WASHINGTON Ñ Leading military experts told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
that Syria serves as a key conduit for the smuggling of weapons and
components of military platforms to Baghdad.
The experts said the Bush
administration has not cited Syrian involvement because Damascus has played
a small role in the U.S.-led war against terrorism, Middle East Newsline reported.
Anthony Cordesman, a former senior Pentagon official and senior fellow
at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said
Syria has been used as a conduit for a range of what he termed critical
parts for Iraq's military. He said many of the details of Syria's
participation in Baghdad's military programs are known to the CIA and the
rest of the U.S. intelligence community.
"I think that we have perhaps found ourselves in a position where
because Syria has cooperated in some aspects
of dealing with Al Qaida and certain types of Islamic extremists, we have
been a little reluctant to point out the fact that there is an increasing
flow Ñ not so much of major arms but critical parts," Cordesman told the
Senate committee on Wednesday. "We know things like jet engines, tank
engines, some aspects of armored spare parts are beginning to move through
Syria in very significant deliveries. I think, however, to get down to the
details is something that really only people in the intelligence community
can tell you."
Richard Butler, who served as the chief United Nations weapons inspector
in Iraq from 1997 to 1999, said Syria has played a major role in Iraqi oil
smuggling. Butler said the revenues earned from Iraqi oil smuggling through
Syria have financed Baghdad's military programs.
"Syria has increasingly been a willing participant in Saddam's breaking
of the sanctions and running a black market in oil and so on." Butler said.
"And so they have given comfort to him in financial terms. And a good deal
of the money that he raises that way outside of the UN escrow account and
oil-for-food and so on of course fuels his military and other activities."
Last year, Iraq renewed its oil pipeline through Syria. U.S. officials
said Baghdad pumps between 150,000 and 200,000 barrels of oil through the
pipeline in violation of United Nations sanctions on Iraq.
Butler also told the Senate committee that Moscow has information on
Iraq's nuclear weapons and other WMD programs. He said Iraq probably
received much of its material and expertise from Russia, regarded as the
leading opponent of UN sanctions on Baghdad.
Committee chairman Sen. Joseph Biden expressed concern that Iraq's WMD
program was being bolstered by the expertise of unemployed Russian
scientists. But Khidir Hamza, a former Iraqi engineer and director of
Council on Middle Eastern Affairs, said the Saddam regime has limited the
use of foreigners in its strategic programs since the 1991 Gulf war.
