BULLETIN No.77

Gulf News What the future holds for Syria
The support of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Syria has reasoned, is more important to the regime's stability than that of the EU, especially with France and Great Britain siding with the US.
Syria Comment
Authorities Forbid Syrians from Meeting US Officials or US-Based Opposition
Internal Syrian opposition claims no ties to exile group By Agence France Presse (AFP) The opposition coalition inside Syria, the National Democratic Rally (NDR), said Monday it had no ties to a new grouping set up in exile to oppose the Damascus regime. "We have no relations with the meeting in Brussels" that last week set up a National Salvation Front aimed at regime change in Damascus through peaceful means.
Reuters ANALYSIS-Syria confident of surviving US pressure Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has consolidated his grip on security forces and delayed political reforms in anticipation of ...
MEMRI Mar 21 SD# 1119 - Former Syrian Soldier's Letter of Apology to the Lebanese People

Washington Institute Target Aid to Help Hamas Fail By Michael HerzogTestimony before the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia
Participation in politics and government is unlikely to moderate Hamas, whether on its opposition to Israel’s existence or on its embrace of terrorism, so the international community should focus on ensuring the failure of Hamas’s rule.
The Daily Star Hamas has a government, so now what? By Daoud Kuttab Having just formed a Palestinian government, Hamas seems to be clutching to the Biblical verses in Ecclesiastes rather than the desires of the "Quartet" (the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations) charged with trying to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose.
The Daily Star Will the new Palestinian government repeat the sins of its predecessor? After four weeks of negotiations, Hamas announced that it had failed to convince other Palestinian parties to join in a national unity government and that the new Cabinet would therefore only include Hamas members and a handful of independents and technocrats. Hamas blamed the United States for the fact that no other parties joined its coalition. The group's exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, said.
Der Spiegel Hamas Cabinet Spells Trouble for PalestiniansPrime Minister designate Ismail Haniyeh has submitted his 24-member proposed cabinet. Dominated by the radical group Hamas, it's not a government likely to increase stability in the Middle East. Plus, a look at what went wrong in Iraq, three years after the start of the war.
"No One Is Immune": Israel Threatens Hamas Leader
Negotiating With Hamas: Religious Rapprochement in Israel

UPI Hamas faces hurdles in forming cabinet By JOSHUA BRILLIANT, The radical Islamic Hamas is facing difficult hurdles in its attempts to form a functioning government. Sunday it tacitly acknowledged failure.
EU delivers aid check with warning to HamasCompiled by Daily Star Staff Hamas was given a stark reminder of the challenges awaiting it in power Monday as the European Union stood by threats to cut aid and gunmen attacked government ministries.A day after presenting a Cabinet list, notable by its absence of other parties, Hamas accused the United States of putting pressure on rival groups to shun the new government.
Gulf News Mature Hamas makes first move
The Islamic movement creates history by announcing a cabinet within deadline
Israel's Crucial Election - Marvin Olasky, World Magazine
Washington Post Hamas Is Alone In Cabinet Plan: Other Factions Balk at Joining Government
FT Divided EU tells Hamas it can still avoid isolationThe European Union told Hamas it still had time to avoid economic isolation and political collapse for the Palestinian Authority.
FT Hamas fails in attempt to form unity governmentHamas, the Islamist movement that won control of the Palestinian parliament in elections in January, has abandoned attempts to form a national unity government.
Gulf News Hamas leader accuses US of putting pressure on rivals
Hamas accused the United States yesterday of putting pressure on rival Palestinian groups to shun a Hamas-led government, leaving the Islamist group to govern alone.

FT UN ‘six’ tweak strategy on IranSenior foreign affairs officials from the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany met in New York to chart a clearer long-term strategy for dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions this week.
Washington Post Iranians See Talks With U.S. as Historic: Desire for Improving Ties Grew With Population Too Young to Recall Hostage Crisis
FT Iranians prepare for nervous new yearIranians celebrate the first day of their New Year with rituals of regeneration and renewal marking Noruz, the onset of spring.

FT Bush acknowledges ‘horrific images’ in Iraq
President George W. Bush acknowledged the “horrific images” coming out of Iraq as the third anniversary of US invasion passed, but vowed that the US would “not abandon Iraq”.
For Iraqis, Freedom Comes at Great Cost
Fakhri Fikry Kareem, is part of a new information era as an editor at one of more than 100 newspapers launched in Iraq since Hussein's fall.
Washington Post An Iraq Success Story's Sad New Chapter
CLEVELAND, March 20 -- As President Bush tells the tale, the battle for Tall Afar offers a case study in how U.S. and Iraqi forces working together can root out insurgents and restore stability. "The example of Tall Afar," he told an audience here Monday, "gives me confidence in our strategy."
BBC US military probes Iraq killings
The United States military investigates allegations that its marines killed 15 Iraqi civilians last November.
Attack on Iraq police 'kills 18'
Three years on: Iraqis speak
Bush focuses on improvements
Iraq in civil war, says former PM
FT Prospect of anarchy on the rise in strife-torn IraqA year after the US invasion of Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy at the time, told Iraqis that civil wars were not started by a ‘decision’.
UPI U.K.'s Reid: 'No civil war in Iraq' By HANNAH K. STRANGE, Iraq is not in a state of civil war, nor is such a situation inevitable, British Defense Secretary John Reid insisted Monday.
Gulf News Civil war fears hit Iraq
A major Shiite religious ritual unfolded amid heavy security in the sacred city of Karbala as the spectre of a sectarian civil war stalked Iraq on the third anniversary of the US-led invasion.
Jerusalem Post The Region: Iraq's one-sided civil war
Zakaria: Iraq is Not Yet a Hopeless CauseYou see lots of rough politics and jockeying for power in Baghdad. But when facing the abyss, you also see glimpses of leadership
War Is Peace By Dan FroomkinThe Pundit War, Three Years Later By Howard Kurtz
Ignorance Pervasive in Reporting From Iraq - Jack Kelly, RealClearPolitics
Iraq Is No "Distraction" From al Qaeda - Christopher Hitchens, Wall St Jrnl
My Vision For Iraq - Ibrahim al-Jafari, Washington Post
The True Tragedy of the Iraq Invasion - Tim Hames, Times of LondonIraq: The Reckoning - John Simpson, New StatesmanThe Case For the War - Rep. Christopher Shays, NY Daily NewsIraq's Last Chance to Pull Back From Brink - Financial Times