War (of Words) with Syria
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Monday, Apr 14, 2003
[Analysis of Syria-US relations from Israel.]
Ha'aretz -- April 14
Bashar Assad's nightmare is coming true
By Daniel Sobelman
The editors of the official Syrian government newspapers have in recent days lowered the rank of U.S. administration officials to one reserved until now only for their Israeli counterparts: Nazi war criminals.
"The UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly must transfer the leaders of the American administration to the International Criminal Court, so they can be judged as war criminals, equal in rank to the Nazi war criminals," said one of the editorials of the newspaper Tishrin two days ago.
[Analysis of international reaction to US neocon policies.]
International Herald Tribune -- April 14
Call it imperialism or unilateralism, America worries the world
by Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
The speed of the Iraqi victory is being seen as likely to bolster the prestige and influence of those in Washington who, Europeans believe, would now like to embark on further military conquests, in Syria, Iran or possibly North Korea. "Traditionally the U.S. has emphasized its great convincing and coercive power on other states," Parmentier said. "Its foreign policy managed to convince other heads of state that what they were doing was in their national interest, and this was American's great strength.
"Today, the U.S. is affirming a much more blunt and brutal stance," Parmentier added. "Its vision for foreign affairs has somewhat retrograded to a more national or even nationalistic definition, in the most limited sense of the term, as it was understood in the 19th century."
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Zee News (India) -- April 14
New evidence extremist groups use Syria as base: Time
London: A key operative of an extremist group suspected of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network operated out of Syria until last month, the European edition of the US news weekly time reports in its issue appearing today.
"Beginning last January and continuing through the first week of the war, mullah Abderrazzak -- a Tunisian member of the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group -- made satellite telephone calls from Syria to Milan-based Islamic terrorists, according to court papers filed in Milan," the weekly said in a statement.
Abderrazzak wanted the terrorists to leave Europe and join the fight against US and British troops in Iraq, an Italian anti-terror investigator told time.
His location does not prove the Syrian government knowingly harbored him, but the investigator told time "activity like this can't happen without (Syria's) security service knowing."
[Coverage of Bush's comments and Syrian response. With added depth on Syrian response. Mention of Time article about alleged al-Queda link with Syria.]
Al Jazeera -- April 14
Washington ups the ante against Syria
by Amal Hamdan
In an escalating confrontation of words, the United States accused Syria Sunday of possessing chemical weapons, charged its nationals had engaged US troops in combat in Baghdad, provided a safe haven for fleeing Iraqi officials.
In today's instalment, US President George W. Bush stopped short of threatening force against Damascus. Asked if Syria could face military action Bush replied, “They just need to cooperate.”
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke to his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad, hours after Bush reiterated US allegations. Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported the two leaders discussed “developments in the Iraqi question and the global situation in the Middle East,” without giving further details.
To add to the pressure, the latest European edition of Time magazine has reported that a key Al-Qaeda operative was allowed to operate out of Syria with the full knowledge of the country's security services.
"Beginning last January and continuing through the first week of the war, Mullah Abderrazzak -- a Tunisian member of the Ansar Al Islam terrorist group -- made satellite telephone calls from Syria to Milan-based Islamic terrorists, according to court papers filed in Milan", said the US news weekly.
Abderrazzak wanted the "terrorists" to leave Europe and join the fight against US and British troops in Iraq, an Italian anti-terrorist invesitgator told Time.
[An analysis of how Israeli interests influence US policy.]
Asia Times -- April 12
A roadmap for Israel, with a detour via Damascus
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Will it be the roadmap to Israeli-Palestinian peace or the road to Damascus that will next grab the attention of US President George W Bush's administration in the wake of its convincing conquest of Iraq?
While senior officials, including Bush himself as recently as Monday after meeting in Belfast with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have insisted that getting an Israeli-Palestinian peace process back on track will be the top regional priority after the Iraq war, speculation that administration hawks have their eyes set on Syria suggests a possible detour.
"They are saying, 'Why should we immediately get all involved in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, especially with the Europeans and the UN, before the Syrians, Hezbollah [in Lebanon], and Iran have time to fully absorb the real meaning of our victory'?" said one former senior official. "It's part of their 'shock and awe' strategy, only it's directed beyond Iraq."
The hawks also have strong support in Congress, where the so-called Israel lobby, in the form of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has been flexing its muscles over the past several weeks.
It is lining up support from both the Republican and Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives to break with the road map's plan for Israelis and Palestinians to take parallel steps, and instead require the Palestinians to enforce a total halt on attacks on Israelis and implement more far-reaching political and economic reforms before Israel is obliged to begin withdrawing its forces or even dismantling illegal settlements. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has even asked Bush to repudiate the quartet altogether.
While Bush cannot afford to go that far, DeLay's words were clearly a shot across the bow by a strong party leader who sees the administration's staunch support for Sharon to date as a major opportunity to woo Jewish votes and political organizations and funding from the Democrats in 2004, an opportunity that is also recognized by Bush's own political guru, Karl Rove.
[Comments by Bush, Rumsfeld, Powell and Moustapha.]
BBC -- April 13
Bush tells Syria to 'co-operate'
'The Syrian government needs to co-operate'
US President George W Bush has warned Syria against harbouring fugitives from Saddam Hussein's ousted regime in Iraq.
America, he said, expected Iraq's western neighbour to "co-operate" with the US-led coalition and he added that he believed Syria possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD)- the charge against Iraq which sparked the war there.
"We believe there are chemical weapons in Syria," the president said, speaking to press on the White House lawn.
[Syrian reaction to Bush's comments about Syria.]
Gulf Daily News via
Syria Daily
-- April 14
Arms checks can prove US wrong says Syria
Syria last night said it was willing to accept international inspections to allay US fears that it has weapons of mass destruction and urged Washington to help rid the entire Middle East - including Israel - of such arms.
"Go everywhere, but please to every country in this Middle East," said senior Syrian envoy in Washington Imad Moustapha as the US accused Damascus of possessing chemical weapons, charged that its nationals had engaged US troops in combat in Baghdad and warned it against allowing senior Iraqi leaders to escape through its territory.
Start
Before setting up this page, the war of words was tracked on my main page.
Second set of articles
First set of articles