I think we should hit Syria with something else:
Posted on 02/12/2004 4:30:48 PM PST by areafiftyone
The US plans to impose sanctions on Syria in accordance with the Syria Accountability Act, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate panel on Thursday. During the hearing, Powell also placed the burden for moving peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the Palestinians.
Asked whether the US intends to begin implementation of the Syria Accountability Act sometime in the near future, Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "Yes. We're examining now what sections of the act we want to use."
That the administration has been reviewing which sanctions might be imposed within the next few months has been known in Washington.
But it was the first time a senior US official stated publicly that sanctions would definitely be imposed.
The president has the ability to waive sanctions if he deems it in US national security interests.
The act, signed in December by President George W. Bush, directs the president to ban US sales of weaponry and dual-use items – items that could be used for civilian or military purpose – unless Syria abandons its support for terrorism, removes its troops from Lebanon, stops the flow of terrorists into Iraq, and abandons its pursuit of nonconventional weapons.
It also calls on the president to impose two or more sanctions from a list of six: an export ban; ban on US businesses operating in Syria; restrictions on Syrian diplomats in the US; exclusion of Syrian-owned aircraft from US airspace; a reduction of diplomatic contacts with Syria; or freezing of Syrian assets in the US.
Powell said during the hearing that Syria had not yet closed the offices of Palestinian terrorist groups or expelled Palestinian terrorist leaders from Damascus as the US has demanded.
He also said he could not confirm or deny whether a Syrian plane had brought back weapons for Hizbullah from Iran after an earthquake-relief mission there.
On the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Powell said that this week, through European intermediaries, he urged the Palestinian Authority leadership to "come forward with a security plan to start taking action against terrorists in a very significant and decisive way." He urged Israel not to enact a disengagement plan that would preclude long-term stability in the region.
"The Israelis are now making some unilateral moves. We don't want to see a solution that is so unilateral that it doesn't really provide the kind of stability that we're looking for. But the Palestinians must move, and we've made it clear to them," Powell said.
Powell said the US was "very closely" following Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to evacuate Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.
"And we've said to the Israelis, that's interesting, we want the settlements closed, we want to know exactly how... that's going to be done and where will those settlers go, and how does it affect settlement activity in the West Bank," Powell added.
In a radio interview Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said "the majority of the blame has to be on the Palestinians who have not completely and totally eschewed terrorism as an instrument of policy." Armitage called Israel's pronouncement that settlers would be evacuated from Gaza "a step in the right direction."
In his testimony, Powell also said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is inspiring anti-American sentiment in the Middle East and affecting US reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
"We fully understand that this conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis is the source of a great deal of the anti-American feelings that exist in that part of the world, and does affect what we're doing in Iraq, and that part of the world," he said.
Powell was attempting to reassure senators that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a "matter of the utmost urgency" for the United States, even though he skipped over the issue in his opening remarks outlining foreign priorities for the coming year, and the president ignored the conflict totally in his State of the Union speech in January.
US envoys from the State Department and the White House National Security Council are due to travel to Israel next week.
What caliber?
So did their neighbor Iraq. #4 in the world at one time in the not too distant past.
Just like a chess game. Only with the fate of the world at stake.
Thankfully W knows we can't fight the whole Muslim world at once. Keep saying this to yourself, so you don't slip up.
It's a War on Terror. Islam is a religion of peace.
It's a War on Terror. Islam is a religion of peace.
It's a War on Terror. Islam is a religion of peace.
Wink. Wink. Nod. Nod.
That wasn't so hard, now was it?
Yes it is. We are upping the ante, the terrorists AND those who support them are getting very nervous, and at the same time our economy is booming!
Yes, it is refreshing to have a POTUS with conviction who places his agenda on the oval office desk and not under it!
And that would just break out hearts! lol
I think we should hit Syria with something else:
I was going to suggest several well-placed bunker busters. We can save the ICBMs for later.
The article mentions that we would ban the sale of military or dual use items to Syria. The policy shouldn't affect the civilian population.
On the other hand, you are right about the ineffectiveness of sanctions on Saddam. But Saddam had oil money. I don't think Syria does.
From the above list I hope they ban Syrian planes in American Airspace and toss out Syrian Diplomats. Those are the two things that can be used militarily against us at home. Syria is at war with the United States, the Jihad that they scream from the rooftops is a very real thing. We better tighten our borders before Syria becomes the conduit for nuclear warheads being smuggled into the United States.
Ouch, good one! Touchdown.
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