Americans Intensify Threats Against Syria

Over the past six weeks, the Bush administration has stepped up its campaign against Syria. It has promoted several international resolutions condemning Syria and made a number of inflammatory comments about the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.

This comes amid mounting evidence that the Americans and their allies have been cooperating with the Syrians since September 11, 2001 by sending terrorist suspects (detained but not charged with committing any crimes) for interrogation by Syrian police and army forces. Torture is reported to be a routine part of these interrogations. For example, Mehar Arar, the Canadian citizen who was deported to Syria by the U.S. was tortured by the Syrians until he “confessed” to a number of criminal activities. Once back in Canada he recanted and said that he only confessed to stop the torture.

Whether the Americans are now stepping up the pressure on Syria to distance themselves from the al-Assad regime while continuing to depend on its security forces to do its dirty work or whether Syria has balked at some recent American requests is unclear. It is, however, clear that the latest American attacks on Syria have nothing to do with holding the Syrians accountable for an assassination, as the U.S. alleges, but rather with isolating Syria in the world community.

In November, the U.S. was successful in getting the UN Security Council to pass a resolution unanimously calling on Syria to detain Syrian suspects identified in a report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The resolution, adopted at a special ministerial-level session of the Security Council, endorsed the findings of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIC) into the assassination and threatened that there could be “further action” by the Security Council if the Syrians do not comply.

Immediately after the resolution was passed, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice embarked on a tour of the Middle East, urging American allies in the region to put pressure on Syria, which Rice described as a “pariah state”. Following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Rice told reporters “Syria has isolated itself from the international community through its false statements, its support for terrorism, its interference in the affairs of its neighbours and its destabilizing behaviour in the Middle East.” She also castigated the Syrian government for what she described as its failure to cooperate with the UN in its investigation of the Hariri assassination.

Her comments on Syria come in stark contrast to the Bush administration’s continued support of the use of assassinations as a legitimate means of dealing with political enemies for itself and its allies. Most recently, the Americans floated a trial balloon over the possibility of killing the democratically elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. The U.S. also implicitly endorses a policy of targeted assassinations by Israel, which has systematically killed almost every significant Palestinian leader to emerge over the last 40 years.

Back to Modern Communism