War (of Words) with Syria
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Saturday, May 03, 2003
Powell Says Syria Is Taking Action on Terror Groups
The New York Times -- May 3
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, opening a new phase of direct American diplomacy in the Middle East, met today with President Bashar al-Assad and said afterward that Syria had begun closing the offices of at least some militant groups in Damascus as urged by the United States.
Although Mr. Powell gave no details and Syria provided no immediate confirmation, a senior State Department official said that Syria had shut down the offices of three organizations that the United states considers terrorist. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, identified them as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Powell to Detail Concerns to Syria
At Meeting Intended to Ease Tensions, Secretary to Seek 'Specific Action'
Washington Post -- May 2
By Glenn Kessler
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said tonight he plans to tell Syrian President Bashar Assad that the United States expects to see "specific action and performance" on a long list of concerns, including ending Syria's support for groups the United States has labeled as terrorist.
[Rapid denial by the White House to the previous UPI story.]
Rice actions on Syria disputed
UPI --- May 2
By Richard Sale
UPI Terrorism Correspondent
From the Washington Politics & Policy Desk
Published 5/2/2003 7:54 PM
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Anna Perez, White House communications counselor, Friday sharply contested a United Press International report that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and political adviser Karl Rove shut down a Pentagon plan to expand the Iraqi ground war to Syria in closing days of combat.
"That never happened," she said. "It is a complete fabrication."
[A very interesting article on the internal workings of the White House relative to the Syria question. See the rapid and detailed denial from the White House above.
Based on my reading of the press over that last few weeks, I consider this story to be at least plausible. A wave of anti-Syria rhetoric was rising among hawks within both the Israeli and US administrations. This wave suddenly broke.
In the face of the denial, there are a couple of questions that come to mind.
Does this story accurately capture the moment at which the momentum was lost? Does this story accurately reflect the players and motives in the decision making process?
In sharp contrast with my normal practice, I am quoting the entirety of a long article. I can find this version of the article in only one place, and don't want it to disappear into a web hole.
Update 5 minutes later: The original story seems to have vanished from the Washington Times site, and has been replaced by the denial story linked above.]
Rice blocked plan for raids on Syria
UPI via Washington Times -- May 2
By Richard Sale
UPI Terrorism Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Key White House advisers, ignoring pressure from Pentagon hawks and senior Israeli officials, abruptly shut down proposed U.S. plans to expand the Iraqi ground war to Syria in the closing days of combat, administration officials have told United Press International.
The U.S. strikes on Syria would have taken the form of brief across-the-border forays under "hot pursuit" rules of engagement, these sources said.
Contingency plans for such raids were being drawn up by Doug Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, after the approval of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, these sources said on condition of anonymity.
But the stern refusal to expand U.S. military actions in Iraq to another country came from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, backed by the president's chief domestic adviser, Karl Rove, and Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to the sources.
One proponent of the plans disagreed: "I saw no reason why we shouldn't have gone in. Powell wanted to return to regular bilateral relations with states in the area, but the balance of power (in the region) had changed, and we had the troops and we had the momentum.
"Rice's message was quite succinct: There will be no further military adventures during the remainder of the president's first term," one senior administration official said.
Another source with close knowledge of the White House meetings said: "The hawks didn't understand the emphasis had all changed: Everything was focused, not on the war any more, but on the president's re-election."
This official added that Rove had handled the elections of 2002 on the basis that "the American public knew the economy was a disaster, but the president asked them to put the war on terror first, and to vote Republican. And the public voted Republican. We think he felt any movement into Syria was pushing his luck."
Government spokesmen did not return calls from UPI seeking comment.
The hawks proposed punitive raids because Syria and the United States already were bristling at each other, and the war simply took an unfortunate series of circumstances and brought them to a point of crisis, administration sources said.
In spite of Syria's heightened cooperation in the war on terror, with Syria giving the United States much useful information about al-Qaida, it was still supporting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the war.
In an April 13 Washington Post report, Powell issued a harsh warning to Syria against giving safe haven to Iraqi officials fleeing Baghdad. At a Pentagon press conference, Rumsfeld charged, "We are getting scraps of intelligence saying that Syria has been cooperating in facilitating the move (of senior members of Saddam Hussein's regime) from Iraq to Syria."
