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Syria says sanctions against it would harm U.S - huh?
Syria warned on Saturday that the United States had most to lose from severing trade and diplomatic ties with the Arab state if Washington passed a proposed act to impose sanctions. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bushra Kanafani said Syrian-U.S. ties were at their lowest point ever because of the proposed Syria Accountability Act and Washington’s backing of Israel in its attack last weekend against Syria. ’’Contacts (with Washington) are not severed fully, but the state of Syrian-U.S. relations has deteriorated to a point it never reached before,’’ she told a press briefing in Damascus.
"we’ve been really pushing the envelope, and clearly they noticed"
Kanafani said the Act, which won an initial nod from a panel of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, was ’’a product of Israeli policy against Syria.’’
"An' we din't do nuffin'!"
’’The relations of the United States and the (Arab) region are becoming more tense, enmity (against the U.S.) is rising and its credibility is declining and this is an issue that is not in the interests of the United States at all,’’ Kanafani said.
A bit less in the interests of Syria, I'd say, with classic understatement...
Kanafani dismissed the economic impact of the sanctions on Syria, saying trade amounted to less than $400 million per year. She said U.S. firms would suffer more if the Arab country fell under additional U.S. sanctions.
hmmmm - guess the oil spigot stays off then, no harm, no foul
If endorsed, the Act ’’is not going to be very harmful for us. The United States of America will be loser number one, maybe we will be loser number three or four,’’ she said. By severing ties with Damascus, Washington would bury the Arab-Israeli peace process it initiated, said Kanafani.
LOL Bwahahaha - stop it! you’re killing me...no, really
’’Now if the dialogue with Syria is cut as this act says will be, this will have a grave effect on the peace process. It will put an end of the peace process after all the efforts taken also by President George W. Bush.’’
"Youse guyz wouldn't wanna do dat, wouldja? So leave us alone!"
Asked if Syria was trying to convince Washington to abandon the sanctions bill, Kanafani said. ’’We are conducting our contacts with the relevant parties, but it seems that at the Congress there is an Israeli activity larger than ours. The Zionist lobby in the United States is the strongest lobby known to America and probably the strongest in the world.’’ Kanafani said Washington was ready to respond to ’’reasonable’’ U.S. demands.
Wait...Washington responding to U.S. demands...?
Looks like a typo. Or wishful thinking by MSNBC...
Washington wants Syria to stop backing Palestinian militant groups that it deems terrorist and to block the flow of Islamic militants to Iraq through Syria. ’’Our policy follows our national interest, our principles and we expect any party to present reasonable conditions and demands to be able to meet them,’’ she said.
"Our national interest and our principles demand that you beat the living crap out of us, like you did Iraq... Boy, that'll show yez!"
Syria denies links to militant groups and says Palestinian offices in Syria are merely media functions.
’’We are not giving them any support. Some of their leaders are residing in Damascus. Let Israel give them the right of return to their homeland and they will go back,’’ she said. Answering U.S. complaints the Damascus was not doing enough to stop anti-U.S. militants crossing Syria into Iraq, Kanafani said:
’’We are not allowing intentionally anyone to cross the border to Iraq... but the borders are long and nobody can stop crossings (on) these long desert borders.’’
including the crossing of the 3ID, Marine expeditionary forces .....
Posted by: Frank G 2003-10-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19749