US tones down rhetoric toward Syria

By ARSHAD MOHAMMED

WASHINGTON - The United States toned down its rhetoric toward Syria today by saying it had no "war plan" to attack despite its belief Damascus is pursuing weapons of mass destruction and harbouring Iraqi officials.

The comment by US Secretary of State Colin Powell seemed designed to quell fears in the region that the United States might consider moving against Syria or Iran following the rapid US military defeat of Iraq.

"There is no list, there is no war plan right now to go attack someone else either for the purpose of overthrowing their leadership or for the purpose of imposing democratic values, Powell told reporters.

In Damascus, the Syrian Cabinet issued a statement denouncing US accusations that it was developing chemical weapons as threats and falsifications, and it demanding an end to what it called the "American-British occupation of Iraq."

Top US officials have accused Syria of giving sanctuary to fleeing Iraqi officials and of assisting Saddam Hussein in his effort to defend Iraq against the US invasion, which has largely been completed within a month.

While repeating some of these accusations -- which Syria denies -- Powell drew a distinction between US concerns about Syria and Iran and those about Saddam's Iraq.

"Iraq was a unique case, where it wasn't just a matter of a dictator being there," Powell said.

"It was a dictator terrorising his people, raping and pillaging his own people, wasting his treasure, but beyond that invading his neighbours and threatening the whole world with weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who sparked speculation about US designs on Syria last month by saying Washington viewed Syrian aid to Iraq during the war as "hostile acts," carefully avoided commenting on the matter on Tuesday.

Rumsfeld did confirm that US military forces have shut off a pipeline that carried "illegal oil" flowing from Iraq to Syria, helping lift oil prices because the move will reduce the flow of crude onto the international market. He said he did not know if all flows of oil between the two countries had halted.

Baghdad has supplied Syria with some 200,000 barrels per day of crude by the pipeline for the past two years, violating United Nations sanctions, oil industry sources have said.

Analysts do not believe the United States aims to attack Syria and view hard-line statements by some US officials and by hawks outside the Bush administration as designed to put pressure on Damascus rather than to presage military action.

Senior US officials have said they hoped the example of Iraq's defeat at the hands of the US military would persuade others, notably Iran, Syria and North Korea, to give up their ambitions for weapons of mass destruction.

Powell said US officials told Syria "rather directly and forcefully" of concerns that Iraqi officials may be seeking refuge in Syria and said US worries about Syria's alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction was long-standing.

"We don't believe Syria should find this in their interest to give refuge, to give haven to these sorts of individuals who should be returned to Iraq to face the justice that will be meted out by the Iraqi people," he added. "We hope that Syria understands now that there is a new environment in the region with the end of the regime of Saddam Hussein, and that Syria will reconsider its policies of past years."

In a relatively rare public comment, Syria's ambassador to the United States strongly denied his country was harbouring Iraqi leaders and said American accusations were baseless.

"All these allegations are untrue but unfortunately they don't believe us," Ambassador Rostom al-Zoubi told Reuters Television. "We were not supporting the Iraqi regime and we did not allow any person or anybody from the Iraqi leadership or anyone from the Iraqi family to come to our country."

"Why are Americans always focused on Syria," he added, saying Iraq has other neighbours and it was the US military's responsibility to stop Iraqi officials from fleeing. Al-Zoubi said there was no evidence Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been moved into Syria, calling these claims "baseless."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war