Bush Adds to U.S. Litany Against Syria Apr 13, 5:53 PM (ET) By SCOTT LINDLAW WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush warned Syria on Sunday not to harbor Iraqi leaders and charged that Damascus has chemical weapons, but was careful not to threaten military action. "They just need to cooperate," Bush said. Bush sought to strike the kind of measured tone he has used when discussing the North Korea crisis. "We expect cooperation, and I'm hopeful we'll receive cooperation," he told reporters after returning to the White House from Camp David. Syria's foreign ministry spokeswoman, Buthayna Shaaban, seemed to strike a conciliatory tone in a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera television. She said Syrian's borders with Iraq are now closed and reiterated that none of the Iraqi leaders had asked to come to Syria. "As you know Syria's history with the Iraqi regime have never been cordial, but we have always been keen about the Iraqi people," she said. Shaaban said Syria had opposed the war against Iraq because of potential harm to the Iraqi people. "I believe we are conducting continuous dialogue with the American officials," she said. "The problem is all the accusations against Syria come from Israel. Israel is the primary instigator to undermine Syrian-American relations, but I don't believe Israeli will succeed in its attempts. "Syria knows best how peace and stability may be secured in the region, and I believe that there is an advantage in consulting with Syria and that Syria play a role in achieving peace and stability in the region," she said. However, some top administration officials made plain the administration is increasingly frustrated by Syria. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the majority of foreign fighters in Iraq were from Syria, brought in by the "busloads." On one bus, military authorities found leaflets that offered rewards for killing Americans, and several hundred thousand dollars, Rumsfeld said on the CBS program "Face the Nation." Rumsfeld also said top members of Saddam's government had fled to Syria. U.S.-led forces captured one of Saddam Hussein's half brothers in northern Iraq, and said he was planning to cross the border to Syria. Rumsfeld last month warned Syria to stop sending military equipment - including night-vision goggles - to Iraqi forces, saying "We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such shipments." Asked Sunday whether Syria had heeded those demands, Rumsfeld said, "Not noticeably." Bush and Rumsfeld were ambiguous about what price Syria might pay for defying the United States, but seemed eager to make sure that Damascus understood the message in the coalition's toppling of Saddam. "People have got to know that we are serious about stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction," Bush said. Noting during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Syria is on the State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism, Rumsfeld said: "Being on the terrorist list is not some place I'd want to be. The (Syrian) government's making a lot of bad mistakes, a lot of bad judgments calls, in my view, and they're associating with the wrong people." Following Rumsfeld on the NBC show, Syria's deputy ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, said the administration's flurry of charges was a "campaign of misinformation and disinformation" meant to divert attention from the "human catastrophes" taking place in wartime Iraq. Moustapha called the administration's charges "false accusations." No member of the Iraqi leadership has fled into Syria, he said. However, Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohammed Al-Douri, arrived in Syria Saturday, a day after leaving New York. It was not immediately clear when or whether he would return to Iraq. Moustapha said Syria has a liberal immigration policy, and did not deny that Al-Douri was in Syria. The deputy ambassador also invited international inspectors to scour his country, but seemed to tie the offer to similar inspections elsewhere in the region, including in Israel. "Israel is the country that is stockpiling nuclear weapons," he said. Asked about reports that Syria would welcome international inspectors to ascertain that Syria does not posses weapons of mass destruction, Shaaban said in her Al-Jazeera interview: "I don't know who is the source of this report. I am surprised by it." Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
So what reasons are we going to make up for invading Syria. Let's get the spin machines working overtime to drum up support for this. I imagine we'll start seeing the breaking news reports soon that feature such juicy titles as "startling new evidence of Syria's WMD program" among other similar titles. The simplicity of this game amuses me. Bring me your finest meats and cheeses. Bush has the reverse midas touch. Everything he touches breaks.
And everyday, this looks more and more like a war on the Islam. Who controls our foriegn policy anyway?
I could tell you who influences foreign policy but I'm just a leftwing nutcase with unreliable sources only interested in slandering Bush.
So what reasons are we going to make up for invading Syria. For those who like the notion that this current war with Iraq is a continuation of the Gulf War, we could change the mandate from the current war to "destruction of Saddam's WMD, no matter where they roam".
Bush-"Saddam once sneezed in Antartica, meaning if we don't invade, his germs might get into the hands of taraists.
Give me a break we won't invade Syria. The suggestion is just silly. Did we invade Brazil after WWII? Didn't a lot of the Nazis go there?
The world has always responded to a show of force. Don't think for a second that the countries that have been openly supporting terrorist camps are not on our list, they are.... All they have to do to get off the list, join us in denouncing terrorism. Simple, and now that Iraq has fallen, I will bet we hear a lot less rhetoric by idiots like the North Korean moron etc..etc.. Words mean things...but ACTIONS speak louder then words. DD
Exactly DD, this war just may be the deterent needed to avoid other wars. We've shown our willingness to strike. We're already mobilized. It's time to bring all the players to the table and let them decide if they are for peace or still in defiance and continue to fund and support terrorism against the U.S.
A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism. Such a regime's primary goal and greatest headache, is how to keep the people under control. To do so, it always needs an enemy, against whom it can constantly mobilize his people.
It would be easier to connect the dots with Syria and terrorism than it has been to connect Iraq to terrorism. I dont have the link immediately available, but I did read a story awhile back about how many terrorists groups operate out of Syria, and it is more than one. Normally these groups are against Israel only, but still...to the current Admin and most people these days, any terrorist group is a bad terrorist group. Also, one last thing I know about Syria and terrorism, according to the Woodward book on Casey's CIA years....Syria was involved with Iran in the Beirut embassy bombing in the early 80's..their involvement with terrorists goes back at least that far.
THROW IT DOWN BIGMAN, Actually, I think this administration has more legitimate reasons to go after Syria rather than Iraq.
I think we should at least wait until a terrorist act occurs that we can link to Syria. We can't just invade them without some cause to justify it. Even if they had weapons of mass destruction that is no reason to invade. A direct link to terror. That's a good reason. But we need to wait until we have a link to 911, Al Qaeda, or some future act. Maybe we already have those links. But I have not seen them.
