Syria: Where are the Europeans?
By Michael B. Kraft
The Counterterrorism Blog
The claims by the Syrian Ambassador to the U.S. that Damascus has halted military and intelligence cooperation with the U.S. sound like a bad joke, except that the situation
along the Syria-Iraq border is serious.
Syria is again trying to have it both ways – pretending it has been cooperative with the United States while also showing the Muslim world that it will not be pushed around by the Americans. Ambassador Imad Moustafpha complained in interviews with the New York Times and CNN this week that Washington is demanding too much from the Syrians in the U.S.-led effort to staunch the flow of suicide bombers, gunmen and cash across the Syrian border into Iraq. The ambassador claimed Syria has provided the U.S. with important assistance but no longer wants to cooperate because it is still being criticized for not doing more.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher suggested that the Syrians overstated the cooperation. He told the daily State Department news briefing that “we’ve seen all too often that when we try to address serious issues with the Syrian government, that Syria has expended minimal effort, at best and halfhearted efforts on things like the use of Syrian territory by groups that are …terrorists and others who are fighting us Iraq….”
Asked to comment on the Ambassador’s statement, Boucher said “I’m not going to attach tremendous importance to the statement, frankly, given the minimal and sporadic nature of the kind of cooperation we had.” He added ”we did, I think, talk over the years. There were moments when they were cooperating on al-Qaeda, there were a few things they did with regard to the border. But I wouldn’t say that they’ve cut off any particular and ongoing cooperation, because there just hasn’t been regular and ongoing cooperation.”
Overlooked in the dispute is just what the United States is seeking from the Syrians.
The bottom line is that the Syrian government should help stop Muslims from killing Muslims.
One might think that after decades of protesting against and sometimes leading the fight against Israel for the mistreatment Damascus accuses the Israelis of inflicting upon Palestinians, the Syrians would be concerned about the hundreds of Iraqi Arabs who are being killed and maimed by the suicide bomb attacks. But perhaps that is too logical.
The suicide attacks are carried out primarily by jihadists from around the Muslim world, many of whom have crossed over from the Syrian border. And Damascus has given sanctuary to Iraqi Baathists, (and their money) that help support the Iraqi insurgents, showing that again politics – and perhaps the common desire to kill Americans and Shiites-- make strange bed fellows in light of the past enmity between the Syrian and Iraqi Baathist parties.
As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this weekend, Syria was “allowing its territory to be used to organize terrorist attacks against innocent Iraqis.”
If Syria was really interested in Arab solidarity and the lives of fellow Arabs, it could take serious steps. It could deploy along its border with Iraq the thousands of troops it withdrew from Lebanon and also reassign the intelligence agents who may still be in Lebanon.
The U.S. earlier this month conducted large scale military operations near the Syrian border but inside Iraq, in an effort to hit infiltrators and insurgents before they could move deeper into Iraq and reach the major population centers. It would be interesting if an occasion arose in which “hot pursuit” might be necessary. But for the time being, military action against Syria does not seem likely.
The U.S. has long imposed economic sanctions against Syria—it was a charter member of the list of terrorist supporting states that were designated more than a quarter century ago, under the authority of the Export Administration Act of 1979. The resulting sanctions include a cut-off of foreign assistance, efforts to defeat international bank loans and strict procedures, including advance Congressional notification, of any export licenses for dual use equipment such as passenger or cargo planes that could be used to support terrorist attacks or enhance military capabilities. Also, American individuals and companies that might earn income in Syria are denied foreign tax credits for any taxes paid to Damascus.
The sanctions have held US trade with Syria to a relatively small level, an estimated $400 million annually. But sanctions could be tightened up. Whether a spare part or other item could be regarded as dual usage, potentially helping support terrorist actions or military capabilities, is often a judgment call. The judgment decisions should come down on the side of denying licenses for anything remotely suspicious. Oil companies and other American firms could be banned from investing in Syria altogether. And more behind-the-scenes efforts could be made to discourage other countries from doing business with Syria.
While unilateral sanctions can have a useful impact, multilateral sanctions of course are more effective. And that is where the Europeans (and Japanese) come in. The major exporters, especially France and Germany, traditionally have been loath to pass up a franc or Euro by imposing economic sanctions against terrorist states -- even though their profits on sales to these countries are offset to some extent by the expensive airport and other security measures they have taken to guard against terrorists supported by the Syria, Iran, Libya and, previously, Iraq.
There is additional potential leverage. Syria is seeking an association agreement with the European Union, its main trading partner. If the deal falls through, the hard-pressed Syrian economy could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in trade.
The U.S. should be actively prodding the Europeans to put pressure on Syria to take meaningful steps to stop serving as a staging area for jihadists and to stop providing sanctuary for Iraqi insurgents. After all, it is in Europe’s self interest. First of all, Europe has a strong interest in the safety and well being of Arabs. We know that because they keep telling us that in the repeated criticism of Israel. British academics even voted for a sham resolution to boycott Israeli universities.
More important to European self interest is Syria’s role in helping Iraq serve as a magnet and training ground for young Muslim men from Europe who go there to fight and learn military skills which they may later use in Europe. One U.S. Army intelligence officer with considerable experience in Iraq recently told me that there were an estimated 700 European citizens/residents in Iraq supporting the insurgents and some were not from an immigrant background. These men, if they survive, are likely to form new cells when they return to Europe—a concern that already worries some European security officials, if not the political leaders and businessmen.
Thus, the latest flare-up between the U.S. and Syria is not only a bilateral issue. The Europeans, as well as Gulf States and the North African countries should be putting their weight on Syria to do more to stop the killing of Iraqis. If they do not, their professions of concern about Arab lives and well-being are just another demonstration of the hypocrisy that has scarred the people of the Middle East for too long.
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