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State Department Puts Pressure on Syria
Aired April 15, 2003 - 12:07 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, ANCHOR: I am Wolf Blitzer. I'm here in Doha, Qatar. That's the headquarters of the U.S. military Central Command, at least during this war in Iraq.
The war in Iraq clearly winding down. Major military operations now virtually over. They're beginning to enter into a new phrase.
At the same time, as we just heard from the secretary of state, a lot of the focus of attention on Syria, Iraq's neighbor to the north.
Let's check in with our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel. Andrea, why all this attention right now on Syria?
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, Wolf, some of the talk before the war in Iraq even began was about how the United States had hoped that the example that it would set by overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime and installing or helping to create and lay the groundwork for democracy in Iraq would sort of reflect and would circulate throughout the rest of the region.
And certainly Syria, one of seven countries that is on the U.S. so-called state sponsors of terrorism list, that country's name has come up. In fact you heard one of the foreign journalists ask the question, who is next? There's talk perhaps that Egypt could be next. There's talk perhaps that Saudi Arabia, both of these governments not democracies.
Now of course, in the last week or so, we've heard the Bush administration itself talk about this in -- rather, at length. And most recently yesterday, both Secretary of State Powell and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld spoke about it.
But you'll notice the tone and tenor, Wolf, is different. When you hear Secretary Powell speak about it, there is almost a very -- I don't want to say casual, but a less threatening tone in what he says, that Syria has a weapons of mass destruction program, that it's letting people go across the border both ways into Iraq and into Syria.
And when you heard Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld refer to this yesterday, Wolf, he specifically, pointedly mentioned Syria's weapons of mass destruction program something that he said was still ongoing and they had evidence that they had been testing chemical weapons in recent weeks -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Andrea, but beyond the whole issue of Iraq, there's another issue that's at the bottom, perhaps, at the top of this Bush administration concern. I've heard senior Bush administration officials say that Syria's support for Hezbollah, a group the State Department brands as a terrorist organization, the support, the financial support, the logistical support in Lebanon and elsewhere, is not a whole lot different than what the former Taliban regime support for Al Qaeda was in Afghanistan.
This is a serious issue, as far as many top Bush administration officials are concerned. How strongly is the State Department leaning on Syria to cut off, to end its support for Hezbollah?
KOPPEL: Well, that's why it's on the list of state sponsors of terrorism because of its support for both Hezbollah and Hamas and other rejectionist groups, Wolf.
And certainly that is what a lot of these public statements are about. The U.S., the Bush administration, is trying to capitalize on its recent success in Iraq to scare Syria and to scare Iran and to scare other governments that have been supporting terrorism.
Those messages are going out very publicly through the media. Both the president, Secretary Powell, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, all of them really trying to shake things up. And they have gotten the attention of Damascus and the very -- as Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, pointed out yesterday, the very inexperienced new president of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad, who's only been in power for three years.
One State Department official told me yesterday, Wolf, he said that the concern is that if Syria does not end its weapons program which, by the way, the U.S. admits has been going on for the last at least ten years. If it doesn't end that program that the U.S. fears those chemical or biological weapons could end up in the hands of some of those people you just mentioned, Hezbollah or Hamas terrorists, and that they could become another Al Qaeda.
This, of course, is the rhetoric coming out of the Bush administration now and that some critics of the war in Iraq before it began said, why is the U.S. focusing so much attention on Iraq and not on other countries whose governments we know support terrorism like Syria and like North Korea. Both governments of which have these weapons programs, Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department, Andrea covering an important issue for us. Thanks very much.
One issue, of course, still very much on the minds of many U.S. military personnel, the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks outside Beirut. They blame Hezbollah directly for that. Killed some 241 U.S. Marines and other military personnel. Scores to be settled still on that front. A lot of long memories clearly resulting in some of the concern being expressed towards Syria right now and its connection with Hezbollah.
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 April 15, 2003 - 12:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: I am Wolf Blitzer. I'm here in Doha, Qatar. That's the headquarters of the U.S. military Central Command, at least during this war in Iraq.
The war in Iraq clearly winding down. Major military operations now virtually over. They're beginning to enter into a new phrase.
At the same time, as we just heard from the secretary of state, a lot of the focus of attention on Syria, Iraq's neighbor to the north.
Let's check in with our State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel. Andrea, why all this attention right now on Syria?
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, Wolf, some of the talk before the war in Iraq even began was about how the United States had hoped that the example that it would set by overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime and installing or helping to create and lay the groundwork for democracy in Iraq would sort of reflect and would circulate throughout the rest of the region.
And certainly Syria, one of seven countries that is on the U.S. so-called state sponsors of terrorism list, that country's name has come up. In fact you heard one of the foreign journalists ask the question, who is next? There's talk perhaps that Egypt could be next. There's talk perhaps that Saudi Arabia, both of these governments not democracies.
Now of course, in the last week or so, we've heard the Bush administration itself talk about this in -- rather, at length. And most recently yesterday, both Secretary of State Powell and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld spoke about it.
But you'll notice the tone and tenor, Wolf, is different. When you hear Secretary Powell speak about it, there is almost a very -- I don't want to say casual, but a less threatening tone in what he says, that Syria has a weapons of mass destruction program, that it's letting people go across the border both ways into Iraq and into Syria.
And when you heard Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld refer to this yesterday, Wolf, he specifically, pointedly mentioned Syria's weapons of mass destruction program something that he said was still ongoing and they had evidence that they had been testing chemical weapons in recent weeks -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Andrea, but beyond the whole issue of Iraq, there's another issue that's at the bottom, perhaps, at the top of this Bush administration concern. I've heard senior Bush administration officials say that Syria's support for Hezbollah, a group the State Department brands as a terrorist organization, the support, the financial support, the logistical support in Lebanon and elsewhere, is not a whole lot different than what the former Taliban regime support for Al Qaeda was in Afghanistan.
This is a serious issue, as far as many top Bush administration officials are concerned. How strongly is the State Department leaning on Syria to cut off, to end its support for Hezbollah?
KOPPEL: Well, that's why it's on the list of state sponsors of terrorism because of its support for both Hezbollah and Hamas and other rejectionist groups, Wolf.
And certainly that is what a lot of these public statements are about. The U.S., the Bush administration, is trying to capitalize on its recent success in Iraq to scare Syria and to scare Iran and to scare other governments that have been supporting terrorism.
Those messages are going out very publicly through the media. Both the president, Secretary Powell, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, all of them really trying to shake things up. And they have gotten the attention of Damascus and the very -- as Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, pointed out yesterday, the very inexperienced new president of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad, who's only been in power for three years.
One State Department official told me yesterday, Wolf, he said that the concern is that if Syria does not end its weapons program which, by the way, the U.S. admits has been going on for the last at least ten years. If it doesn't end that program that the U.S. fears those chemical or biological weapons could end up in the hands of some of those people you just mentioned, Hezbollah or Hamas terrorists, and that they could become another Al Qaeda.
This, of course, is the rhetoric coming out of the Bush administration now and that some critics of the war in Iraq before it began said, why is the U.S. focusing so much attention on Iraq and not on other countries whose governments we know support terrorism like Syria and like North Korea. Both governments of which have these weapons programs, Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Andrea Koppel at the State Department, Andrea covering an important issue for us. Thanks very much.
One issue, of course, still very much on the minds of many U.S. military personnel, the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks outside Beirut. They blame Hezbollah directly for that. Killed some 241 U.S. Marines and other military personnel. Scores to be settled still on that front. A lot of long memories clearly resulting in some of the concern being expressed towards Syria right now and its connection with Hezbollah.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
