power regardless of who wins what. A strike like this, with high potential
fallout should have been vetted at the highest level. Was the guy the Special
Forces were going after worth it? The
fallout is serious, with most Arab states in the neighborhood, including Iraq,
criticizing it. Iran was particularly angry, and upset. That's probably because
Iran has also supported terrorists based in its territory, and allowing them to
move men, money and weapons across the border. Shia radical leader Muqtada al
Sadr is hiding out in Iran, where his followers are trained to be better
terrorists, then sent back to Iraq.
U.S.
officials offered international law as justification for this
"invasion" of Syria. It goes like this. The United Nations Charter
allows nations to defend themselves when under attack, and allows operations
inside a foreign nation that cannot, or will not, stop attacks on a foreign
country from within its borders. This clause was included to cover a common
situation, where one nation will tolerate rebels from another taking refuge
inside its borders. This is usually rebels or bandits who use that bases to
conduct raids and banditry inside the neighboring nation. Often, the sanctuary
nation is unable to clean out the hostile gunmen, or unwilling to do so because they support the
goals of the gunmen, or simply want to weaken their neighbor by making it
easier for the rebels or bandits to operate.
Afghanistan
and Iraq would appear to meet these criteria. Afghan and Iraqi officials have
long complained about terrorists crossing over from neighboring countries
(Pakistan, Iraq and Iran), often with the assistance of border guards. Pakistan
had something of an excuse, as they have never been able to control the tribes
along the border, and have special laws that grant some autonomy to the border
tribes, as long as they control cross-border raids. Pakistan has obviously not
been controlling the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists, so the U.S., as an ally
of the Afghans, has been crossing the border, in compliance with the UN
Charter, to strike at the hostile forces. This has been going on for nearly a
year. Now the practice has spread to Syria, and the Iranians fear they are
next.
It's this
legal angle that has prevents any of the invaded countries from taking the U.S.
before an international court. Syria, Pakistan and Iran know that there is a
preponderance of evidence proving that terrorists are camping out in their
territory, and operating across the border.
Even so, the
reaction from the Syrians has been rather muted, almost pro forma they could
easily be a lot more vehement about it, let the "rioters" do lots of damage to
US property, recall their ambassador, and so on. Could it be that they're not terribly unhappy
the raid took place? Assad and his
henchmen certainly must realize that al Qaeda ultimately is a threat to their
own power, given that Syria is run by secular Shia nationalist socialists (the Baath
party). Al Qaeda in Syria only holds
back from attacking the government because Assad has been turning a blind eye
to operations by Abu Ghadiyahas and his gang. As al Qaeda loses in Iraq, and as Iraq becomes increasingly able to
handle its own security, the Abu Ghadiyahas net in Syria could pose a threat in
several ways turning against Assad directly would be the most serious, but
also if they take actions that could involve risk to Syrian interests, such as
trying to stir the pot in Iraq or Lebanon, or organize strikes against
Israel. Going deeper, could the
Americans have been tipped off by Assad
to the presence of Abu Ghadiyahas with a wink and a nod, possibly through the
Israelis, with whom Assad seems to be developing a covert relationship?