U.S. to send military team to Syria

U.S. to send military team to Syria
Reuters
In a sign of improving relations between Washington and Damascus, the United States is sending a military delegation to Syria in the coming weeks to discuss Iraq, U.S. and Syrian officials said on Wednesday.
Separately, the Obama administration’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell will go to Damascus, possibly next week, to assess whether the time is right to revive talks between Israel and Syria, a U.S. official said.
The official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the issue, said the diplomatic moves followed a telephone call on Sunday between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley confirmed Clinton had talked about the possibility of upcoming trips by officials to Syria but said he had nothing to announce. “We want to be engaged with Syria. We want to see what is possible,” he said.

Ahmed Salkini, press secretary at Syria’s embassy in Washington, said Syria had agreed to host a military team from U.S. Central Command but details still had to be worked out.

Crowley said Iraq was a key issue in talks with Syria. The United States has accused Damascus of letting insurgents use Syrian territory to cross over into Iraq. Syria rejects accusations that it is meddling in Iraq.

“Syria is an important country in the Middle East. It can act constructively if it chooses. At times in the recent past, it has chosen to act less than constructively,” he said.

Part of the U.S. strategy in pursuing better relations with Syria is to weaken its ties to Iran, with which Washington is also seeking dialogue despite decades of isolation.
Syria and Iran are the main backers of Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Muslim political and guerrilla group that fought a war against Israel in 2006 and has representatives in the Lebanese government and parliament.
The United States has also been putting pressure on Syria not to interfere in this weekend’s election in neighboring Lebanon, where Hezbollah and its Christian allies are expected to gain a slim advantage.
The Obama administration is eager to get indirect Syria-Israel talks back on track after they were suspended following Israel’s three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip that ended in mid-January.

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Wild Thing’s comment……
What the hell is going on here, I don’t like this at all. Obama being a Manchurian Muslim is coming back fast and strong.
It’s not a sign of improved relations. It’s a sign of our muslim president kissing the terrorists asses. If America ever needed God to bless us and protect us from this extremely dangerous man Barack Hussein Obama, it’s now.
Israel attacks Syria a year ago. Obama gives American support to Syria, today?
Is this a way to warn Israel not to fly over Syrian, to attack Iran? Israel is SO screwed!
If I wasn’t watching all this, I wouldn’t believe it. I mean I seriously wouldn’t even buy it for a bad Hollywood movie.
I still say I feel like I’m walking around amongst zombies with some sandwich sign that says “The end is near” and everyone is looking at me as if I’m the crazy one and they can’t see it!!