Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, State Sec
Condoleezza Rice says both Syria and Iran are allowing fighters and
military assistance to reach insurgents in Iraq. The US refuses to rule
out possible military action against Syria but says it had not exhausted
diplomatic moves to get Damascus to change its ways over Iraq and
Lebanon. "Syria and Iran must decide whether they wish to side with
the cause of war or with the cause of peace", Rice said at a
hearing called to discuss US strategy in Iraq, where more than 150,000
US troops are struggling to end an insurgency. Pressed by senators over
whether the Bush administration was planning military action against
Syria in particular, Rice said the US was still on a "diplomatic
course" with Damascus but the military option remained open.
"The president never takes any option off the table and he
shouldn't", said Rice when asked about a military option. The
Bush administration has accused Syria of doing too little to stop
foreign fighters from entering neighbouring Iraq. Syria, in turn, says
the US has not done enough to secure the border or deliver technical
help it has promised. Rice declined to say whether the president would
present any plans to Congress in advance of starting any possible
military action against Syria, saying she did not want to circumscribe his powers. Her strong criticism of Syria came as the UN was preparing
to release a report on Oct 21 on the assassination last February of
Rafik al-Hariri, the former Lebanese PM. The US, France and others, say
they believe Syria might have played a role in the killing of Hariri and
20 others in a bombing in Beirut on Feb. 14 and are calling for strong
action if that is the case. Pres Bashar Al Assad of Syria has said that
his country was not involved in Hariri's death, and he reiterated
this in an interview with a German newspaper released on Oct 19, telling
Die Zeit that Syria is "100 percent innocent".
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