War (of Words) with Syria
View current page...more recent posts
Wednesday, Apr 16, 2003
Foreign Policy in Focus -- April 16
Calls to Attack Syria Come from a Familiar Choir of Hawks
By Jim Lobe
Many of the same people who led the campaign for war against Iraq signed a report released three years ago that called for using military force to disarm Syria of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and to end its military presence in Lebanon.
Among the signers are several senior members of the administration of President George W. Bush, including the chief Middle East aide on the National Security Council, Elliott Abrams; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith; Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky; and senior consultants to both the State Department and the Pentagon on Iraq policy, Michael Rubin and David Wurmser. Also signing were Richard Perle, the powerful former chairman of the Defense Policy Board (DPB); Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former United Nations ambassador; Frank Gaffney, a former Perle aide who heads the Center for Defense Policy; Michael Ledeen, another close Perle collaborator at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI); and David Steinmann, chairman of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA).
The study, Ending Syria's Occupation of Lebanon: The U.S. Role, was co-authored by Daniel Pipes, who has just been nominated by Bush to a post at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), and Ziad Abdelnour, who heads a group founded by him called the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon (USCFL). The study was released by Pipes' group, the Middle East Forum.
[Slow news day on Syrian front. More analysis, background, etc. This is a refutation of several of the Bush administration charges against Syria.]
Foreign Policy in Focus
Talking Points on Recent Concerns Raised by Bush Administration Officials Regarding Syria
By Stephen Zunes
There is no evidence that Iraq has moved any weapons of mass destruction or related technology and raw materials into Syria. With open deserts, mostly cloudless days, and detailed surveillance by satellites and aircraft, the movement of such material would likely have been detected. The United Nations Monitoring and Verification Commission (UNMOVIC), empowered by the United Nations Security Council to verify the destruction of Iraq's WMD programs, disputes Bush administration claims that such proscribed materials have made their way out of the country.
[Analysis, opinion.]
New York Times -- April 15
Roto-Rooter
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
But, as I said, we're not going to invade Syria to change Syria. So what to do? The Middle East expert Stephen Cohen offers a useful concept. He calls it "aggressive engagement — something between outright military engagement and useless constructive engagement."
[Analysis, with commentary on Mofaz's
kibitzing.]
Talking Points -- April 15
I doubt very much that we're about to move militarily against Syria. This strikes me as a brush-back pitch.
The Times (UK) -- April 16
America would enter Syria to snatch Saddam
From Glen Owen at Central Command in Qatar
“We respect international law,” he said. “But if it was the ace of spades, it would be different.”
[Softer tone on Syria from Rumsfeld yesterday. Perhaps Rumsfeld has decided to let State run foreign policy?]
Defense Link -- April 15
Rumsfeld/Meyer Briefing
Q: -- saying, in effect, to Syria to cease and desist aiding and abetting those of the Saddam regime and also in building or harboring weapons of mass destruction.
The bottom-line question is, specifically -- underline the word "specifically" -- how does the Bush administration intend to make that happen? How can you prevent Syria from doing these things?
SEC. RUMSFELD: I don't have anything else to add on that. The President's spoken on it. Secretary Powell has spoken on it. I'll leave that to them.
[Later in briefing.]
Q: But given -- if I could follow up, but given Syria's support for terrorism, is there a concern that Iraqis could in fact -- former regime leaders could use Syria as a haven from which to plot and carry out terrorist attacks?
SEC. RUMSFELD: The -- I don't have anything else to say about Syria. The president's been discussing it. Secretary Powell's been discussing it. I've discussed it. And I don't know what one can add. Obviously, the people in Iraq who ran that government are on our list. And we'd like to have them. And we'll get a lot of them. We may even get most of them over time. And life will go on.
Reuters -- April 16
Egypt says Israel behind U.S. pressure on Syria
CAIRO - A senior adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused Israel on Wednesday of instigating a campaign of U.S. threats against Syria to force Damascus to make political concessions to the Jewish state.
Osama el-Baz also urged Israel, in remarks carried by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA), to prepare to withdraw from occupied Arab lands.
"Concerning threats to Syria, Baz said the threats were aimed at pressuring Syria and twisting its arm to go along with certain proposals..., explaining that Israel was the instigator," MENA said.
Baz urged Israel not to waste the chance for "a true co-existence with the Arabs", adding that Israel must be ready to withdraw completely from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
[The al Queda/Syria story broken by Time/Europe has some legs.]
LA Times via San Francisco Chronicle -- April 16
Italian police link Syria to al Qaeda extremists
Nation served as way station for terror recruits, probe finds
by Sebastian Rotella
Milan -- Syria has functioned as a hub for an al Qaeda network that moved Islamic extremists and funds from Italy to northeastern Iraq, where the recruits fought alongside the recently defeated Ansar al-Islam terrorist group,
according to an Italian investigation.
Herald Sun (Australia) -- April 17
US renews its attack on Syria
By PHILLIP COOREY in New York
Arab diplomats convened a meeting at the United Nations and accused the US of backing Israel, which has nuclear weapons.
The diplomats said they would ask the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution declaring the Middle East a "zone free of weapons of mass destruction".
"The only party in the region with weapons of mass destruction is Israel," said Syrian envoy Fayssal Mekdad after the meeting.
Reuters -- April 16
Syria Says Willing to Work with U.S. to Help Iraqis
By Inal Ersan
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria said on Wednesday it was willing to cooperate with the United States in the interest of Iraqis but would not close the offices of militant Palestinian groups, one of Washington's long-standing demands.
"Syria will always cooperate in things that serve the Iraqi people's interests," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Buthaina Shaaban said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said his government was willing to sign a treaty making the entire Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.