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Reuters | Sky News |  PhotosMonday March 31, 05:54 AM |
Powell piles pressure on Syria By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has urged
Syria to abandon its support for "terrorist groups" and the regime of
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
In a speech to a powerful U.S. Jewish lobby group on Sunday, Powell
also said the United States would demand "more responsible behaviour" from
what Washington considers other potentially troublesome states, including
Iran.
"Syria ... now faces a critical choice," Powell said only two days
after the Pentagon aired accusations that military supplies were entering
Iraq from Syria.
"Syria can continue direct support for terrorist groups and the dying
regime of Saddam Hussein, or it can embark on a different and more hopeful
course," he said.
"Either way, Syria has the responsibility for its choices and for the
consequences."
Powell told a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee that the United States was monitoring "states that do not follow
acceptable patterns of behaviour" as part of the war on terrorism it
launched after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"It is now time for the international community to stand up and insist
that Iran end its support for terrorism," said Powell, a former Army
general who chaired the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Gulf
War.
"Tehran must stop pursuing weapons of mass destruction and the means to
deliver them."
Both Iran and Syria, the U.N. Security Council's only Arab member, came
under fire from Washington on Friday for their involvement in Iraq.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters the United States
would hold the Syrian government accountable for reported shipments of
materiel including night vision goggles to Iraq, calling them "hostile
acts."
Rumsfeld also claimed that armed Iraqi Shiite Muslim forces supported
by Iran were inside Iraq and warned that they would be considered
combatants if they interfered with U.S. or British forces in the country.
Syria and Iran both dismissed Rumsfeld's warnings. The Syrian Foreign
Ministry said Washington was trying to divert attention from "war crimes"
committed against Iraqi civilians. |
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