Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: USA sees through Bashar

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 9:24 a.m.

THE CRIES FROM SYRIA tell us that President George W. Bush has the attention of its President Bashar Assad and his cohorts. They have joined in the Middle East chorus singing the need for the United States to leave Iraq now. They feel a bit uncomfortable because Uncle Sam has demonstrated his ability to see through their charades and their vicious activities behind diplomatic smiles. Very simply, young Assad hasn't been able to con this president as his father, Hafez Assad, did both President Bill Clinton and Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush.

The claim of Syrian officials that they haven't given a safe haven to fleeing Iraqi officials and that they didn't allow thousands of Hamas and Hezbollah guerrillas to travel from Lebanon through their country to "kill Americans," is only another series of Middle East lies. The next claim will be that they haven't been buying Saddam Hussein's oil and selling it for a profit despite the sanctions placed on such actions by the United Nations. When the U.S. shut down the Iraqi pipeline that could carry 200,000 barrels daily to Syria, the screams became even louder. This action sure got Bashar's attention.

The propaganda coming from Damascus that the Americans shouldn't be in an Arab country may sound good to their followers. Evidently it's OK for one Arab country to occupy another, like Saddam's occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and Syria's continuing occupation of Lebanon since 1990. It was only two years ago that elderly Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir again asked the Syrians to leave his country and go back home. The 80-year-old Maronite Catholic believes, as do many others of the dwindling number of Christians still in Lebanon, that the military muscle of Syria has destroyed any signs of good government and Lebanese independence.

Why didn't the world speak up when Hafez Assad's Syrian army completed the butchering of Christians in Lebanon in 1990? Because all eyes were on Saddam in Kuwait and our country was courting Assad. As I have written before, our coddling of Assad did nothing to help our troops in Desert Storm. He sent a token 17,000 men from his 500,000-man army, and refused to allow them to be part of any assault against Iraq. Furthermore, he wouldn't let our combat planes overfly Syria during the heat of battle. Nevertheless, President Bush encouraged Saudi Arabia to pay Syria a $500 million bribe for being so helpful.

Israel went into Lebanon to answer the Christian cries for help and was condemned by the United Nations. Later U.N. Resolution 425 had Israel withdraw to a small security zone along its border with Lebanon. Three years ago Israel withdrew from all of Lebanon and the Syrian-supported guerrillas followed them down to the border and continued rocket attacks on Israeli farmers. Yes, and Syria has continued to support Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists with modern weapons flown into Damascus from Iran.

My files on Syria and terrorism in the Middle East go back more then 20 years and show a series of brutal acts against the Syrian people and neighboring countries. For many of those years, the Soviet Union was the arms supplier and international muscle for Hafez Assad. When the USSR crumbled, much of Syria's influence also began to weaken. Despite these happenings, the senior Assad was shrewd enough to be defiant and survive. Junior has let his mouth overload his ability and has run into the new President Bush who refuses to buy his brand of baloney.

Our military strike in Iraq has overturned a rock under which a nest of snakes are hiding. Not all of them have been snared and many have escaped. No doubt many of them have found a rock in Syria to hide under. It would be wise for young Assad to take a peek under that rock and clean up the mess he and his father have brought to the people of Syria.

In the meantime, the terrorist-trained guerrillas who have gone through Syria to Iraq will continue to cause our soldiers more grief with shooting, bombings and suicide attacks. Don't for one moment believe that the crowds throwing stones and shouting that American troops should leave Nasiriyah and Mosul are just spontaneous reactions. They are planned and executed by some of Iran's and Syria's best-trained guerrillas who came to Iraq to "kill Americans."