Pile On Syria

Boy Assad has to be running around his palace (or wherever he lives) cursing the shit out of his advisors that told him it was a good idea to smoke Hariri.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States and Europe ratcheted up pressure on Syria on Monday, joining thousands of Beirut protesters in demanding Damascus remove its 14,000 troops from Lebanon.

President Bush, in a speech at the start of a trip to Europe, branded Syria an "oppressive neighbor" to Lebanon and insisted Damascus must "end its occupation."

In Beirut, 15,000 Lebanese protesters echoed his message.

Chanting "Syria out," they marched in protest at last week's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in a bomb which Lebanon's opposition blamed on Syria.

"The truth is, we can't stand Syria," they chanted.

Perhaps a little understated but still clear enough.

The 25-nation European Union called for an international probe into Hariri's death and underlined its support for a United Nations resolution calling for Syria to withdraw.

Later Bush and his Iraq war critic, French President Jacques Chirac, issued a joint statement calling for a Lebanon "free from foreign domination."

In a separate communique, EU foreign ministers called for "an international investigation without delay to shed light on the circumstances and those responsible for this attack."

Jack is also all over the Lebanon situ. Check his 2nd update for a STRATFOR report that's pretty interesting.

UPDATE

I was going to weave my blog-magic and try to link up the protests in Syria with the much smaller protest that happened in Egypt, but I think I'll defer to The Big Pharaoh. Though he's not too keen on the protesters--"leftist radicals, Islamists, and a number of liberal figures"--he praises their courage and thinks that there is, in fact, a sea change happening in the region.

Nevertheless, something is beginning to happen in Egypt. In fact, something is beginning to happen all over the region, from the revolution of the purple fingers in Iraq to Lebanon's anti-Syria red demonstrations today. The enemies of freedom as well know that something is happening and they are trying to stop it. They used a mentally retarded Iraqi child in order to blow up a polling station in Baghdad and they used over 300 kilos of explosives to kill the builder of Lebanon Rafik Hariri. An Egyptian columnist once wrote: "50 years from today, our history books will mention that an American president with limited intelligence managed to change the entire political landscape of the Middle East".

"Misunderestimated," writ large.

UPDATE II

Added the "Syrial Killer" photo.