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04-21-2003, 02:02 PM
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 4/21/2003
ASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday sought to tone down some of his administration's sharp rhetoric against Syria and North Korea and diminish expectations that the United States is planning military intervention in those two nations following the war against Iraq.
After weeks of US complaints that Syria is sheltering members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, Bush said that ''there's been some positive signs'' in Syria. ''They're getting the message that they should not harbor Ba'ath Party officials, high-ranking Iraqi officials.'' At another point, Bush added his strongest expression of confidence yet about Syria, saying, ''I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us.'' He made the remarks after attending Easter services at the Army's Fort Hood, near his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Just a few hours later, it was announced that Hussein's son-in-law, Jamal Mustafa Sultan Tikriti, yesterday left Syria and turned himself over to the Iraqi National Congress, which is expected to hand him over to US forces. He is the nine of clubs in the US deck of playing cards that is distributed to soldiers to publicize the identity of top-ranking former Iraqi officials sought by coalition forces. It was not immediately clear whether Syrian officials played a role in the matter.
Bush also sought to cool the rhetoric against North Korea, which the president has called part of the ''axis of evil.'' Bush said he now thinks there is a ''good chance'' that the communist leadership in North Korea will end its nuclear weapon programs.
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For now, the United States appears to be embarking on an ambitious diplomatic approach with Syria and North Korea. US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is planning to visit Syria soon for high-level talks in Damascus, and US officials may meet as early as Wednesday with officials from North Korea and China, which the United States hopes will play a key role in the talks.
''The key thing on the North Korea agenda is that China is assuming a very important responsibility,'' Bush said. ''Now that they're engaged in the process, it makes it more likely'' that talks could proceed and be successful.
Bush's confidence that Syria is cooperating with the US request to turn away Hussein associates may have been bolstered by talks yesterday between two American congressmen and Syria's president, Bashar Assad. US Representatives Darrell Issa, Republican of California, and Nick Rahall, Democrat of West Virginia, said after meeting with Assad that they had been assured that Syria would not harbor Hussein or his associates.
''We got a specific commitment that he will not harbor any war criminals and he will expel any that get into the country,'' Issa said on ABC's ''This Week'' with George Stephanopoulos. ''And we're conveying that back to the United States, and hopefully we can count on him to enforce that promise.''
The congressmen also said that Assad, whose government reportedly has chemical weapons of its own making, did not receive any weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi government of Hussein.
''Trying to package Syria and Iraq together is not a correct understanding of the issue here,'' Rahall said. ''And President Assad, indeed, Syria, is not America's enemy. They do not want to be America's enemy. And they are making every effort to address these issues, and progress is being made.'' Last September, Rahall visited Iraq in an unsuccessful effort to prevent a US war against that country.
But one of the key proponents of the US war against Iraq yesterday said Assad should be ousted - or at least substantially modify his behavior.
''I think Syria needs a regime change,'' former CIA director James Woolsey said on NBC's ''Meet the Press.'' ''But, as the president said once of Iraq, in a sense that could come about by behavior change.
''What Syria has been doing recently in apparently helping sponsor terrorism inside Iraq, as Bashar Assad said on March 27 that he wanted Iraq to become like Lebanon was for the Americans in the early '80s, which means suicide bombers and the rest ... the Ba'athists in Syria and Iraq really are fascist parties,'' he said.
''They are designed after the fascist and communist parties of the 1930s,'' Woolsey added. ''They look like them, they act like them, they are anti-Semitic like them. And I think that we ought to some extent here call a spade a spade.''
Bush, meanwhile, said he was not concerned about demonstrations in which Iraqis have urged the departure of American forces.
''I'm not worried,'' Bush said. ''Freedom is beautiful. And when people are free, they express their opinions and you know - you couldn't - they couldn't express their opinions before we came. Now they can.
''I always said democracy is going to be hard. It's not easy to go from being enslaved to being free,'' Bush said. ''But it's going to happen because the basic instincts of mankind is to be free. They want to be free. And so, sure, there's going to be people expressing their opinions, and we welcome that. Just like here in America. People can express their opinions.''
Asked whether he believed Hussein is still alive, Bush said that he only knew that ''Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. ... That's for certain. He was in power, and now he is not, and therefore the Iraqi people's lives will be much better off.
''If he is alive,'' the president added, ''I would suggest he not pop his head up.''
Material from Globe wire services was used in this report. Michael Kranish can be reached at kranish@globe.com.
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 4/21/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/111/nation/Bush_moves_to_ease_the_rhetoric_targeting_Syria_No rth_Korea+.shtml
ASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday sought to tone down some of his administration's sharp rhetoric against Syria and North Korea and diminish expectations that the United States is planning military intervention in those two nations following the war against Iraq.
After weeks of US complaints that Syria is sheltering members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, Bush said that ''there's been some positive signs'' in Syria. ''They're getting the message that they should not harbor Ba'ath Party officials, high-ranking Iraqi officials.'' At another point, Bush added his strongest expression of confidence yet about Syria, saying, ''I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us.'' He made the remarks after attending Easter services at the Army's Fort Hood, near his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Just a few hours later, it was announced that Hussein's son-in-law, Jamal Mustafa Sultan Tikriti, yesterday left Syria and turned himself over to the Iraqi National Congress, which is expected to hand him over to US forces. He is the nine of clubs in the US deck of playing cards that is distributed to soldiers to publicize the identity of top-ranking former Iraqi officials sought by coalition forces. It was not immediately clear whether Syrian officials played a role in the matter.
