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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.S.: Syria Might Pay for Terror Stance
2004-03-18
The No. 2 official at the State Department said Wednesday that Syria's president risks isolation if he does not make a commitment to ending support for terrorist groups. The United States has branded Syria, both under President Bashar Assad and his late father, the autocratic Hafez Assad, as a sponsor of terrorism. Syria, said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, is "kind of high up in my pantheon of supporters for terrorism."
"Number 2 on the hit list, moving up with a bullet!"
In an interview with Talk News Radio Service, Armitage said that the younger Assad, 38, was not yet "the same man as his father. You can dislike his father enormously, but I think his father had the ability to make murderous decisions. We will see if President Assad can," Armitage said in an unusual public comparison of the two Syrian leaders.
Yep, the old man really knew how to rub people out.
"He is faced with a decision now. He's at a fork in the road, and he can either go and have a fine life or he can be further isolated and be the only Baath Party left in the region," Armitage said.
Or we could impale him in the road with the fork.
A State Department spokesman, meanwhile, sharply criticized Syria for cracking down on dissent in Lebanon and in Syria. "We have made our concerns known, and we reiterate our call upon the government of Syria to stop suppressing nonviolent political expression in Syria and Lebanon," Adam Ereli said. Armitage credited Syria with providing some help to the United States against the al-Qaida terrorist network. But he also said Syria and Iran were continually supporting the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, which have attacked Israel. "It is correct that, to some extent against al-Qaida, that the Syrians have helped us," Armitage said. "It is equally correct that the combination of Iran and Syria have continually supported Hamas and Hezbollah."
Baby Assad's really going to be alone if the Iranian students succeed.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  He's at a fork in the road

Near the Schlaussen Cut-off?
Posted by: mojo   2004-3-18 2:20:18 PM  

#2  Bashar is no Hafez. Its time to throw out the baby with the Baath water. (disclosure: I stole the line from Rick Brookhiser, but thought I would pass it along because it was clever)
Posted by: sludj   2004-3-18 1:58:36 PM  

#1  Why should it be might pay? Make Syria pay. Dearly, if at all possible.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-3-18 12:24:31 PM  

00:00