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Military Force Against Syria ‘Last Resort’: Bush
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"Nobody wants there to be a confrontation. On the other hand, there must be serious pressure applied," said Bush. (Reuters).
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DUBAI,
October 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – While
defending his Iraq adventure and reiterating support for the dead
roadmap for peace, US President George W. Bush has said that military
action was a last resort in dealing with Syria and he hoped Damascus
would cooperate with a probe into the killing of former Lebanese
premier Rafiq Al-Hariri.
"A
military (option) is always the last choice of a president," he
told Al-Arabiya television in an interview aired Tuesday, October 25,
when asked about a UN investigation that implicated Syrian officials
in the killing of Hariri, Reuters reported.
"I
am hoping that they will cooperate. It (military action) is the last
-- very last option," he said. "But on the other hand, you
know -- and I've worked hard for diplomacy and will continue to work
the diplomatic angle on this issue."
Reuters
obtained a transcript of the Bush interview, conducted in Washington
Monday, October 24, from the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya.
Bush
said Syria had to meet a set of demands from the international
community, including expelling Palestinian resistance groups,
preventing “insurgents” from crossing its borders into Iraq to
fight US forces, and ending Syrian interference in Lebanon.
"Nobody
wants there to be a confrontation. On the other hand, there must be
serious pressure applied," he said.
"In
other words, there are some clear demands by the world. And this (UN)
report, as I say, had serious implications for Syria, and the Syrian
government must take the demands of the free world very
seriously."
"I
certainly hope that people take a good look at the Mehlis report ...
there's clear implications about Syrians involvement in the death of a
foreign leader,"
Hariri
and 20 others were killed on Feb. 14 by a bomb in Beirut. The UN
report by German investigator Detlev Mehlis said the decision to kill
Hariri "could not have been taken without the approval of
top-ranked Syrian security officials" colluding with counterparts
in Lebanon.
Syria
has vigorously denied the accusations as politically biased.
Mehlis
is due to brief the UN Security Council about the results of his probe
later in the day.
Diplomats
said the United States and France were working on a resolution
demanding Syria, already under US sanctions, cooperate with the
investigation but may not seek to impose sanctions immediately.
Mideast
Peace
Bush
also said the United States was "fully committed" to the
roadmap to Middle East peace, drawn up by the United States, Russia,
the European Union and the United Nations.
"The
United States is fully committed to the roadmap, we're fully committed
to helping going forward, and we're fully committed to practical
things on the ground," Bush said.
Asked
about his statement during Palestinian leader Mahmmoud Abbas' visit to
Washington last week that he was uncertain a Palestinian state would
see the light of day before he ended his second term in office in
2009, Bush showed more optimism.
"Look,
I said I would like this to happen before I end being president. And I
would. And we are going to push," he said.
"Condi
(Foreign Minister Condoleezza Rice) and I talk about this all the
time... about how we'd very much like to see a Palestinian democracy
achieve its status as a state," he added referring to his
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I
think it would be a great historic achievement for everybody involved.
And so I did put out a firm date, and I'm going to work hard for that
date," he added.
"On
the other hand, you don't want an American president making decisions
for other people based upon his own political calendar, or his own
time in office, is what I really meant to say. I don't think it's
fair," Bush said.
"And
this is going to be a process, as you know, that will be two steps
forward and one step back, and two steps forward," he added.
Saddam
Trial
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Bush said the trial of Saddam Hussein is "fair" and must go ahead. (Reuters).).
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Wartime
Bush further said that the trial of deposed Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein is "fair" and must go ahead.
"The
key thing is that there will be a fair trial, which is something he
didn't give many of the thousands of people he killed," Bush
said.
"I
think the trial needs to go forward ... I think the people of Iraq
would like to see Saddam Hussein tried for the crimes he
committed," Bush said.
Saddam
and seven co-defendants face charges related to the killing of 148
Shiites from the village of Dujail following a failed attempt there on
the Iraqi leader's life in July 1982.
The
defendants have all claimed their innocence.
After
the first day in court October 19 the trial was adjourned until
November 28, in part because several witnesses were not present in the
court.
Asked
about the general elections planned for December in Iraq, Bush said
the US has no intention of interfering to determine the winners.
"The
United States will not pick a winner. That's going to be up to the
Iraqi people," Bush said.
Two
US Marines were killed in Iraq when their vehicle was hit by a
roadside bomb, pushing the total US military death toll since the 2003
invasion to 1,999, according to Reuters.
US
military casualties are now just one short of the headline-grabbing
2,000 figure -- which is expected to spur fresh calls for Bush to
outline an exit strategy.
Americans
are showing more discontent with Bush’s handling of Iraq, with new
poll results showing nearly six in 10 Americans worried about the
outcome of the war.
In
a poll published in September by the Foreign Affairs, the journal of
the Council on Foreign Relations, 56 percent of the polled said the US
was not meeting its objectives in Iraq.
With
the spiraling US death toll, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a possible
presidential candidate in 2008, said the longer the US bogged down in
Iraq, the more the conflict looked like another Vietnam War.
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