The Hindu

Friday, Oct 10, 2003

Damascus faces U.S. sanctions

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON OCT. 9. The U.S. is getting closer to slapping sanctions against
Syria. The Bush administration has apparently told Congress that it would
not stand in the way; and the House International Committee by a vote of 33
to 2 has voted to take Damascus to task until it expelled terror outfits and
limited its weapons programmes.

"I think for the first time the Congress is saying enough is enough. We're
fighting the war on terror and here is a country in my opinion that has a
worse record on terror than even Iraq," said the New York Democrat in the
House of Representatives, who is one of the chief sponsors of the bill. The
measure in Congress has broad bipartisan support in that about 280 members
in the House have signed on and about 75 members of the Senate have
sponsored it. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to hear
later this month on Syria and the sanctions bill will be part of this
exercise. The bill will seek to curb the sale of dual use technology,
prohibit American firms from operating in Syria and prohibit Syrian airlines
from entering the U.S. air space. The bill will also require the President
to restrict diplomatic contacts and impose trade sanctions but will exclude
items pertaining to food and medicine. The President can waive the sanctions
if he makes an argument to Congress that this is in the national security
interests.

On bilateral economic contacts, it is being said the interaction is
relatively small. The U.S. exports goods worth about $275 millions and
imports about $150 millions from Syria. But lawmakers say a message will
have to be sent.

Initially, the Bush administration opposed the bill saying that it would
limit the foreign policy options but had dropped its objections on the
impression that Damascus had not been forthcoming in its cooperation in the
war against terror. way.

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