Thanks Caitlin. I did not know about Tony Blair's recommendation, I will have to throw that into conversations! In William Blum's excellent work Killing Hope, he details the failed coup attempt of 1957. If there is an HQ address for the Western powers - it's Langley. At the time John Foster Dulles was still high from Iran and fuelled by anti-communist paranoia, the CIA was looking to remake the Middle East oil region in their own making. Far from being Communist, Syria none the less valued it's independence and refused 'aid' from America. Once again the British are involved, a State Department internal memo stated 'The British are believed to favour active stimulation of a change in the present regime in Syria...The US shares the concern...'. Five years later JF Kennedy met British PM Harold MacMillan and they agreed 'Penetration and cultivation of disruptive elements...' What's changed? Well it's no longer the fear of reds under the bed - or is it?