He warned that arms and supplies were moving into Iraq from Syria as well. Syria replied strongly that such charges were "baseless."
In an interview with The Washington Times, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was quoted as saying: "Syria is shipping killers into Iraq to kill Americans."
There was some truth to this, say serving and former U.S. intelligence officials.
Former senior CIA officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told UPI that U.S. combat forces in Iraq detained at least 700 Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters who came in buses over the Syrian border to fight against the U.S. coalition.
In one incident, a bus filled with Lebanese Hezbollah militants stopped in Iraq included two dozen Chechen terrorists, a very former senior agency official said.
He added that another 100 members of Hezbollah are being detained at a camp at Tanaa in Iraq. After stern U.S. warnings, Syria tightened up scrutiny at checkpoints, but more Hezbollah and jihadis "simply went over the border" with weapons and explosives, he said.
"We were seeing some very disturbing signs of plans for anti-U.S. activity" on the part of the Hezbollah, another administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
(Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, told UPI's Claude Salhani in an interview in Beiurt last week, "We are not a threat to anyone." Qassem said that although now he felt Hezbollah was stronger politically and militarily than ever, it was not to attack anyone, "but only to defend ourselves.")
The hawks also saw Syria as the only remaining military threat to Israel.
Former CIA Middle East expert Bob Baer told UPI that Syria possesses "a chemical arsenal that is much more lethal than anything Saddam has," and explained that "in Israeli strategic thought, the most dangerous threat is the geographically closest" -- which would mean Syria.
According to an April 18 report in Middle East International, Israeli intelligence chief Gen. Rossi Kupperwasser told a Knesset committee, "It is possible that Iraq has transferred missiles and weapons of mass destruction into Syria."
UPI previously reported that U.S. intelligence agencies believe that rogue elements of Syria's ruling elite have accepted millions of dollars in bribes in return for providing a safe haven for some of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, according to U.S. administration officials, both former and serving.
Chemical and biological weapons were taken by truck to a Syrian munitions compound near a military base near Khan Abu Shamet, about 50 miles northeast of Damascus, these officials told UPI. The chief suspects in the operation are Bushra Assad, the sister of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and her husband, Gen. Assaf Chawkat, No. 2 in Syria's military intelligence organization, the Mukhabarat.
The latest Pentagon press for action against Damascus was bolstered by the visit of Israeli National Security Adviser Efrian Halevy, who visited Washington on April 12-14, invited by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, according to Israeli Embassy officials.
According to a Haaretz report of April 13, Halevy and another senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Dov Weisglass, were visiting Washington to "suggest that the United States take care of Iran and Syria because of their support for terror and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction."
The report added: "Israel will point out the support of Syria and Iran for Hezbollah."
The meeting with Halevy took place in the president's conference room with only top NSC officials and White House advisers in attendance, administration sources said.
In response to Halevy's entreaties for action, Rice repeated her assertion of no more military adventures for the rest of Bush's first term, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting. They said Rumsfeld objected, and, at one point, turned to Rove and asked his opinion. Rove said the president agreed with Rice, and the meeting came to an end.
On April 15, the Washington Post quoted Rice as saying of Syria, "The president has made clear that every problem in the Middle East cannot be dealt with in the same way."
[Background on Hezbollah, including South American connection.]
Operation Syria
Hezbollah should be on Powell’s agenda
National Review Online -- May 2
By Rachel Ehrenfeld
hen Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Syria on Saturday, he will no doubt raise the issue of Hezbollah with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The Syrians claim that they have no control over Hezbollah. Besides, Damascus will argue, Hezbollah's terrorist activities are aimed only against Israel, and therefore are justifiable. But Secretary Powell should recall the recent statement of Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, made in the run-up to the U.S.-led war in Iraq: "In the past, when the Marines were in Beirut, we screamed 'Death to America!' Today, when the region is being filled with hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, 'Death to America!' was, is, and will stay our slogan."
[Being a disinterested arbiter is out of fashion.]
