Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: No more coddling Syria

Friday, May 2, 2003 | 9:12 a.m.

TODAY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL will arrive in Damascus for discussions with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. We can only hope that these discussions are serious and not another case of an American secretary of state playing Mr. Nice Guy with one of the biggest opponents of peace in the Middle East. Bashar, like his late father Hafez al-Assad, has until now poked his fingers in the eyes of every American leader arriving in that part of the world.

Unlike his father, Bashar doesn't have a strong and aggressive Soviet Union backing him up with diplomatic and military muscle. Outside of the Arab world, Syria's best friend is France and that isn't going to do either country much good with President George W. Bush. Both countries were very vocal in opposing the U.S. invasion of Iraq because they have been profiting from the illegal oil trade with Saddam Hussein. France also had larger contracts with Iraq for the future. We shouldn't forget that it was also France that was building the nuclear plant for Iraq which Israel, at great risk, destroyed 10 years before Gulf War I. For that, large numbers of Americans can be thankful.

So how does our country deal with Iraq? First, don't let Syria get away with their game of pretending to help us with the Al Qaeda terrorists when at the same time they protect, use and strengthen the even more vicious Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. The Hezbollah, in two suicide bombings, killed 260 American soldiers stationed in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Until 9-11-2001 those terrorists held the record for murdering our citizens.

Don't for a minute believe that muscle can't be used to get Bashar's attention. The Turks got Syria's attention when it was allowing Kurdish terrorist Abdullah Ocalan to operate with immunity from Syrian-controlled Lebanon. The Turks used both the threat of military power and cutting off the water that flows from Turkey. Almost as valuable to Syria as water is the oil that has been flowing from Iraq through a pipeline we now control and have shut off.

Damascus, and not Baghdad, has been the headquarters for the most violent of all terrorist groups for many years. We shouldn't forget that even during Gulf War I terrorists used Damascus as a place to threaten the lives of Americans. For example, George Habash, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, left Baghdad and went to Damascus to make his threats.

Second on the list of things for Powell to accomplish is to let Bashar know we aren't believing his lies about having nothing to do with terrorists leaving Syria to kill Americans in Iraq. Arab, British, Australian and American television has plenty of film showing Syrian officials and military people wishing the killers well as they boarded buses for Baghdad.

According to Barbara Slavin, writing in USA Today newspaper, "On the night of April 10, Marines encountered more than 600 Syrians at one of Saddam's palaces in Baghdad. According to the Marines, the Syrians fought intensely for eight hours, firing almost 1,000 rocket-propelled grenades before being defeated." That encounter cost the life of one Marine and resulted in 50 being wounded.

Finally, Powell should forget the diplomatic language and tell Basher to end his country's 27-year occupation of Lebanon. The Syrian leader has been very vocal about the United States leaving Iraq now and not later. The Lebanese Christians and The World Lebanese Organization have, for several years, been pleading for the Syrians to leave. The puppet government and Hezbollah only thrive because the United States and other world powers have failed to recognize the cries of Lebanese minorities.

Powell has the backing of a president who has not fallen into the Syrian trap that has snared previous presidents. The list of those ensnared includes Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. All of them sent one or more State Department secretaries to Damascus who courted both Assads. James Baker, representing George H.W. Bush, was probably the most gullible of all the people who represented the State Department and not the people of our country.

Courting Bashar isn't necessary nor desirable if we really want to fight terrorism, spread the ideals of freedom and promote peace. Powell must tell Bashar to quit supporting Hezbollah and other terrorists; get out of Lebanon; and don't interfere with our attempts to promote peace in the Middle East.