Syria to Pull Troops Out of Lebanon in Months

This guy should be on his knees expressing his undying gratitude to divine providence that he is the head of a country and not running a gas station somewhere or stuck in some dead end desk job.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Syria expects to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in a few months, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published on Tuesday.

"It (withdrawal) should be very soon and maybe in the next few months. Not after that. I can't give you a technical answer. The point is the next few months," he told Time magazine."

Please tell me that there is a language problem and that he is not as big an idiot as he appears to be. The heat is being applied to his feet, comply or sit in a cage next to Saddam.

"But after his remarks were reported, two influential U.S. Senators urged a faster withdrawal.

"The world community is going to insist upon a rather rapid acceleration of that timetable," said Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Syria has 14,000 troops in Lebanon, but its dominant role in the country has come under increasing pressure as a result of mass protests sparked by the assassination last month of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Thousands of demonstrators have turned out in Beirut to call for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from their country, and Lebanon's pro-Damascus government resigned on Monday.

Angry protesters blame Syria and the government for Hariri's death. Syria denies it was involved.

U.S. Senator Joseph Biden, of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, estimated Syria also has 500 security police in Lebanon and said they are effectively running the Lebanese government.

"They've got to get out too," Biden said.

Both Lugar and Biden spoke after meeting President Bush (news - web sites) about the president's trip to Europe last week."

Syria can deny all it wants, but the rat smells a sinking ship. Remember just the other day they gave up Saddam's half brother to try and stave off the pressure cooker they have placed themselves in.

"In the interview posted on Time's Web site, Assad would not give a definite timetable for pulling out his army, saying it depended on technical, rather than political, considerations.

"I could not say we could do it in two months because I have not had the meeting with the army people. They may say it will take six months.

"You need to prepare when you bring your army back to your country. You need to prepare where you will put the troops," Assad said."

As if anyone really believes any of this. It doesn't take that long to move the troops. It doesn't take that long to do any of this unless you are a scared rat trying to buy time.

"He said security in Lebanon and the protection of Syria's own borders needed to be taken into consideration.

"There are two factors. The first is security in Lebanon ... The second thing, which is related to Syria, is that after withdrawing we have to protect our border."

Assad said that when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, they came "very close to Damascus," which meant Syria would need fortifications for its troops along the border with Lebanon."

More bullshit designed to protect his little terrorist exporting fiefdom.

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan has said that Syria should comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions, which meant that Syrian forces and intelligence personnel must leave Lebanon.

Assad, who has expressed concerns Washington might eventually resort to military action against his country, said earlier that a total Syrian troop withdrawal must be linked to peace with its arch-enemy Israel."

Someone must wish that he were still a simple opthamologist. Pony up and come correct or risk the cage.