US on its accusations against Syria
Syria-USA, Politics, 4/22/2003

US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher conducted the department's daily briefing April 21. Following is what was said about Syria:

QUESTION: Iraq-Syria. There has been much talk about Iraq having
transferred WMD material to Syria from the mid-90s, possibly more
recently. Do you all have information about that? Can you confirm
that?

BOUCHER: I don't have any information on that that I would be in a
position to talk about or to share, so I'm afraid it's just not a
topic I can address.

QUESTION: And she left WMD out of it --

BOUCHER: No, she --

QUESTION: No, also conventional transfers. Will you have the same
answer?

BOUCHER: As I think we've all mentioned before, and certainly
Secretary Rumsfeld, has talked about it, we have been concerned in
recent weeks, but we've made clear going back over any number of
months, about the fact that conventional equipment, dual-use items,
even personnel, had transited through Syria towards -- on its way --
on their way to Iraq. And this was the issue that we've been raising
throughout and that's the issue which we think we're seeing some
progress, as the President mentioned yesterday, some progress in terms
of getting the Syrian Government to take this seriously, getting them
to close off the border to everything but humanitarian shipments,
getting them to take seriously our concerns about individuals who may
have ended up in Syria. And I think you have seen them close the
border. You have seen them refuse boarding to people who might be
headed that way for refuge or for -- to hide. And so there have been
some steps that they have taken and we think they are taking our
concerns seriously.

Okay, sir.

QUESTION: No, I --

BOUCHER: No? Something more, Betsy?

QUESTION: Can I follow up?

BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: I meant things going from Iraq into Syria, not things coming
from Syria into Iraq.

BOUCHER: Into Iraq. Again, look back at what Secretary Rumsfeld
had said in recent weeks, that there were reports of certainly people
and possibly equipment. But no, I don't have anything specific that I
could confirm in that regard.

QUESTION: So you all have seen nothing to --

BOUCHER: I didn't say that. I said I had not -- I don't have
anything I can confirm for you.

QUESTION: Well --

BOUCHER: I'm just not at liberty to discuss about what information
we may or may not have about things that have passed over the border,
or certainly about this issue of whether or not weapons of mass
destruction have passed over the border.

QUESTION: Examples of progress. You gave one real example -- boarding.

BOUCHER: I thought I gave three. But, hey.

QUESTION: No, no. Well, you gave -- the other two you dealt with it
the way the White House dealt with it yesterday, which is they
promised and they said they would do this, they would --

BOUCHER: They basically closed the border between Syria and Iraq.

QUESTION: But the Secretary --

BOUCHER: They denied boarding to a number of people that we know
of.

QUESTION: That's right.

BOUCHER: And we think they've taken seriously our concerns about
individuals that are in Syria. But, obviously, there is more to be
done to identify these individuals, where they are there, to make sure
the border is properly closed to people who might be trying to hide or
hide things in Syria, and we'll keep working on this.

QUESTION: I realize everything can't be done overnight, but he said --
the Secretary did -- about the border, yes, they've said they would
but the border is porous, it's hard to know for sure that the border
was sealed. And secondly, on --

BOUCHER: As I said, they say they've done this. It's important to
make sure it's properly closed.

QUESTION: All right. Now, what of the notion of taking in, giving
refuge, haven, et cetera to Saddam Hussein's people? Will they turn
them back to us? Will they turn them back to the U.S.? Will they turn
them in for prosecution? Or is it too early?

BOUCHER: I think it's -- I can't speak on behalf of the Syrian
Government on that. You've observed some of the steps that we have
observed. This is an issue that we'll continue to take up with the
Syrian Government. Our Embassy has been very active in this regard, in
working and talking to the Syrian Government. As the President said
yesterday, we have seen some indications that they're taking our
concerns seriously, and we will continue to pursue these issues,
including during an anticipated visit by the Secretary of State.

QUESTION: One last question. One last point on that. Messages going
back and forth. Other governments weighing in with the U.S., the
latest being the Spanish Foreign Minister having been there carrying a
message this weekend. Are there any results you can give us of this
intervention?

BOUCHER: Not wishing to speak for other governments, I don't want
to speak for anybody in particular, but I would say the Secretary has
been in touch with his counterparts, our embassies have been in touch
with their counterpart missions. We find that these concerns are
widely shared among other nations. And it's not so much carrying a
message for the United States, but making clear that these concerns
about not allowing members of the Iraqi regime to take refuge or hide
in Syria, not allowing equipment or other material to be transferred,
these are widely shared among the international community and others
that are talking to Syria are raising these issues as well.

QUESTION: Richard, what do you mean by denied boarding?

BOUCHER: The news reports that I saw, and I'll stick to news
reports for the moment, say that individuals that wanted to travel to
Syria from missions overseas, Iraqi diplomats or officials who had
ended up somewhere else, were not being permitted to travel to Syria.

QUESTION: So how is that the Syrians -- how were the Syrians playing
an active role in that?

BOUCHER: They're the ones that issue instructions to Syrian
airlines on who to let on board and who not to. Okay. And other
foreign airlines, I guess.

QUESTION: I'm sorry?

BOUCHER: And other foreign airlines as well who might be flying
there.

QUESTION: Mr. Farouk Shara, the Foreign Minister of Syria, has
welcomed the comments by President Bush and two congressmen have
visited President Assad. They came and they spoke about their Syrian
concern about the shutting of the pipeline, Iraqi pipeline with Syria.
Is United States in the visit of Colin Powell next -- coming next
going to discuss this issue and settle it as well?

BOUCHER: I'm sure we'll discuss all the issues involved in the
situation in Iraq, including leadership in Iraq, UN resolutions
regarding Iraq. Syria is on the Security Council. And issues like the
pipelines or Iraqi control of their oil resources, fundamentally these
decisions on who, how to export, what to export, will be made by
Iraqis. So there will be a limit to the amount that we are in a
position to make any commitments or even discuss the issue, but I'm
sure it will come up.

QUESTION: Some describe that shutting off as a use of oil as a weapon.
Would the United States refrain from that and reproduce --

BOUCHER: Again, I would not describe it that way. Certainly, I
think it may be one of the consequences of what happened, but I'd have
to look back exactly on how this happened. I think the Iraqis, in some
cases, shut off pipelines before there was any fighting, so it's not
clear to what this shutoff might be due. But in the end, it is the
Iraqis who need to take possession of their oil resources, the Iraqis
who need to decide how to pump it and where to ship it and how to sell
it.

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