Syria is ready to cooperate with the United states if Washington's demands are "logical and realistic," Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara said Tuesday, responding to a new warning by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
| Interesting concepts, when it comes to Arab interpretation of same... |
On Monday, Powell said Washington needed more "forceful" cooperation from Syria if Damascus wanted good relations with the United States and the new post-Saddam Iraq. "The American demands are very numerous, but Syria is ready to cooperate if these demands turn out to be logical and realistic," Shara said during a press conference with visiting EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten. "Syria will be at the head of countries that cooperate with the United States if the (American) demands come within the framework of international legality, in favor of the unity of Iraq and with a view to finding a just solution to the (Arab-Israeli) conflict," he added.
| Bet that doesn't include stopping the flow of gunnies into Iraq... |
The US congress is to begin to debate Tuesday the Syrian accountability act, on the grounds that Damascus had fallen short of the required cooperation since Powell visited there in May. Speaking in Kuwait Monday, Powell said: "I made it clear to Syria, if they wanted to have good relations with the US and good relations with the liberated Iraq, they should do everything they could to make sure that the wrong sort of people (do not) cross the border to cause trouble in Iraq, and help US find records and bank accounts for the former (Iraqi) regime in Syrian banks." |