April 15, 2003 Keralamonitor.com

US brands Syria as "terrorist state"

Washington - In an unusual step to mount pressure on Syria, the White House on Monday branded that Arab country as a "terrorist state" and urged it not to harbor any supporters of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government."They do, indeed, harbor terrorists. Syria is a terrorist state," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, noting that Syria is listed as state sponsor of terrorism by the US State Department."The United States, for a considerable period of time, has saidthrough diplomatic channels that nations that are rogue nations need to clean up their act. They should not harbor terrorists. They should not produce weapons of mass destruction," Fleischer said.

US charges Syria on chemical weapons tests

WASHINGTON, April 14 - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday accused Syria of carrying out chemical weapons tests over the past 12 or 15 months. "I would say that we have seen the chemical weapons tests in Syria over the past 12 or 15 months," Rumsfeld told reporters after meeting Sabah al-Almad al-Sabah, Kuwaiti first prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, at the Pentagon.

Rumsfeld said the United States has "intelligence" showing that Syria has allowed Syrians and others to cross the border intoIraq. He claimed that these people are either armed or carrying leaflets indicating that they'll be rewarded if they kill Americans and members of the US-led coalition.

Rumsfeld also claimed that Washington has "intelligence" indicating that some Iraqi people have been allowed into Syria to stay or to transit.

US President George W. Bush on Sunday joined the whipping of Syria by accusing Damascus of having chemical weapons while his spokesman Ari Fleischer went further on Monday to brand Syria as a"terrorist state." US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who met al-Sabah earlier on Monday at the State Department, told reporters that Washington is considering diplomatic and economic sanctions against Syria provided the latter fails to change "behaviors."

In a statement issued Monday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry flatly denied US charges that Syria has chemical weapons or harboring fleeing Iraqi officials.

Two US aircraft carriers receive orders to depart Gulf region

WASHINGTON, April 14 -- Two US aircraft carrier battlegroups have received orders to leave the Persian Gulf this week and return to their home ports, defense officials said Monday. The USS Kitty Hawk will return to its base at Yokosuka, Japan, and the USS Constellation will return to San Diego, local media quoted an anonymous official as reporting.

Their departure reflects a winding down of the air campaign on Iraq, although the Pentagon is still sending more ground forces toKuwait and Iraq.The departure of the Kitty Hawk and the Constellation will leave only one carrier in the Gulf -- the USS Nimitz, which just arrived to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln is headingback to its home port of Everett, Washington.

Vice Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of all naval forces participating in the Iraq war, said Saturday that either the USS Theodore Roosevelt or the USS Harry S. Truman battle groups, both in the eastern Mediterranean, may be sent home soon. Each aircraft carrier, with about 70 aircraft aboard, is accompanied by a battle group of destroyers, cruisers and other ships, plus a submarine.

Syria's Assad holds talks with British official on Iraq

DAMASCUS, April 14 -- Amid increasing US accusations on Syria, President Bashar al-Assad met here Monday with visiting British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien to discuss the post-war Iraq. In a statement issued after the meeting, O'Brien said he briefedAssad on the US-led coalition's plans on rebuilding post-war Iraq, including creating an interim Iraqi authority as soon as possible to "enable the Iraqis to frame a new constitution and hold elections."

"(Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein is finished. The coalition will go home as soon as the Iraqi people have an elected government," O'Brien said. The meeting between Assad and O'Brien came amid the increasing US accusations against Syria for supporting the ousted Iraqi regime, having chemical weapons and possibly harbouring top fugitive Iraqi officials sought by the US-led coalition.

The US accusations on Syria, which is on a list of countries accused of sponsoring terrorism, have stirred fears that hawks in Washington could target Syria or Iran for the next war in the region.

Syria has strongly opposed the US-led war on Iraq and feared that the war could lead to the division of Iraq resulting in the establishment of a Kurdish state in Iraq's north.But O'Brien assured Assad that Iraq's territorial integrity would be preserved, addressing fears by Syria, Turkey and Iran thatIraq could be divided into several states including a Kurdish state.

O'Brien's visit to Damascus was part of a series of talks on post-war Iraq held between Britain and Iraq's neighbors. Despite the US accusations on Syria, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw pledged in Kuwait Monday that Syria was not "next on thelist" for military action. He urged Damascus to change its attitudenow that Saddam's regime was gone.

Coalition Controls All Iraqi Oil Fields

 

All oil fields in Iraq now fall within areas controlled by the U.S. coalition, but it will likely be at least a few weeks before crude is flowing from Iraq again, an American general said Monday.Allied forces had previously secured all 1,000 oil wells in southern Iraq. Kurdish allies last week seized the northern oil city of Kirkuk, Iraq's No. 2 oil center, which pumps as much as 900,000 barrels a day.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks spoke at a U.S. Central Command briefing in Doha, Qatar."There is one well we discovered in the north in recent days that is still burning, and that will be addressed as soon as we can do so," he added.

Brooks said it probably will be at least a few weeks before oil is flowing from Iraq again because fields in the north and south need to be cleared of explosives and repaired. Further work will be needed even after that, he said.

Syria Denies Chemical Arms, Aiding Iraq

"Frankly the oil system has been neglected by the regime for a number of years," he said. "The potential of the oil fields and oil structure in Iraq is much greater than the reality of how it's been operating for decades. And we think that can be restored over time, but it will take time to do that."

Iraq has the world's second-largest proven crude reserves, at 112 billion barrels, but its pipelines, pumping stations and oil reservoirs have suffered for years from a dearth of funds and lack of maintenance. In recent years, oil has accounted for 95 percent of Iraq's revenue, an estimated $22 billion a year.

On Sunday, Kuwaiti firefighters extinguished the last oil well fire in Iraq's southern Rumeila field. Since the war began, firefighters have put out fires at four Iraqi oil wells that were sabotaged by Saddam Hussein's loyalists. Another seven wells sabotaged by Iraqis went out by themselves. Saddam's forces booby-trapped hundreds of Kuwait's oil wells after invading the country in 1990, and blew them up during the 1991 Gulf War as U.S. forces drove them out of Kuwait. It took months for the fires to be put out.