Why Threats Work: Syria Is Taking The US Seriously

Channelnewsasia.com story

Syria sped up its limited withdrawal of soldiers from Lebanon, with troops deployed south of Beirut crossing back into their country, as Washington said the redeployment was positive but not enough.

Lebanese police said a convoy of about 60 buses transporting soldiers and trucks loaded with their belongings crossed the Masnaa border post, 70 kilometers (42 miles) east of Beirut, at 5:00 am (0200 GMT).
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Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud has said the pullout of the remaining 15,000 Syrian troops would take place once the Arab-Israeli conflict is finally resolved and all Arab territories are free from Israeli occupation.

The operation comes 28 years after Damascus first sent in its troops to serve as a stabilization force, a year after the outbreak of the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon.
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On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters after talks in New York with Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara that the redeployment was a "positive" development.

"We've noted the redeployment of some Syrian troops," he said. "I think this is a positive step and we took note of it, but, of course, the resolution ... calls on the Syrians to do more and we had a good discussion of that."

Let me explain one interesting part of the article, the 'Syrian troops would leave once Israel vanishes' part. This is simply rhetoric, and Syria's occupation of Lebanon has little or nothing to do with the existence of Israel. Syria is occupying Lebanon because Syria enjoys occupying Lebanon. If Syria didn't enjoy occupying Lebanon, then Syrian troops would not be in Lebanon.
Sorry for the over-simplified language, but a clear point must be made. Syria has no interest in protecting or helping the nation it occupies, Syria's interest is the territory, economy (though quite pathetic), and power of Lebanon. This action is comparable to Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia in terms of international relations.
So, even if Israel falls off the face of the earth, Syria will control Lebanon, unless some outside force gets involved (a force such as the US, for example).

Now, the US's international agenda probably requires Arab nations to be quite weak and susceptible to Western influences (such as democracy, freedom, and non-fundamental religious beliefs). A separation of these two nations greatly helps the US achieve its goals.


Therefore, it can logically be concluded that the US pushed Syria to leave, because America has more power to back up its wishes than Syria does. Syria knows that the US will use its power, because the US conquered both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Thus, Syria may not have really had a choice, as the US could always threaten to conquer Syria. So, Syria did the same thing as Libya, it gave into US requirements in order to save itself. If you haven’t heard of Libya; it’s a nation that was trying to develop nuclear weapons, but the US and British caught them, and forced the leader of Libya to resign (all without firing a shot. Or, at least, not publicly firing a shot).


The best thing you can take from this story is evidence that the US can, and will, enforce its wishes in the mid-east. Also, a justified threat, such as to conquer Syria when the US has already conquered some of its fellow-Jihadists, can be a very effective diplomatic tool.