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Posted on 04/14/2003 4:04:01 PM PDT by blam
US casts an ever-darkening shadow on Syria question
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
15 April 2003
For all the intense American and British pressure on Syria, no one seriously believes that the two allies plan to unleash military force any time soon. But the very talk of it has underlined how lonely a place the Middle East must now seem to President Bashar al-Assad.
As never before, American power, money and troops bestride the region. Egypt, traditionally the Arab world's leading power, is the second-largest recipient of US foreign aid after Israel. Jordan, the other Arab state that has signed a formal peace treaty with the Jewish state, is another substantial beneficiary and is a base for 3,000 US special forces soldiers in this war.
Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulf states looked to the US for military protection against the predatory ambitions of first Iran, and then Iraq, their more powerful neighbours to the north, for more than a decade.
To Syria's own north, Turkey, a member of Nato, has been a close military ally of Washington since the Cold War, and has enlisted US backing for its bid to join the European Union. Now Iraq, too, has fallen into the US camp, leaving American troops just across Syria's eastern border. Though they may not be marching westward to do to Mr Assad what they did to Saddam Hussein, the message is clear: Damascus, with its client state of Lebanon, is to all intents and purposes surrounded.
True, Iran, that first-tier member of the "axis of evil", is still defiant – though perhaps a little sobered by the realisation of what has happened to Iraq. But Iran, far more populous than Syria, is less obviously vulnerable.
Yesterday, Donald Rumsfeld, the US Secretary of Defence, weighed in with new accusations, alleging that the Syrians had tested chemical weapons in the past 12 to 15 months. The Americans had "intelligence that indicates that some Iraqi people have been allowed into Syria", either to stay or in transit, he said.
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, said Mr Assad's government should "review its actions and behaviour".
General Powell, after talks here with the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Mohammed al-Sabah, said Washington would look at "diplomatic and economic" steps against Syria, adding: "I hope Syria can meet its obligations in the new environment." But for all Washington's profound irritation at Damascus – first at its all-out opposition at the United Nations Security Council to war with Iraq, and then at alleged shipments of night-vision goggles and other equipment to Iraq – experts detect little sign that Mr Bush is seriously contemplating action. For one thing, if America invaded, it would almost certainly have to do so alone, without the backing even of Britain.
The goal, they suggest, is to use the shock created by America's swift destruction of President Saddam to bring to heel the handful of "unhelpful" Arab countries in the region.
By exploiting Mr Assad's isolation, Washington aims to force him to stop supporting anti-Israeli terrorist groups at a time when hopes are growing that dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians may be about to restart.
General Powell implicitly confirmed this approach. He indicated the long-awaited US "road-map" for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement would be published as soon as the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, formed a new government, and insisted that Syria had to change its ways, "especially its support of terrorist activities". The Bush administration believes it will never have a better chance to exert leverage on Mr Assad.
Damascus itself flatly denies every accusation, saying it has no chemical weapons. It rejects charges that it co-operated with President Saddam's regime and claims it is working with America in the fight against al-Qa'ida.
Whatever America chooses to do over Syria, the reach of its power in the Middle East is undisputed. By toppling President Saddam, it has redrawn the map of the region in its own image. In Tehran, Damascus, Beirut and even Tripoli, many will be wondering what it wants to do next.
I expect we'll make good use of the air bases out in the western desert. They will probably become pernament US bases.
Hell with Baghdad, just have the 4th on the border gunning their engines waiting for Dubya to drop the flag.(Truman should have let Patton roll onto to Moscow)
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