Monolith Bahar-al-Assad; Jibla, Syria, 2004
The 'term' Iraq in medieval times denoted a geographic area – a special one between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where irrigation culture made the Persian monarchy wealthy. To the south and west was desert, and Arab tribes.
Until 602, this area had been guarded by the Lakhmid kings of Al-SYra, who were themselves Arabs but who ruled a settled buffer state. After their era ended, nomad incursions became the rule.
In the north was the Byzantine empire edge, following roughly the modern Syria-Iraq border and continuing northward into modern Turkey. The inhabitants, as today, were quite mixed. [Source: Britannica]
When buffers overflow their psychic boundaries, rage is feared by peace lovers. In Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, the simmer and pop of ethnic churn cycles always held the threat of breakout. Jerusalem has had these qualities. In fact, Iraq post Saddham is supposed to be a model. News goes bang in the middle but it happens at the edges too.
The Turkish Foreign minister Abdullah Gul said " we follow with great concern the situation ( in Iraq). It is a very grave escalation of the situation." Gul criticized Washington without naming it. He said " when one gets into the complete structure of the region, events might flare up and sudden escalation takes place.
News with the strongest impact right now is centered in Falujjah. It is almost universally seen as a major shift in the the Iraq War-Police Action. Something expected a year ago is happening now, after the more formal war. Americans and Arabs [and Persians, and Europeans, and Asians] have much currency invested in the situation. It could spill.
So what’s happening on the edge of the bulging buffer? In Jordan, authorities nabbed several suspected terrorists and seized two cars filled with explosives, the state television reported Saturday — the latest arrests involving an al-Qaida-linked cell that targeted public institutions and the U.S. Embassy. Meanwhile, there is friction on the Syrian border, with the US repeatedly accusing the Syrian authorities of not doing enough to prevent fighters from crossing into Iraq. Last month, Kurds in Syria rioted after several were shot by police during a football match. Saudi security forces, battling a wave of al Qaeda violence, killed a suspected Islamic militant and wounded another in a shootout Monday in the capital Riyadh, Saudi state media reported. Last month security forces shot dead Khaled Ali Ali Haj, a Yemeni man believed to be a top al Qaeda operative in the kingdom, as well as another militant in a shootout in Riyadh. [Saudi Arabia, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's birthplace, is battling a wave of militant violence blamed on the network. ]
[Includes material from wires]
SUBSEQUENT
Jordan snubs Bush - Reuters, Apr 20, 2004
Up to 10 Killed By Riyadh Car Bomb -
VOA News, Apr 21, 2004
8:44:05 PM 
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