Here's That "October Surprise"

(Updated below) (Update II)

This just in:

Reports: U.S. helicopters raid Syrian village
Residents, TV report two helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers kill seven people

U.S. military helicopters attacked an area along the country's border with Iraq, causing casualties, Syria's state-run television and witnesses said Sunday.

The TV report quoted unnamed Syrian officials and said the area is near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal. It gave no other details on Sunday's attack.

Local residents told The Associated Press by telephone that two helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers raided the village of Hwijeh, 10 miles inside Syria's border, killing seven people and wounding five.

The U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate comment.

Indeed.

Now, let us see how this "new crisis" (i.e. actually sought after) will be exploited by McCain-Palin through yet more fearmongering and the all-purpose need for "Security" to sway the electorate - thanks to the helping hand of the incompetent Bush-Cheney et al. still in office ...

In any case - this arrogant and dangerous Bush Doctrine to attack any time, anywhere in any soverign country (Pakistan being another recent example) in the name of the ludicrous Global War on Terror(TM) has to be relegated to the hash heap of incompetence and history.

This is criminal (check the U.N. charter, if you will) and must be disavowed by the American people once and for all.

I wonder how the U.S. would feel if other countries would do the same to them?


Update: from the same article linked to - we now have emerging details:

The Syrian report comes just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq told reporters that American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he said was an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A government statement carried by the official Syrian Arab News Agency said Sunday's attack was on the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction, firing on the workers inside, shortly before sundown, the statement said.

The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.

Iraqi insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing U.S. Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.

On Thursday, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Kelly said Iraq's western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a "different story."

"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."

He added that the U.S. was helping construct a sand berm and ditches along the border.

"There hasn't been much, in the way of a physical barrier, along that border for years," Kelly said.

It is still no excuse to unilaterally violate the sovereignty of another country.

Period.



Update II: This is the convenient reasoning of rogue nations (emphasis added):

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military's reach.

"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

Indeed - the same kind of reasoning by any incompetent, by every criminal - "take what you want when you want, who cares what others think?"

That is the Bush Doctrine for you.

Did I say "rogue nation"?

Yeah - I thought I did ...

Now let us all sit back and watch the consequences fall in like dominos.

More than ever - I loathe dangerous incompetents like Bush et al.