On November 11, 2003, the US Senate passed the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act by a vote of 89 to 4, aimed at imposing diplomatic and economic sanctions on Syria for its support of terrorism and its ongoing occupation of neighboring Lebanon. The state-controlled Syrian press, along with the Syrian-monitored Lebanese press, was demonstratively dismissive of the American legislative development.
The Syrian prime minister, Naji Otari, pointed out the absurd in the recent appointment of the new American ambassador, Margaret Scooby, to his country after the US Congress adopted the Syrian Accountability Act. SANA, Syria’s news agency, quoted Otari as saying that the appointment was indicative of “deceptive accusations made by the US administration against Syria” and of a disunified American government.
Regarding the substance of US accusations that Syria is a terror-supporting state, Otari said, “Syria has suffered a lot of terrorism and called for an international conference to recognize terrorism and to distinguish it from legitimate resistance against occupation, and that the US known well that its accusations against Syria are untrue, the same does the international community.” He noted that the US shot down a Syrian initiative to ban weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East, “because Israel owns 200 nuclear warheads.”
Echoing the Syrian press, a columnist in Lebanon’s A-Safir newspaper, Sateh Nouriddine, wrote, “Judging by the overwhelming support the act received in the Senate one could draw the conclusion that relations between Washington and Damascus have reached a point of no return. But this may not necessarily be true.” Nouriddine noted that, even though Washington told Damascus to keep a firm hold on Syria-based terrorist organizations, “both Damascus and Washington know that Syria cannot exert much pressure on the Palestinians, because they are part of an unresolved regional problem.” All Syria can do, according to the A-Safir article, is prevent terrorist leaders in Syria from appearing on Al-Jazeera and making threats against Israel and Washington. That being the case, the Lebanese columnist intimated, America is likely to understand the ineffectiveness of the new legislation.
The Syrian prime minister, Naji Otari, pointed out the absurd in the recent appointment of the new American ambassador, Margaret Scooby, to his country after the US Congress adopted the Syrian Accountability Act. SANA, Syria’s news agency, quoted Otari as saying that the appointment was indicative of “deceptive accusations made by the US administration against Syria” and of a disunified American government.
Regarding the substance of US accusations that Syria is a terror-supporting state, Otari said, “Syria has suffered a lot of terrorism and called for an international conference to recognize terrorism and to distinguish it from legitimate resistance against occupation, and that the US known well that its accusations against Syria are untrue, the same does the international community.” He noted that the US shot down a Syrian initiative to ban weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East, “because Israel owns 200 nuclear warheads.”
Echoing the Syrian press, a columnist in Lebanon’s A-Safir newspaper, Sateh Nouriddine, wrote, “Judging by the overwhelming support the act received in the Senate one could draw the conclusion that relations between Washington and Damascus have reached a point of no return. But this may not necessarily be true.” Nouriddine noted that, even though Washington told Damascus to keep a firm hold on Syria-based terrorist organizations, “both Damascus and Washington know that Syria cannot exert much pressure on the Palestinians, because they are part of an unresolved regional problem.” All Syria can do, according to the A-Safir article, is prevent terrorist leaders in Syria from appearing on Al-Jazeera and making threats against Israel and Washington. That being the case, the Lebanese columnist intimated, America is likely to understand the ineffectiveness of the new legislation.