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| Southeast Asia |
| US weighing further sanctions on Syria due to Iraqi Baathists |
| 2005-01-05 |
| The Bush administration is considering imposing new sanctions on Syria to prod it to crack down on Iraqis there who are providing financial and logistical support to insurgents in Iraq, senior American counterterrorism officials said Tuesday. The Syrian government has not taken action against the network of Iraqis, the officials said, despite months of quiet protests from the United States. Among the steps being considered is a Treasury Department action that could essentially isolate the Syrian banking system. The network includes former officials of Saddam Hussein's government, American officials have said, adding that intelligence gathered in recent months from informants, captives and intercepted communications suggested that the network's role in providing support to insurgents in Iraq was more extensive than previously suspected. While the anti-American insurgency would continue to thrive even without help from Syria, the American officials say, Iraqis in Syria are playing a significant role in coordinating the flows of money, weapons and combatants inside Iraq. Syrian officials have sought to rebut the American criticism by saying the United States has yet to provide them with sufficient accurate information to prompt action against the individual Iraqis who the Americans say are in the network. "We have told the Americans to please give us any information you have regarding this subject, but some of the information has not been credible," said Ammar Alarsan, a spokesman for the Syrian Embassy in Washington. Among Iraqis believed to be living at least part time in Syria and playing an active role in the insurgency are several of Mr. Hussein's close relatives. In addition, Izzat Ibrahim, the No. 2 official in Iraq under Mr. Hussein and now the most-wanted Iraqi still sought by the United States, has traveled to and from Syria in the past 18 months, American officials say. In recent weeks the interim Iraqi government and its American backers have become increasingly outspoken in calling attention to what it describes as a regional command in exile in Syria. The American officials would speak about Syria only on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want their comments to overshadow recent public remarks by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq, Richard L. Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, and others. The officials interviewed represented several government agencies involved in counterterrorism policy, including those favoring a more patient approach toward Syria and those urging a harder line. General Casey said publicly last month that the United States had "fairly good information" that some senior former officials of the Iraqi Baath Party had established a high command that was "operating out of Syria with impunity and providing direction and financing for the insurgency in Iraq." "That needs to stop," General Casey said in a Dec. 16 briefing at the Pentagon. On a visit to Syria over the weekend, Mr. Armitage delivered what one American official described as a "stern warning" to the Damascus government. Adam Ereli, the department's deputy spokesman, said Monday that Mr. Armitage had emphasized "that there's still a problem with former regime elements using Syria to help the insurgency and that it was very important to have that stopped." American and Syrian officials have held high-level meetings in recent months to address their differences, and Syria has said repeatedly that it is committed to working with the United States toward a peaceful, unified Iraq. In recent days Mr. Armitage and other American officials have gone out of their way to praise Syria for taking steps to secure its border with Iraq and prevent foreign fighters from crossing the border to reinforce the insurgency. But a senior American counterterrorism official said the steps taken by Syria so far were unsatisfactory. "More and more, we're seeing groups funded and supported by former regime elements, and they are operating out of and with the support of the Syrian government," the official said. He said that he was not accusing the Syrian government of providing direct support to the insurgency, but that "we haven't yet seen them take appropriate action to prevent the funding and the transport of weapons." Among the relatives of Mr. Hussein who have spent time in Syria and are believed to have played a leading role in financing the insurgency is Fatiq Suleiman al-Majid, a cousin of Mr. Hussein and a former officer in Iraq's Special Security Organization. Syria has long been subject to limited economic sanctions by the United States because of its designation by the State Department as a sponsor of terrorism. Under pressure from Congress, the Bush administration imposed additional measures last spring that prohibit exports to Syria of most goods, excluding food and medicine, and prohibit commercial flights between the United States and Syria by Syrian-owned aircraft. The main additional tool being weighed by the administration for possible further sanctions, the counterterrorism officials said, is authority wielded by the Treasury Department, which in May labeled the Commercial Bank of Syria a financial institution of "primary money laundering concern." The designation was a response to what the department called the role played by the Syrian bank in laundering money illegally diverted by Mr. Hussein's government from the United Nations-administered oil-for-food program. Further steps by the Treasury are possible, the most severe of which would be to prohibit any American bank, broker or mutual fund from dealing with the Syrian bank, the country's single government-owned financial institution that specializes in foreign exchange transactions. One American counterterrorism official said the threat of further action had already served to focus Syrian attention on the problem. The official said Treasury officials had met several times in recent months with their Syrian counterparts to discuss the issue. A second counterterrorism official said there remained "a wide range of views" within the administration about taking further action against Syria, with the State Department most opposed. The official said the Pentagon in particular was pressing for a more aggressive approach. "This is not the Ho Chi Minh trail that's keeping the insurgency alive," the official said. "But if Syria were to take action, it would have an impact." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #13 Armitage does the customary ass-kiss, what a pitiful whim boy. Next time send leash lady. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-01-05 3:15:18 PM |
| #12 What about the traditional opposition party, the Sho'owerists? |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-01-05 3:15:17 PM |
| #11 Yeah, tekel is from the same root as shekel, which is today the Israeli currency, but in the bible means a unit of weight (see pound for a similar development in english and other indo-european languages) the other words i dont know, but I think eLarson is right. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-01-05 2:19:26 PM |
| #10 Weighed. Weighed and found wanting (or lacking) |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-01-05 11:31:19 AM |
| #9 LH, you have me on the edge of my seat awaiting the erudition of your translation of mene, mene tekel. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-05 11:21:24 AM |
| #8 And yes, the wall was in Babylon = mene, mene, tekel U pharsin. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-01-05 11:07:32 AM |
| #7 i agree with Mrs D on this one. Indeed, i think thats about the strongest argument AGAINST delaying the elections. Its hard to go around saying we're going after Syria cause theyve meddled in Iraq, when most arabs and Europeans think WE're meddling in Iraq. Once its an elected Iraqi govt complaining about Syrian meddling, that puts a whole different spin on it. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-01-05 11:06:52 AM |
| #6 Frank, No hit before the elections. After the elections, the Iraqis will get to decide what they want to do. If they want to stop Syria, we'll help them...a lot. If they don't want to do anything, we'll be able to read the handwriting on the wall. Wasn't that wall in Babylon? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-05 10:48:01 AM |
| #5 If they think that Bush will act like Johnson, they are sorely mistaken. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-01-05 10:42:44 AM |
| #4 anyone still have that "exhibit A" graphic laying around? |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-01-05 9:07:31 AM |
| #3 smn - this idea you have that we will have to wait for the Lincoln and Bonhomme Richard to show up is peculiar at least and insane at worst. We will smack Syria before the elections |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-05 8:39:01 AM |
| #2 Lip service! Nothing will happen so long as we continue to assist the tsunami victims! After that, all bets are off. |
| Posted by: smn 2005-01-05 2:49:09 AM |
| #1 It is the Ho Chi Min Trail unless we do something to make them stop. Diplomacy and the pure stupidity of the Johnson and 1st Nixon administrations led to the needless death of thousands of US soldiers and marines because we refused to overtly inderdict in Laos and Cambodia and NV. The scale of the loss of life is different but the result is the same. You give them 2 days to shut it off or we kick their ass. If we would have done that in Haiphong Harbor and Hanoi...and the trail...the Vietnam "War" would have had a different ending. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2005-01-05 1:53:25 AM |