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Powell Expects Diplomatic Trip to Syria - Empire? - Global Policy Forum Powell Expects Diplomatic Trip to Syria
By Michael Dobbs and Emily Wax
Washington Post
April 17, 2003
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday that he expected to travel to Syria as part of a "very vigorous diplomatic exchange" with a country Washington has accused of developing chemical weapons and providing a haven to senior Iraqi officials. Powell's comments followed several days of mounting rhetorical attacks by the Bush administration against Syria for allegedly cooperating with the government of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Syria has also angered Washington by providing a base for Hezbollah guerrilla groups operating against Israel and conducting a thriving oil-smuggling business with Iraq, in violation of United Nations sanctions.
State Department officials appeared surprised by Powell's remarks about a trip to Syria in an Associated Press interview, and said the dates and itinerary for such a trip have not been fixed. They said any Powell trip to Damascus is likely to be in the framework of a larger trip to the Middle East to try to breathe new life into the almost-dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Buthaina Shaaban, welcomed the possibility of a Powell visit, saying that diplomatic talks are "much quieter and much more constructive" than trading accusations through the media. She said the two countries were already conducting intensive discussions through Theodore H. Kattouf, the U.S. ambassador to Syria.
One of the main U.S. complaints is that Syria is harboring senior Iraqi officials, who face few obstacles traveling to Syria, either from Iraq or from other countries. U.S. officials said a senior Iraqi intelligence official, believed to have been a key player in the 1993 plot to assassinate former president George H.W. Bush and a possible point of contact with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, flew to Syria on Tuesday from Tunisia. The official, Faruq Hijazi, was the Iraqi ambassador to Tunisia. Syria has denied the allegation.
A lawsuit filed by victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks alleges that Hijazi met with bin Laden in 1994 and 1998. U.S. intelligence officials believe Hijazi was the No. 3 official in the Mukharabat, an Iraqi intelligence service.
If Powell does go to Damascus, it will be the third time he has visited the Syrian capital since becoming secretary in January 2001. State Department officials said Powell felt that Syrian President Bashar Assad had failed to deliver on assurances that he would stop the illegal oil trade between Iraq and Syria, an important source of revenue for the Syrian government by enabling it to export its own oil and pocket disproportionate commissions.
In contrast to other administration officials, who have left vague the possibility of U.S. military action against Syria after Operation Iraqi Freedom, Powell has stressed the need for intensive diplomacy combined with economic pressure. He told reporters yesterday that Washington did not have "a 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."
In the Associated Press interview, Powell said Washington was using diplomatic intermediaries -- including Britain, France and Spain -- to send a message to Syria not to become a "safe haven" for senior Iraqi officials. Beyond that, he added, "I would expect to travel to Syria to have very candid and straightforward discussions" with Assad and Foreign Minister Farouk Charaa.
U.S. troops in Iraq have shut down a pipeline running from Kirkuk to the Syrian port of Banyas that was reopened soon after Assad succeeded his father in June 2000. According to various estimates, the shutdown of the oil-smuggling business could cost Damascus between $500 million and $1 billion a year in commissions and rakeoffs.
Powell said the United States would soon step up efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process "for the simple reason that we now have a prime minister on the Palestinian side that we can work with." He was referring to Mahmoud Abbas, whose appointment as Palestinian prime minister appears likely to diminish the importance of Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat. "You will see us become more active, both with my own involvement and travels, as well as in other ways," Powell said. "The president will be much more deeply involved and much more active."
In the Arab world, U.S. pressure on Syria has been widely interpreted as aimed at pressuring Damascus to make concessions to Israel. "The threats and warnings of the U.S. are a mere means of pressure, and I don't believe the Americans would venture into launching a war against Syria," said Ahmad Barqawi, chairman of the philosophy department at Damascus University.
Syria, meanwhile, introduced a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council calling for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, particularly nuclear weapons. U.S. officials said that the move appeared designed to divert attention from its own alleged programs, and focus it instead on Israel's nuclear weapons program. Israel is the only confirmed nuclear power in the Middle East.
Israel, which has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, maintains that it will consider negotiations on the elimination of such weapons only as part of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement. Syria says it will not sign the Chemical Weapons Convention unless Israel also signs.
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