Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=04/015/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=TROUBLES WITH SYRIA

NUMBER=6-12901

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

///EDS: OTHER SYRIA-RELATED COMMENT INCLUDED IN DIGEST, 6-12900///

CONTENT=

INTRO: With U-S intelligence reporting that some high ranking Iraqi leaders have escaped over the border to Syria, rhetoric from the White House aimed at Damascus is heating up. This is spawning a mixed reaction in the American press and we get a sampling now from V-O-A's ____________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: U-S intelligence is convinced some high ranking Iraqi officials have fled into Syria. Within the past few days, for example, U-S Marines captured Saddam Hussein's half brother attempting to flee into Syria. At the same time, Syria has been allowing members of the terrorist group Hezbollah into Iraq. The Syrian Cabinet is denying and denouncing the claims, blaming them on Israel.

U-S newspapers are beginning to wonder what the Bush administration plans for Syria, even postulating an invasion. But The Wall Street Journal, while pleased at the assertion of American power calls invasion talk "silly."

VOICE: Critics of liberating Iraq have long derided what they call the Bush administration's "domino theory" - - that removing Saddam Hussein from power would lead to the toppling of dictators elsewhere. This was always a caricature of Bush policy, but then again it wouldn't hurt if the world's dictators came to believe it. . This demonstration effect is now being felt in Pyongyang, Damascus, Tehran and other places contending for Iraq's former title as the world's craziest rogue state.

Damascus has long protected terrorists and controls Lebanon as an imperial power. Now the U-S says Syria has chemical weapons and is harboring Saddam's fleeing henchmen. . The Syrian ambassador to the U-S was at pains to deny all of this. But [his] panicky denial may itself be a sign of the persuasive power of Iraq's liberation.

TEXT: In Michigan, The Detroit Free Press suggests that "Both sides need to step back from [a] confrontation."

VOICE: While insisting Syria is not next on a United States hit list, the Bush administration sure appears to be laying some groundwork for it - - and the Syrians aren't helping matters. Both countries must step back while Iraq remains unstable, and then attempt to resolve the genuine problems between them. America doesn't need another war, and Syria doesn't need an invasion.

TEXT: Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal is warning the Bush administration to finish one job before taking on another.

VOICE: Perhaps the images and the reality of war will prove persuasive to Syrian officials. Understandably, [Mr.] Bush and his aides want to seize the opportunity for maximum leverage. What they shouldn't miss is the risk of moving too fast, of leaping to the next front, neglecting the wreckage behind. The measure of American success in the war on terrorism will not simply be the routing of the Taleban and the regime of Saddam Hussein. The telling development will be what comes next in Afghanistan and Iraq.

TEXT: Lastly, The New York Times is upset with Syria's duplicity, but counsels against an invasion.

VOICE: The Bush administration is right to be alarmed and angry about Syria. There is reason to believe that both military equipment and potential suicide bombers have been sent from Syria for use in Iraq against American troops. [and] that Syria is permitting Saddam Hussein's top lieutenants to escape across its border. As the United States begins . its new role as godparent of a new, freer government in Iraq, it will have to figure out how to handle many hostile neighbors, starting with Syria. .

War . however, makes no sense. The United States has it hands full in Iraq. More important, Washington will only live up to the worst expectations of the Arab world if it now adopts a belligerent military approach to every nation in the region that it dislikes.

TEXT: With that advice to the American government from the New York Times, we conclude this sampling of comment as regards Syria's role in the evolving Iraqi campaign.

NEB/ANG/MAR