U.S. Troops Keep Close Eye on Syria-Iraq Border

[spotbird]

ABU KAMAL, Syria (Reuters) - Across the frontier in Iraq, U.S. soldiers eye the Syrian checkpoint with suspicion, checking for danger on a border Washington says has let through too many militants.

With crucial elections in Iraq less than three months away, the United States and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's interim government say they want to seal borders to stop militants crossing to carry out more suicide bombings.

But frontier guards in Syria, which said on Sunday it had reached a border cooperation deal with Iraq, seem just as suspicious of the American troops facing them.


*more*

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=233484

[ogradda]

1. i increasingly get the feeling

"elections" are a pointless hope at best right now.

[VegasWolf]

2. Syria has lots of oil! n/t

[burrowowl]

4. No Syria

does not have much oil. They are dependent on Iraq and Iran.

[phantom power]

3. really? the *whole* border? Somehow, I doubt that.

Securing that border is about as likely as securing the border between the US and Mexico.