WASHINGTON Ñ Congressional sources said leading members of defense, foreign affairs
and intelligence committees have urged the White House to publicly
warn Syria that it must end its support for a range of Islamic insurgency
groups.
The United States has largely ignored Syria's
record of harboring and supporting such movements as Hamas, Hizbullah,
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Middle East Newsline reported. The Bush administration has attempted to work with Syria in hopes of strengthening a regional consensus on U.S. plans to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.
The sources said the appeal to President George Bush was relayed soon
after a Senate delegation returned from Damascus. They said Syrian President
Bashar Assad denied that his country harbors terrorists or training camps.
Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee,
said Washington must begin to treat Syria the way it has North Korea. He
cited the heavy U.S. pressure on Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons
program.
"I would suggest is we ought to do to Syria what apparently we did to
North Korea within the last few days," Graham said, "and that is lay down
the evidence we have, which I think is quite compelling, and confront them
with it, and maybe it will cause those governments which are currently
housing those sanctuaries to take a greater sense of responsibility in
dealing with them. And if they don't, I think they should know that we are
prepared to do so."
At a joint House-Senate intelligence committee hearing last week, Graham
said Al Qaida has found safe haven in Iran, Syria and the Syrian-controlled
areas of Lebanon. The senator asked CIA director George Tenet what the
United States could do to end the Syrian support for terrorism.
Tenet said Graham's question was a policy issue that he could not
answer. He said a key question was the priority of U.S. terrorist targets.
At one point, Graham asked whether the CIA has been ordered to
dismantle terrorist groups or deny them sanctuary in Syria. Tenet replied
that he would answer the question in closed session.
