Saddam's Syrian Stash. Investigators think they've found some of Hussein's loot.

Time Magazine ^ | Oct 20, 2003 issue | ADAM ZAGORIN

[FairOpinion]

Since the fall of Baghdad in April, American officials have scoured the globe in search of Saddam Hussein's legendary fortune. Now they think they have found a big chunk. According to a U.S. estimate, as much as $3 billion in Iraqi assets is sitting in Syrian government- controlled banks, a senior U.S. official tells Time, and Washington is anxious to determine that the money is not funding violence against Americans in Iraq, or being drawn down by regime officials and supporters.

For months the U.S. has quietly insisted that Damascus give up the funds. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in May and made that unpublicized demand. Top Syrian officials have been given the names of at least two suspect banks and provided with account numbers.

Syria's private response—that unspecified accounts were being frozen—was judged woefully inadequate. Publicly, Syria denies there is any Iraqi money in the country. But just over two weeks ago, the U.S. sent two American financial experts and two representatives of the Iraqi Central Bank to Syria to comb through records. U.S. officials now assert that Damascus has given them only "limited cooperation."

In the run-up to the war, Syria was among Iraq's principal trading partners, buying more than $1 billion worth of cheap oil annually in violation of U.N. sanctions. Since the war, U.S.-Syrian relations have deteriorated sharply. A congressional bill, which President Bush has signaled he won't veto, accuses Syria of sponsoring terrorism, seeking weapons of mass destruction and occupying Lebanon. It was approved by a House committee last week, three days after Israel attacked an alleged Palestinian terrorist camp outside Damascus—an act Bush, notably, did not condemn. Syria may also be courting economic isolation: its banks could face Bush-imposed sanctions under the Patriot Act, which would effectively bar them from world capital markets. Warns the senior official: "We have made it plain that if access to records and cooperation continue to be restricted, we reserve the right to impose economic counter-measures."

[FairOpinion]

It's time to invade Syria. We'll find Saddam's billions, WMD and maybe Saddam himself.

[FairOpinion]

ping

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[Lazamataz]

I think it's time to start massing our troops on the Syrian border.

[Cicero]

Syria should certainly be next. But Bush has to handle it right, since the media would scream their little pinheads off at the thought of his opening another stage in the war.

[billorites]

"It's time to invade Syria."

If the Sox blow their one big chance I'm going to want to invade someone.

Besides, Karl says it will be good for us politically.

[festus]

Invade ? Heck just nuke em. Its a whole lot easier cheaper and more effective.......

[FairOpinion]

I think the US knew and approved of the Israeli attack on the Syrian terrorist camps. It was a message to Syria, which apparently they still don't understand.

[alloysteel]

Loot, WMD, an enormous amount of documentation that would be endlessly helpful in dismembering that is left of the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, and just incidentally, a secure access to the Mediterranean from Iraq. Plus, one more emphatic reminder to the Arabs that it is not wise to get the Americans peeved with you. This could go on and on for years.

[Migraine]

It's time to invade Syria. We'll find Saddam's billions, WMD and maybe Saddam himself.

I've held this view for a long time. It is the fault of Turkey, IMHO, that the border between Iraq and Syria was not hermetically sealed from day one of the invasion. The troops from the 4th ID were supposed to have been in place via Turkey. This is how much that little fiasco has cost us. That, plus the lives of 86 soldiers who have died, mostly at the hands of non-Iraqi outsiders, most of whom probably entered via Syria. We really do need to mass troops over against that border, if only just to shake them and see what shakes out.

[FairOpinion]

Don't forget, Chirac was the one who blackmailed Turkey with their pending EU membership, into refusing to help us.

[fire_eye]

I think this is the real reason why Bush wants the U.N. to send troops now. We need the U.N. to provide nannies to change the Iraqis' diapers so we can free up the real soldiers for whacking Syria.