Bush also sought to cool the rhetoric against North Korea, which the president has called part of the ''axis of evil.'' Bush said he now thinks there is a ''good chance'' that the communist leadership in North Korea will end its nuclear weapon programs.
| Complete coverage |
LATEST NEWS
US ex-general lands in Baghdad
Syria says it wants dialogue with US
Leader: Hussein moving around Iraq
A roundup of today's events
Developments Casualties
[ More news from AP ]
TODAY'S GLOBE
Test awaits in Baghdad
Bush eases rhetoric targeting Syria
War leaves many in sober mood
Hospitals cope in sea of wounded
Reconstruction time again
Official optimistic on UN's role
Missing: 5,000 years of history
Palaces' luxury opens eyes of poor
A struggle goes on in Nasiriyah
Strife feared if Shi'ites gain power
Bodies recovered of two soldiers
Walker: A warning to Baghdad
Op-Ed: Picturing war too clearly?
[ Globe stories from past week ]
PHOTO GALLERIES
See the latest front line photos
Baghdad after Saddam
Iraq photo journal
Iraq's National Museum looted
The liberation
of Baghdad
Saddam's statue is toppled
The taking
of Basra
With the
Army V Corps
More photo galleries from Iraq
MESSAGE BOARDS
Readers react to the war on Iraq
VIEWS ON WAR
Latest from the Globe opinion pages
A look at the antiwar movement
DISPATCHES
Globe correspondents send back their impressions of the Gulf region during these dangerous times.
Read more
GRAPHICS
Interactive map of Iraq
Comparison of US, Iraqi forces
Learn about coalition weaponry
More maps and graphics
TEXT
Speeches, reports, documents
For now, the United States appears to be embarking on an ambitious diplomatic approach with Syria and North Korea. US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is planning to visit Syria soon for high-level talks in Damascus, and US officials may meet as early as Wednesday with officials from North Korea and China, which the United States hopes will play a key role in the talks.
''The key thing on the North Korea agenda is that China is assuming a very important responsibility,'' Bush said. ''Now that they're engaged in the process, it makes it more likely'' that talks could proceed and be successful.
Bush's confidence that Syria is cooperating with the US request to turn away Hussein associates may have been bolstered by talks yesterday between two American congressmen and Syria's president, Bashar Assad. US Representatives Darrell Issa, Republican of California, and Nick Rahall, Democrat of West Virginia, said after meeting with Assad that they had been assured that Syria would not harbor Hussein or his associates.
''We got a specific commitment that he will not harbor any war criminals and he will expel any that get into the country,'' Issa said on ABC's ''This Week'' with George Stephanopoulos. ''And we're conveying that back to the United States, and hopefully we can count on him to enforce that promise.''
The congressmen also said that Assad, whose government reportedly has chemical weapons of its own making, did not receive any weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi government of Hussein.
''Trying to package Syria and Iraq together is not a correct understanding of the issue here,'' Rahall said. ''And President Assad, indeed, Syria, is not America's enemy. They do not want to be America's enemy. And they are making every effort to address these issues, and progress is being made.'' Last September, Rahall visited Iraq in an unsuccessful effort to prevent a US war against that country.
But one of the key proponents of the US war against Iraq yesterday said Assad should be ousted - or at least substantially modify his behavior.
''I think Syria needs a regime change,'' former CIA director James Woolsey said on NBC's ''Meet the Press.'' ''But, as the president said once of Iraq, in a sense that could come about by behavior change.
''What Syria has been doing recently in apparently helping sponsor terrorism inside Iraq, as Bashar Assad said on March 27 that he wanted Iraq to become like Lebanon was for the Americans in the early '80s, which means suicide bombers and the rest ... the Ba'athists in Syria and Iraq really are fascist parties,'' he said.
''They are designed after the fascist and communist parties of the 1930s,'' Woolsey added. ''They look like them, they act like them, they are anti-Semitic like them. And I think that we ought to some extent here call a spade a spade.''
Bush, meanwhile, said he was not concerned about demonstrations in which Iraqis have urged the departure of American forces.
''I'm not worried,'' Bush said. ''Freedom is beautiful. And when people are free, they express their opinions and you know - you couldn't - they couldn't express their opinions before we came. Now they can.
''I always said democracy is going to be hard. It's not easy to go from being enslaved to being free,'' Bush said. ''But it's going to happen because the basic instincts of mankind is to be free. They want to be free. And so, sure, there's going to be people expressing their opinions, and we welcome that. Just like here in America. People can express their opinions.''
Asked whether he believed Hussein is still alive, Bush said that he only knew that ''Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. ... That's for certain. He was in power, and now he is not, and therefore the Iraqi people's lives will be much better off.
''If he is alive,'' the president added, ''I would suggest he not pop his head up.''
Material from Globe wire services was used in this report. Michael Kranish can be reached at kranish@globe.com.
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 4/21/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/111/nation/Bush_moves_to_ease_the_rhetoric_targeting_Syria_No rth_Korea+.shtml