U.S. offers to remove Syria from terror list
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, September 27, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration has proposed removing Damascus
from the State Department's list of terrorist sponsors if Syria joins a
U.S.-led coalition against Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden.
U.S. officials said the State Department has relayed such a message to
Damascus. Officials said the message asserted that Syrian participation in
an international coalition would be seen as evidence that Damascus has
renounced support for terrorism. The message also urged Syria to restrain
Hizbullah and Palestinian groups from attacking Israel's northern border.
The removal of Syria from the State Department terrorist list would make
Damascus eligible for both military and civilian aid. Officials said Syria
remains on the terrorist list largely because of its refusal to expel
Kurdish, the Lebanese Hizbullah and Palestinian insurgency groups.
"We view Syria as small potatoes in terms of terrorism," a State
Department official said. "Syrian participation in the coalition could tip
the balance and finally remove Damascus from the terrorism list."
President George Bush has requested from Congress legislation that would
grant him the authority to waive restrictions on U.S. military and civilian
aid to any foreign country. Officials said the request is meant to grant the
president the ability to quickly reward so-called rogue states such as Iran,
Syria and Sudan for any support of the U.S.-led battle against Bin Laden and
his cohorts.
"We have an ongoing dialogue with Syria on the subject of the activities
in the Bekaa Valley, and other activities that Hizbollah has carried out,"
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "And we have asked them, as
well as all others, to use their influence to rein in these kind of
activities."
Congressional staffers said they believe the Bush request is meant
mostly to tempt Syria with the prospect of military and civilian aid. They
said they doubted whether the administration would reward Iran with military
aid even if Teheran joins the coalition.
For its part, Syria has expressed opposition to any U.S. attack on Bin
Laden or any other target without hard evidence. Damascus has called on the
United Nations to lead the effort against terrorism.
"We absolutely reject using the Sept. 11 attacks on America as an excuse
and pretext for inducing a disaster on other nations," Syrian ambassador to
Iran Mohammed Saqr said. "How could nations sign up to a massive
international coalition with America to battle terrorism without first
having a clear understanding of U.S. intentions and objectives from such a
campaign?"
Thursday, September 27, 2001
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