PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Bush set to OK sanctions, curb official contact
by Globe Correspondent Tuesday, Dec. 09, 2003 at 9:54 AM

09/12/03 By Bryan Bender, Globe Correspondent President Bush is poised this week to approve a set of penalties against the Syrian government that could restrict the travel of its diplomats and reduce official American contacts

The sanctions are part of a stepped-up US campaign to isolate the government in Damascus, which Washington accuses of supporting Palestinian terrorist groups, arming Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon, and working to destabilize the Middle East.

Administration and congressional officials said yesterday the president is expected to sign the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act -- which overwhelmingly passed both houses of Congress this fall -- before Saturday. The measure would give the executive branch greater leeway to punish Syria, the only country that has been labeled a sponsor of terrorism but maintains diplomatic ties with the United States.

The legislation gives the Bush administration new authority to, among other things, levy economic and diplomatic penalties unless Syria takes immediate steps to clamp down on terrorist groups and remove the estimated 20,000 Syrian troops occupying neighboring Lebanon. Syria is already subject to a series of US penalties, but they are not as severe as sanctions levied on other terrorist states.

It remains unclear how stringently the White House will apply the measures, according to observers. The president can waive the penalties if he determines they are not in US national security interests. But US officials and analysts said the move marks a new chapter in Washington's efforts to pressure the Syrians, and they believe the Bush administration will apply at least some of the sanctions to signal US displeasure with Syrian activities.

"[The Syrians] have not been cooperative and this gives the administration the ability to make a statement and levy some sort of sanctions and then ease sanctions when we get positive movement," Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, and a chief sponsor of the legislation along with Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California. "The president understands why we passed this bill and the importance of it," Santorum said in an interview yesterday. He also said he had conferred with Bush on three occasions about the legislation.

Unless the demands are met, the president would have the right to prohibit the export of certain defense equipment and services that Syria is currently eligible to receive.

Bush could also impose two of the following sanctions: prohibiting the export of American products other than food and medicine; prohibiting US businesses from investing in Syria; restricting the travel of Syrian diplomats to a 25-mile radius of Washington, D.C., and UN headquarters in New York; scaling back US diplomatic contacts with Syria; and blocking property transactions in the United States involving the Syrian government.

The Syrian Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the sanctions bill yesterday.

Immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, top American officials said Syria was assisting Washington in the war on terror. But that sentiment has changed in recent months, as more US officials have criticized Syria for its continued support of terrorist groups, suspected development of chemical and biological weapons, and for allowing Syrian and other Arab fighters to slip across its borders into Iraq.

The legislation awaiting the president's signature calls on Syria to "immediately and unconditionally halt support for terrorism, permanently and openly declare its total renunciation of all forms of terrorism, and close all terrorist offices and facilities in Syria, including the offices of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command."

It also demands that Syria live up to United Nations Security Council resolutions by pulling its military forces out of Lebanon, which it has occupied for more than two decades.

the twin-regimes of terrorism
asad of syria vs saddam of iraq
http://2la.org/syria/index.php

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