Under pressure from the White House, the U.S. Congress has quietly shelved a bill that would
impose additional sanctions on Syria.
Congressional sources said the House and Senate will not vote on the
Syrian Accountability Act during this session. The legislation would ban
virtually all trade with Syria and limit movement of Syrian diplomats.
The bill cited Syria's harboring of groups deemed as terrorists and the
deployment of more than 20,000 troops in Lebanon, Middle East Newsline reported.
House and Senate leaders, the sources said, acceded to a demand by the
Bush administration to postpone any vote on the legislation. The
congressional leaders were told that the passage of new sanctions on Syria
would endanger any U.S.-led war against Iraq.
Over the weekend, Syria voted for a United Nations Security Council
resolution that calls for the quick return of weapons inspectors to Iraq.
The resolution was a draft composed by Britain and the United States.
"When there is an appeal by the president not to do anything that would
harm the war effort, Congress is not going to object," a senior
congressional source said.
The anti-Syrian legislation was discussed in a House International
Relations committee in September. The subcommittee on the Middle East has no
plans to hear the Syrian Accountability Act over the next week.
Congress renews activity on Wednesday and will focus on passing the
federal government budget for fiscal 2003. Congress ends its session on Nov.
21.
The sources said the Syrian Accountability Act had the support of a
majority of both Houses. They said the decision to shelve the legislation
means the process will have to be renewed next year.