US has asked Syria to ‘dismantle’ Hezbollah: Rice
Middle East Online -- May 2
JERUSALEM - The United States has demanded that Syria "dismantle" the militant Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was quoted as saying in an Israeli newspaper Friday.
"At every opportunity, we have asked Syria to stop supporting terrorism, dismantle Hezbollah, close the headquarters of terrorist groups in Damascus and end the threat posed to Israel from rockets in south Lebanon," Rice said, in remarks published in Hebrew in the Yediot Aharonot daily.
Rice was referring to the positions in south Lebanon held by the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, which led the resistance to Israel's 22-year occupation of the area which ended in May 2000.
Aside from frequent violations of Lebanon's airspace by Israeli warplanes, which draw ineffective anti-aircraft fire from Hezbollah, the Lebanon-Israel border has been largely quiet since the Israeli pullout.
Rice also pressed Israel to "react in a positive way to the changes in the Palestinian leadership," referring to the new reformist government of prime minister Mahmoud Abbas that began work on Wednesday.
"Israel must improve the humanitarian situation and restore freedom of movement to the Palestinians," she said.
But Rice assured Israel of continued backing from its key ally. "The United States has proved that it is a true friend on whom Israel can rely, and this is particularly the case with President Bush."
[An analysis of recent interaction between the US and Syria.]
Assailed by US rhetoric, Syria circles its wagons
The Christian Science Monitor -- May 2
By Nicholas Blanford
DAMASCUS, SYRIA – Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives here tomorrow for crucial talks during which he is expected to pressure the Syrian government to drop its support for militant anti-Israel groups and abandon its alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
But the Syrians, stung by a recent barrage of criticism from Washington, are reluctant to yield to what they see as uncompromising American diktats.
When Washington criticized Damascus midway through the war, Syria reacted defensively, denying the charges outright.
It apparently took the personal intervention of Jacques Chirac, the French president, who has close ties toAssad, to persuade Damascus to take Washington's threats seriously. The border with Iraq was closed and Iraqi refugees turned away.
"The Syrians are rattled by what happened in Iraq and the pressure from the Americans... but they cannot be seen caving in to US demands," says a diplomat.
Syrians are still fuming over a visit last weekend to Damascus by Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' International Relations Committee and a longtime critic of Syria.
Mr. Lantos publicly chastised the Syrian government, declaring it had made a "historic mistake" in supporting Iraq, and saying that "the time is long overdue to correct the course of Syrian policy."
He delivered to Assad a list of conditions that Damascus should fulfill "if Syria is to forge a new relationship with the United States." Syrians regarded Lantos's demands as the height of American arrogance and bad manners.
[Analysis and opinion on the value of Syrian economic and political reform in the face of US pressure.]
What Must Syria Do To Defend Itself?
Dar al hayat (Lebanon) -- May 2
Patrick Seale
Syria must now reform under external pressure. Respect for the rule of law, the granting of political and economic freedoms, responsible government and greater accountability - these must surely be Syria's best defense lines at this critical time. President Bashar al-Assad came to power promising reform. He now deserves all possible support as he steers Syria through the dangers ahead.
[Mobilize your base.]
Poll: Some would support attack on Syria
UPI -- May 1
By Lou Marano
WASHINGTON -- A surprisingly high percentage of Republicans polled would favor a military attack on Syria if President Bush believes it has been trying to make chemical or biological weapons, supporting terrorism, and giving sanctuary to Iraqi leaders.
Fully 53 percent of those who identified themselves as Republicans among 2,179 adults the Harris Poll surveyed online nationwide between April 17 and April 23 responded to this question in the affirmative. Harris Interactive said it used the same methods to forecast the 2000 elections with great accuracy, and it is "very confident" that the data are representative of the U.S. population. The results were released Thursday.
[Another article on the Druze/IDF kidnap plan.]
Four Druze accused of plotting to kidnap IDF soldier
Ha'aretz -- April 28
By Uri Ash
Charges were filed Monday morning against four Druze men from the Golan Heights village of Bukata accused of plotting to kidnap an Israel Defense Forces soldier and then to transfer him to Hezbollah in Syria to serve as a bargaining chip for the release of Palestinian prisoners.