- Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, delivered
a stark warning to Syria yesterday, accusing it of failing to stop cross-border
sales of military equipment, including night-vision goggles, to the Iraqi
army.
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- Mr Rumsfeld called the shipments "hostile acts"
and threatened to "hold the Syrian government accountable", but
refused to say whether he meant military action.
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- He also struck out at Iran for letting state-sponsored
anti-Saddam militants flood into Iraq, interfering in the coalition's war
plans.
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- "We have information that shipments of military
supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including
night-vision goggles," Mr Rumsfeld told a briefing at the Pentagon.
-
- He said there was "no question... that military
supplies or equipment or people are moving across the borders between Iraq
and Syria; it vastly complicates our situation".
-
- The US government "consider[s] such trafficking
as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such
shipments," he said.
-
- The complaint echoed accusations last week from Washington
that Russian companies had sold similar goggles, along with GPS jammers
and anti-tank guided missiles, to Iraq.
-
- When questioned, Mr Rumsfeld refused to say whether he
was threatening war. "I'm saying exactly what I'm saying. It was carefully
phrased," he said. He would not say if he believed the sales to be
state-sponsored, calling the matter "an intelligence issue".
-
- But "they control their border", he said of
the Syrian government. "We're hoping that kind of thing doesn't happen."
-
- An official at the Syrian foreign ministry dismissed
the Mr Rumsfeld's accusations last night, saying they were "an attempt
at covering what his troops have committed against civilians in Iraq...
a violation of international law".
-
- Syria, a staunch opponent of the war in Iraq, plays an
important role in the neo-conservative "domino" theory, which
exerts a strong influence on hawkish thinking in the Bush administration.
Syria is commonly mentioned, along with Iran, as one of the first regimes
that would be expected to crumble or reform radically as a result of the
installation of a new government in Baghdad - or alternatively as a potential
future target of US military force.
-
- Last month John Bolton, the administration's undersecretary
of state for arms control, was quoted as telling Israeli officials that
it would be "necessary to deal with" Syria, Iran and North Korea
after a war on Iraq.
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- Mr Rumsfeld said Iraqi Shia troops in the Badr corps,
an opposition group backed by Iran for 20 years, had been crossing into
Iraq.
-
- "The Badr corps is trained, equipped and directed
by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard and we will hold the Iranian government
responsible for their actions and will view Badr corps activity inside
Iraq as unhelpful," he said.
-
- Mr Rumsfeld's warning is sure to inflame Tehran which
has so far adopted a restrained and even cooperative stance towards the
conflict.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,925247,00.html
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