THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The How's and Why's of 'Dealing With Syria'
backdrop of one key point
the President made to re-
porters Sunday. 'If our
forces are attacked,' Mr.
Reagan said, 'we will re-
spond. We're going to de-
fend our personnel.'
"No matter how many
conflicting and vague in-
terpretations 'Administra-
tion sources' give us the
next few days of U.S. inten-
tions in Lebanon, we think
the message of the U.S.
bombing and the
President's statement
ought to be clear enough to
B GU Parley
the Syrians and their
BEERSHEBA (JNI) —
Soviet consultants: You
More than 100 Jews and
want to play rough, okay,
Beduin Arabs attended a
we'll play rough.
two-day conference on "The
"The U.S escalation is
Family as a Means of Im-
parting Values" at Ben- of course eliciting objec-
Gurion University last tions from all the usual
places — Democratic
month.
Presidential candidates,
McGovernite Con-
gressmen and former
Carter officials, anonym-
ous State Department
`sources' and the same
newspaper columnists
and TV commentators
It• OttOt%
who denounced the U.S.
00 VO r"
intervention in Grenada.
For the Hotidays
There are a few things,
however, that we suspect
\Nily not Give a
most Americans are be-
Gilt CerOicate
ginning to understand.
For Gustorn Snorts
"First of all, what we're
dealing with in the Syrians
is basically a bunch of
thugs. This isn't the gov-
ernment of Lebanon or Jor-
SWV1141°19
dan or Saudi Arabia. This is
01 s.ss000s thso
the crowd that most re-
toott to Voe V olog`oesoittestce)
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cently gave a group of Ira-
64'0 llaNa ri
I
nian Shiites the means to
, 11 00
blow up American, French
,14:2"Itzake P
fp,
and Israeli- military corn-
pounds.
"These are the Syrians
whose entry into the Shouf
Mountains was followed by
unprecedented acts of
slaughter. And an event
that keeps trying to dive
down the memory hole —
this is the Syrian govern-
ment that in 1982 sent
troops into the city of Hama
and annihilated some
25,000 Syrian citizens for
opposing the policies of
President Hafez Assad.
"The fact that Syria's
foreign minister is now in-
voking the United Nations
charter to say the U.S. is
`undermining the . sover-
eignty and independence of
countries in the region'
doesn't mean the rest of us
have to pretend we're deal-
ing with a civilized member
of the community of na-
tions.
"Secondly, the inde-
pendence of Lebanon in
some real if imperfect
sense is precisely the
vital interest involved
here for the U.S. and the
West. The exact terms of
the relationship between
the Soviet Union and
Syria aren't known. It's
often claimed that Syria's
ailing Assad is an unpre-
dictable tyrant whose re-
liability is never a sure
thing for the Soviets.
"There is no dispute,
however, that Syria is now
trying to extend its borders
westward into Lebanon
with Soviet-supplied arms.
And it's surely evident from
the Syrians' crude dictation
of terms at the Lebanese
peace talks in Geneva that
the role seen in Damascus
for Mr. Gemayel's gov-
••111•••••••••••••••••••••••• •
ernment is that of a compla-
cent satellite.
•
"What the success of
•
Syria's strategy would
mean is that the Soviet
CONTINUOUS CLEANING
•
Union's presence — on the
TOAST 'N BROIL TOAST-R-OVEN@
•
ground — would extend to
the suburbs of Beirut. The
•
Low
Soviets currently have
•
Price
7,000 troops in Syria.
•
•
"This would threaten the
Plus
stability not only of what
•
$5
remained of Lebanon, but of
•
Jordan, Egypt and Saudi
•
Rebate
•
T 131B
Arabia, which tend to define
their own interests in terms
of whether the wind is blow-
ing harder from the east or
the west. Arabists in the
State Department are al-
Or
GEWe
bring
ready
rolling out the line
• good
• things
that the air strikes and the
• tolife.
recent U.S. agreement with
• 7-4625
Israel will somehow force
• Woodgrain finish
• on polystyrene
the 'moderate' Arab states
to stand with Syria. An
• FM/AM Electronic Digital Clock Radio
Egyptian friend recently
LADIES'
admonished us to take care-
full note when the Arab
MEN'S
position on a Middle East-
no/
CHLOE-CHANE L
• QUARTZ WATCHES OPIUM-
ern development is silence.
4U /0 OFF •
GUCCI
The moderates are cur-
•
sugg.
list
HALSTON-NORELL
rently silent.
•
"In any event, Syria
TELEPHONE
can hardly expect much
• CROSS PENS ANSWERING
from Jor-
MACHINES
• fellow-feeling
TV'S
dan's King Hussein, who
OFF
•
EUREKA VACS
RADIOS • has apparently con-
ELECTRIC
•
cluded that the Syrians
WALKMANS
TYPEWRITERS
SHAVERS
•
are involved in a recent
series of bombings in
Amman and the October
shootings of Jordanian
LINCOLN TOWERS, SUITE 111
•
ambassadors in New
•
•
15075 W. Lincoln (10 1/2 Mile)
Delhi and Rome.
•
•
"We share the general
Mon. two Sat. 10-4 p.m.
One Block East of Greenfield
•
sense of misgiving about the
411 411•ED 41 411•411 411 411 4D 411 ID 411 41 41 41 El 41 ID•ID 410 41
The Wall Street Journal
looked at U.S. Lebanon pol-
icy and the problems with
Syria in an editorial on Dec.
6 entitled "Dealing With
Syria":
"Now that U.S. jets have
pounded Syrian positions in
Lebanon, we can expect a
torrent of questions and
analysis about the U.S.'s
political goals and military
tactics in the Middle East.
That's fine, so long as all the
talk takes place against the
lack of clarity in U.S. policy
toward Lebanon and the
quality of our military tac-
tics there. Moreover, photo-
graphs of U.S. airmen in Sy-
rian captivity resurrect the
modern American sensitiv-
ity to images of POWs. But
most Americans will sup-
port a military intervention
if it is shown to be on behalf
of our interests .. .
"The Administration
could shore up that support
by more effectively and
explicitly making its case
for preventing Syria's
Soviet-supported strategy
of destruction and domi-
nance in the Middle East.
President Reagan's an-
nounced policy of respond-
ing to Syria's militarists in
the only language they
understand is an appropri-
ate first step in building
that case."
•
•
so
•
• 40°,/ o "F
• 40%
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