WHO'S THE GOOD GUY, MR BUSH?

Seen on Syrian television.

12 people from Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and the Palestinian territories confessed they planned September's bombing in the Syrian capital Damascus which killed 17 people.

They say they are connected to Fatah-al-Islam, an extremist Sunni group based in Lebanon and linked to al-Qaeda, most famous for clashes with the Lebanese Army in the Palestinian refugee camps in 2007.

This time, their objective was to stabilise the Syrian government.

The confessors say anti-Syrian elements and Saudi sympathisers finance the Fatah-al-Islam.

The Axis of Evil comes under terror attacks, and observers say Uncle Sam's behind the scenes pulling the strings.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh which claimed the US, Saudi Arabia and pro-Western parties in Lebanon were funding Sunni terrorist groups.

The New Yorker published a story in March 2007 by Pulitzer-winning journalist Seymour Hersh which said,

“... In Lebanon, the (Bush) Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria.”

Further along, Hersh reported that “American, European, and Arab officials I spoke to told me that the Siniora government and its allies had allowed some aid to end up in the hands of emerging Sunni radical groups in northern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and around Palestinian refugee camps in the south. These groups, though small, are seen as a buffer to Hezbollah; at the same time, their ideological ties are with Al Qaeda.”

The analysis of one quoted military analyst was that “...we’re financing a lot of bad guys with some serious potential unintended consequences. We don’t have the ability to determine and get pay vouchers signed by the people we like and avoid the people we don’t like. It’s a very high-risk venture.”

Back in the 1970s there was a similar situation under another Republican president called Ronald Reagan. It eventually became known as the Iran-contra affair, where the US government sold arms to Iran to finance the war against anti-democracy rebels in Nicaragua.

Lots of messed up geopolitics and arms in the wrong hands later, we have the Middle East over which General Petraeus holds US military command.