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U.S. Lawmakers Call on Bush Administration to Implement Syria Sanctions By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — Four months after legislation was enacted to create sanctions against Syria for failing to end its suspected WMD activities and support for terrorism, two U.S. lawmakers publicly called on the Bush administration yesterday to implement the penalties (see GSN, March 26). “Here we are, over four months since the president signed the bill, we’re still waiting on the administration to hold Syria accountable. It’s really unacceptable,” U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol with Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). Engel and Ros-Lehtinen were the chief sponsors in the House of Representatives of the Syria Accountability Act, which was signed late last year by President George W. Bush. The law bans U.S. exports of military and dual-use items to Syria and requires the president to impose at least two additional sanctions from a list of six diplomatic and economic measures. The act also allows the president to waive the penalties if they would interfere with U.S. national security interests. While the dual-use ban has been in effect since the bill was signed, the Bush administration has yet to decide which of the additional sanctions to implement against Damascus. In the past two months, public statements by senior Bush administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as a number of media reports citing unnamed officials, all indicated that the White House was close to making a decision. However, no formal announcement on the sanctions has yet been made. Engel charged that Syria is continuing to seek weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, and still supports various terrorist groups. As an example, he cited media reports that recently captured suspects acquired materials in Syria for a foiled plot to conduct chemical attacks in Jordan (see GSN, April 27). “While Syrian behavior has gotten worse, the law has not been implemented. I don’t understand it,” Engel said. He also stressed that he and other supporters of the sanctions had been “patient” in waiting for the Bush administration to implement the measures included in the law. “We’ve tried to cajole in private and urge implementation in public hearings. But my patience has run out. The time is long since past for the president to implement this legislation. I demand that the law be implemented now,” Engel said. While also calling for the new sanctions, Ros-Lehtinen said she attributed the delay to the Bush administration’s efforts to craft an even stronger response to Damascus. “We look forward to working with the president to bring justice to our enemy, and I sincerely hope that the reason for the delay has been that the administration wants to go beyond our bill and seek even more punitive measures against Damascus,” she said. The U.S. State Department said yesterday that implementation of the Syria Accountability Act was still being considered. “I think we’ve made clear that the Syrian Accountability Act requires us to take certain actions in the absence of Syrian actions. … We are taking our responsibilities under that legislation seriously and will make an announcement at the appropriate time,” State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. The Syrian Embassy in Washington did not return calls for comment. Engel suggested yesterday that if the White House did not move quickly to impose sanctions, then Congress might have to step in to force the issue. “We will develop new legislation which will implement the law, and this time no discretion will be provided to the White House while sanctions are toughened. I would rather not go that route, but the inaction may leave us with no choice,” he said. In a less challenging tone, Ros-Lehtinen said that she is drafting new legislation, the Syria and Lebanon Liberation Act, which would provide the “next phase of punitive measures” against Syria. According to Ros-Lehtinen, the bill would codify previous sanctions imposed against Syria, call for penalties against individuals and countries providing aid to Damascus and establish an assistance program for human rights and pro-democracy groups working in Syria and Lebanon. The bill would also call for the United States to conduct a set of diplomatic efforts with several international organizations to achieve the legislation’s aims, with a “special emphasis” placed on the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency, she said. Some independent experts have said, however, that the United States would be better served by using incentives, instead of “punitive measures,” in its relations with Syria. In a report released last month, Claude Salhani of the CATO Institute in Washington warned that the Syria Accountability Act would do little to encourage Damascus to cooperate with Washington on issues such as counterterrorism, and may instead backfire against U.S. interests. “Alienating Damascus and consigning Syria to the diplomatic doghouse — as the Syria Accountability Act does — will result in Washington having less leverage to apply on Syria and, by extension, less leverage over terrorist groups,” Salhani wrote. Salhani wrote that the economic impact on Syria of the sanctions included in the act would be minor because of the relatively low value of trade Damascus conducts with the United States — less than $275 million worth of exports to the United States in 2002. The act could have, though, a greater negative symbolic impact, he wrote. “The loss of face for the Syrian government may provoke a hostile response, or may further weaken [Syrian President Bashar] Assad to the benefit of more radical elements of the Baath Party,” Salhani wrote. In his press conference yesterday, however, Representative Engel had little positive to say regarding Assad. “We had hoped that when young Mr. Assad took over, he would change the ways of his father. If you want my opinion, I think it’s gotten worse, because I think his father at least had the strength to make a decision when he wanted to make a decision. I don’t know that Mr. Assad has the strength, and I believe that he’s relying on the most reactionary elements within Damascus and therefore never makes a move against terrorism,” Engel said.
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