U.S. hopeful on deal with Syria
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, October 16, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration has not given up on the
prospect that Syria will eventually act against terrorism.
Officials said the administration continues to dangle the offer of
economic and military aid should Damascus join the U.S.-led campaign against
terrorism. This includes cooperating in the U.S. investigation of the 1996
Hizbullah attack on American military personnel in the Saudi city of Khobar.
Syria has offered to help Washington in the war against terrorism. But
the regime of President Bashar Assad has said such help would be offered
only as part of a United Nations effort.
Still, Damascus and Washington have discussed a bilateral effort,
something the administration has highlighted. Damascus harbors a host of
organizations that appear on the U.S. State Department terrorism list,
including Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad.
"The Syrians have talked to us about how they can help in the war
against terrorism," President George Bush said. "We take that Ñ we take
that seriously and we'll give them an opportunity to do so."
U.S. officials said Syria could improve its standing in Washington by
either offering intelligence information, arresting terrorist suspects or
freezing assets. But they sounded skeptical whether Damascus would move
quickly in doing this.
Over the weekend, Syrian officials expressed satisfaction with Bush's
statement. Earlier, the Assad regime relayed its anger to Washington
regarding a warning last week by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage,
who said that countries such
as Syria risk U.S. attack if they continue support for terrorism. The State
Department backed away from Armitage's statement.
"I would say there is no cause for anyone to be upset," State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We expect nations to choose opposition to
terrorism. We expect them to be against all terrorism, not just some
terrorism. And that we want to do that and we want to work with people in
any number of ways to accomplish that goal."
But Boucher ruled out that the United States would immediately press
Syria to act against terrorists who are not connected to Saudi billionaire
fugitive Osama Bin Laden. Boucher said such a commitment might be sought at
a later stage.
Lebanon, occupied by Syrian troops, is said to have cooperated with
Washington's campaign against terrorism. The Beirut-based An Nahar daily
said the government in Beirut has provided information on those suspected of
being linked to Bin Laden. This included Bin Laden's ally Usbat Ansar.
Tuesday, October 16, 2001
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