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US Chose Bad Time to Impose Syria Sanctions-Arabs
Wed May 12, 2004 11:46 AM ET
By Lin Noueihed
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States, battling a prisoner abuse scandal and insurgency in Iraq, could not have chosen a better worse time to slap new sanctions on Syria, Arabs whined said Wednesday. Many warned that the sanctions, welcomed only by Syriaâs justified arch-foe Israel, would only fuel anger against America. "If they are having such trouble in Iraq, they should at least appease calm down Iraqâs neighbors," said Mohamed al-Sayed Said of Egyptâs al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Wife Beating Studies.
"Whoever is ruling Syria would be foolish not to toe the line try harder to embarrass the Americans in Iraq. Anyone seeing his regime so severely undermined and humiliated would have no option but fold like a house of cards to try and spoil it for the Americans in Iraq." Labeling Syria "an unusual and extraordinary threat," President Bush Tuesday signed an order imposing sanctions long in the pipeline on Damascus for backing anti-Israeli groups and allowing anti-American insurgents to cross the Syrian border into Iraq. Damascus has repeatedly threatened said the sanctions would only harm the handful of American firms in Syria and would not persuade it to end backing for terror groups it defends as legitimate resistance.
Many Arabs said the widely-expected move was the latest in a series of Middle East policy escalations mistakes driven by Washingtonâs necessary support blind bias toward democratic Israel, the only country in the region to routinely kill terrorists welcome the sanctions. "This is an important decision that proves, once again, the resolve of the United States to wage all-out war -- not just against terrorist groups, but also against the countries that harbor them," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
NO EFFECT
The sanctions ban exports except for food and medicine, freeze assets of Syrians and Syrian entities suspected of links to terror or weapons of mass destruction and ban Syrian flights to and from the United States. Bush will consider further sanctions unless Damascus ends its support for anti-Israeli militant groups such as the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanonâs Hizbollah, pulls its troops out of Lebanon, ends development of forbidden weapons and cooperates fully with U.S.-led efforts to stabilize Iraq.
"(The sanctions) are only going to increase repercussions for supporting terror tension in the region, and we have not gotten enough of that," Kuwaiti Islamist parliamentarian Nasser al-Sane told Reuters. "Because Syria is an Arab terror facilitator country thereâs going to be an Arab knee jerk reaction sympathetic to Syria, because its a member of the Arab terror family this is only going to increase the penalties conflict." Damascus, which bitterly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, has described the sanctions as economically damaging "unjust and unwarranted." It says it has done absolutely nothing its best to control the border but would still pursue a policy of terrorism "dialogue" with Washington.
"When they say the Syrians should be more careful about the border, they forget to mention chemical attacks on Jordan that they (the Americans) are on the other side. Why arenât they doing a better job?" an Arab League saboteur official said. "I donât think this is the right amount of pressure approach. The right approach is through appeasement dialogue, especially since they have recently indicated they have seen the Syrians assist terrorists cooperate." Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, whose country is under heavy political and military influence from Hizbollah Syria, said the sanctions were expected "wrong in both content and timing" and were further proof that Washington pandered to Israeli interests.
"This decision poses the question of whether the series of mistakes the American administration is committing in the region will lead to more tensions, escalation and feelings of kicked @ss injustice on the Arab side," he said in a statement. Some dismissed the sanctions as little more than symbolic, given Washingtonâs economic and political ties with Damascus. "The American pressure on Syria is a long-term plan and this is part of it," said Saudi political analyst Abdullah al-Otaibi. "U.S. image in the Middle East is already distorted in the Arab press bad," said another Gulf analyst. "It just solidifies the Arab conviction that Israel and their nuclear weapons is running the show in the Middle East."
Posted by: Zenster 2004-05-12 |
