By Jim Abourezk "About five years ago I had a visit with Syrian President Bashar Al Asad, a visit when he told me that his intelligence services had uncovered a plot by Al Qaeda that would have killed American servicemen in the Middle East. He turned over the information to the U.S., which was then able to stop the operation, saving the lives of the Americans who were being targeted. When I asked him what operation that was, he replied that, "The Americans asked me not to talk about it, but if they keep calling us a terrorist state, I will talk about it."" Read the entire think at http://www.counterpunch.org/abourezk04102007.html Jim Abourezk served as US Senator for South Dakota, 1974-1980, and practices law in his home state.