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Donald Rumsfeld Issues Stern Warning to Syria
Aired March 28, 2003 - 15:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Only within the past 90 minutes or so the Defense Secretary of the United States, Donald Rumsfeld, issued a stern warning to the Syrian government not to allow military equipment to be transferred across the border from Syria into Iraq; specifically night vision goggles.
CNN's Hala Gorani is standing by in Amman, Jordan. Hala, how are the Syrians likely to react to this pretty tough and public warning from the defense secretary?
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just a few minutes ago we spoke to the spokeswoman of the Syrian Defense Ministry. She told me -- and I'm going to read word for word the statement that she dictated to me over the phone.
"This allegation is like many allegations that Donald Rumsfeld has made during this unnecessary war. It is absolutely unfounded. All that we see this war as doing is killing civilians, destroying hospitals, destroying museums, and killing women and children. The sooner this aggression against Iraq is stopped the better."
So that statement communicated to us here at CNN in Amman, Jordan just a few minutes ago. And it comes at a very tense time in Syria- U.S relations.
Just yesterday, Syrian President Bashar al Assad was quoted as saying in a Lebanese newspaper -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- that the American-British effort in Iraq will not succeed and that there will be Arab popular resistance anyway, and this has begun already. This, according to the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad.
What is clear, though, now, is that the U.S. is putting Syria on notice. It is telling Syria that it is watching its borders to make sure no aid or equipment flows through into Iraq. How this will play out between Syria and the U.S., namely the U.N. Security Council, because Syria, as you know, is a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, remains to be seen in the coming days -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Hala, is anybody making any connections to this warning to Syria and the bus bombing the other day? An errant U.S. missile that killed several Syrian civilians and injured others as it was trying to make its way from Iraq into Syria? The Pentagon apologized for that later, saying it was a mistake. Although I suspect many in Syria are doubtful whether or not that was a mistake.
GORANI: Yes. This has been brought up not on an official level, but many people on the streets and in terms of popular Arab reaction, refer to that incident as something that according to them proves that the U.S.-led action, military action in Iraq is bound to produce civilian casualties. So this is something that has been brought up.
However, officially, it was not communicated to us as part of the official reaction from the Syrian government. But of course that has done nothing to help ease relationships between the two countries -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Hala Gorani reporting from Amman, Jordan. Thanks very much, Hala, for that report.
Much more coverage of the war in Iraq coming up. We'll be back right after this very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 28, 2003 - 15:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Only within the past 90 minutes or so the Defense Secretary of the United States, Donald Rumsfeld, issued a stern warning to the Syrian government not to allow military equipment to be transferred across the border from Syria into Iraq; specifically night vision goggles.
CNN's Hala Gorani is standing by in Amman, Jordan. Hala, how are the Syrians likely to react to this pretty tough and public warning from the defense secretary?
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, just a few minutes ago we spoke to the spokeswoman of the Syrian Defense Ministry. She told me -- and I'm going to read word for word the statement that she dictated to me over the phone.
"This allegation is like many allegations that Donald Rumsfeld has made during this unnecessary war. It is absolutely unfounded. All that we see this war as doing is killing civilians, destroying hospitals, destroying museums, and killing women and children. The sooner this aggression against Iraq is stopped the better."
So that statement communicated to us here at CNN in Amman, Jordan just a few minutes ago. And it comes at a very tense time in Syria- U.S relations.
Just yesterday, Syrian President Bashar al Assad was quoted as saying in a Lebanese newspaper -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- that the American-British effort in Iraq will not succeed and that there will be Arab popular resistance anyway, and this has begun already. This, according to the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad.
What is clear, though, now, is that the U.S. is putting Syria on notice. It is telling Syria that it is watching its borders to make sure no aid or equipment flows through into Iraq. How this will play out between Syria and the U.S., namely the U.N. Security Council, because Syria, as you know, is a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, remains to be seen in the coming days -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Hala, is anybody making any connections to this warning to Syria and the bus bombing the other day? An errant U.S. missile that killed several Syrian civilians and injured others as it was trying to make its way from Iraq into Syria? The Pentagon apologized for that later, saying it was a mistake. Although I suspect many in Syria are doubtful whether or not that was a mistake.
GORANI: Yes. This has been brought up not on an official level, but many people on the streets and in terms of popular Arab reaction, refer to that incident as something that according to them proves that the U.S.-led action, military action in Iraq is bound to produce civilian casualties. So this is something that has been brought up.
However, officially, it was not communicated to us as part of the official reaction from the Syrian government. But of course that has done nothing to help ease relationships between the two countries -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Hala Gorani reporting from Amman, Jordan. Thanks very much, Hala, for that report.
Much more coverage of the war in Iraq coming up. We'll be back right after this very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
