Washington Reactivates Syria Accountability Act

Salameh Nematt, Ibrahim Humeidi      Al-Hayat     2003/09/17

Washington - Damascus

John Bolton, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, announced yesterday that Syria was seeking to develop its nuclear and biological weapons program and accused it of sending military equipment and volunteers into Iraq. He invited Congress to use "every tool" at its disposal to deter it from pursuing this policy.

Bolton was testifying before the House International Relations Committee, which is debating the ratification of the Syria Accountability Law. If Congress ratifies this law, this could pave the way for imposing sanctions on Damascus. Today, General Michel Aoun is set to testify before the Congress committee.

Syria on the other hand, expressed its readiness to cooperate with the U.S. of the latter's demands are "realistic and reasonable." Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al Sharaa said that "there is a historic opportunity to start a dialogue on pending issues between Damascus and Washington."

Bolton, who is considered to be a hawk in the U.S. administration, accused Damascus of taking "a series of hostile actions before and during the war on Iraq," including allowing the entry of military equipment and volunteers into Iraq, to attack and kill U.S. soldiers, he added. Despite Damascus' increasing cooperation with Washington following the collapse of the Iraqi regime, Bolton said that its attitude during the Iraq Freedom Operation confirms the importance of us taking seriously the reports and information on Syria's capabilities as far as the weapons of mass destruction."

According to Bolton's testimony, Syria possesses a stock of Sarine that can be carried by planes or Ballistic missiles as it developed researches to produce poisonous FX gas. He added that Syria is still developing biological weapons and has refused to ratify a treaty to ban them, expressing his concern that it might be involved in activities to develop nuclear weapons, pointing to the signature of a Syrian-Russian agreement recently to develop a nuclear energy program that can be used in developing nuclear weapons." He called upon Congress to use "every tool" (which includes the possibility of military means) to stop Syria and other powers from pursuing their programs of banned weapons. He added that Washington is also concerned as far as Syria's continuous support to "terrorist" organizations such as Hamas.

Despite Syria's denial of these U.S. accusations, Congress is expected to soon discuss a law that would allow imposing economic sanctions over Syria, if the latter doesn't halt its development of weapons of mass destruction program, its support to terrorism and if doesn't withdraw from Lebanon.

Bolton was supposed to testify last July, but the White House intervened to postpone his testimony, amid growing doubts over the intelligence reports used to justify the war on Iraq. The White House is hoping that Bolton's report at this time will divert Congress's attention away from the doubts surrounding the accuracy of the administration's information on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Two days ago, during his visit to Kuwait, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that Syria was not doing enough to end its support to terrorist activities, which include the infiltration of terrorists across the borders with Iraq, adding that Congress was going to discuss the Syria Accountability Act, because of its strong concern regarding Syria's insufficient cooperation.

Powell's warnings came before Congress' hearing session, thus reflecting the growing agreement between the White House, the State Department and the CIA as far as the need to exert pressure on Syria in the coming period.

An official at the U.S. Department of Defense informed Al-Hayat that the ratification of Security Council's resolution paves the way for the participation of a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq, and would allow the administration to step up its diplomatic pressure on Syria and Iran regarding the weapons of mass destruction.

In Damascus, Foreign Minister Farouk al Sharaa said that the "unfair accusations" in the Syria Accountability Act "are not new," and asserted that his country is "very open" to initiate a dialogue with Washington and "ready to cooperate with it if the demands are reasonable and realistic, and fall within the framework of international legitimacy."