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Evidence against syria questioned { April 3 2003 }

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   http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wosyri033204221apr03,0,4315121.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wosyri033204221apr03,0,4315121.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print

Evidence Against Syria Is Questioned
By Knut Royce
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

April 3, 2003

Washington - The CIA has no credible evidence that the government of Syria has had a role in the shipment of night-vision goggles and other military equipment to Iraq, according to an administration official familiar with U.S. intelligence in the region.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last Friday suggested that Syria was responsible for the shipment to Iraq of defense-related goods, including the goggles, and warned that the United States considered "such trafficking as hostile acts and would hold the Syrian government accountable." Syria quickly denied the accusation.

And the administration official yesterday said that while military goods, including goggles, have been smuggled through Syria into Iraq for many years, "It's not necessarily with the knowledge, consent or approval of the Syrian government."

"It's not a new phenomenon," he said, "and it's not clear it has the Syrian government's imprimatur."

At the same time, he said, military goods also have been shipped into Iraq, in violation of UN sanctions, from border countries much more aligned with the U.S. government, including Turkey and Jordan.

A spokesman in Rumsfeld's office said yesterday, "I'm going to leave his comments stand where they are."

While there is no love lost between Syria and Iraq, which are ruled by competing Baath parties, the Syrian government has denounced the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq as "blatant aggression."

Rumsfeld's accusation was followed Sunday by a warning from Secretary of State Colin Powell that Damascus was facing a critical choice and should abandon its support of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

In an apparent response to one or both administration officials, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad complained in an interview published yesterday in Austria's Der Standard newspaper that U.S. officials "are used to imposing their opinions on others."

"An official making a threat is not what is dangerous," Assad said. "What is dangerous is the lack of foresight by that official."

The administration official also disputed a claim made by Rumsfeld on Fox TV Sunday that an alleged Hussein bodyguard viewed on Iraqi TV standing next to the Iraqi defense minister "may be an indication that Saddam Hussein is not moving around much" and perhaps is dead. The man was not one of Hussein's personal bodyguards, the administration official said.
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.



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