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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rrufff who wrote (20424)	9/16/2003 8:36:59 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23908

U.S.: Syria Lets Militants Kill U.S. Forces in Iraq Tue September 16, 2003 12:53 PM ET reuters.com WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Syria has failed to stop militants from crossing into Iraq to kill U.S. forces and it continues to pursue chemical and biological weapons programs, a leading Bush administration hawk said on Tuesday. U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton told Congress the United States must keep open the option of using "every tool" -- code for the remote possibility of military action -- to dissuade Syria and others from pursuing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. While saying the United States had yet not found any information to substantiate media reports that Iraq might have transferred some of its suspected weapons of mass destruction to Syria, Bolton said Washington was concerned by the reports. U.S. allegations that Iraq was pursuing weapons of mass destruction were a key justification for the U.S.-led war on Iraq but Washington's failure to find any since it toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in April has tarnished the Bush administration's credibility. "We have seen Syria take a series of hostile actions toward Coalition forces in Iraq," Bolton told members of the House International Relations Committee. "Syria permitted volunteers to pass into Iraq to attack and kill our service members during the war, and is still doing so." Bolton's comments and remarks by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Sept. 4 that Syria and Iran were not doing enough to stop anti-American militants from entering Iraq suggest Washington's patience with Damascus may be wearing thin. However Bolton stressed that Secretary of State Colin Powell, who visited Damascus in May, was continuing to pursue a diplomatic effort to persuade Syria to stop such militants as well as to give up its suspected weapons of mass destruction. Bolton testified before a number of lawmakers who support legislation that demands Damascus end support for terrorism, withdraw from Lebanon and stop producing weapons of mass destruction or face business and diplomatic sanctions. The Bush administration has not formally taken a position on the legislation but it generally resists such congressional efforts that it fears may tie its hands and interfere with the executive branch's conduct of foreign policy.