Don’t Reward a Terrorist State : Syria must end its connection to atrocities before Washington grants any concessions

Given the chance to condemn terrorism publicly during his joint news conference with President Clinton in Damascus this week, Syria’s President Hafez Assad chose instead to maintain an aloof silence. Asked about his own country’s role in sponsoring and harboring terrorists, he could do no better than lamely assert that no one can prove Syria’s guilt in these matters. These are not encouraging responses from the leader of a country that, this year as in years past, occupies a lead place on the State Department’s list of countries involved in terrorism.

That Syria is officially and rightly condemned for state terrorism means that Clinton assumed certain political risks when he decided to honor Assad by visiting him in his capital. Assad, while clearly relishing the honor, did nothing, however, to help out his visitor. Assad even denied that the subject of Syria’s terrorism came up in his three or four hours of talks with Clinton. Clinton himself indicated the issue did too come up, but he does not seem to have pressed it forcefully. No doubt his rationale was that in the limited time available he wanted to focus on what Syria could do to move its peace negotiations with Israel along. Still, it’s obvious Clinton missed a rare opportunity to make clear in plain and vigorous language that so long as Syria continues to play the terrorism game its relations with the United States will suffer.

It has been left to others to make that point, most immediately to Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), who is on the Intelligence Committee. Both men accompanied Clinton to Damascus. Both also indicated after the Clinton-Assad meeting that they will oppose better relations with Syria until Assad acts to shut down the terrorist groups whose headquarters he permits in Damascus and Hezbollah, which operates out of Syrian-controlled southern Lebanon and which still receives a steady flow of Syrian arms and explosives.

Assad has always been shrewd in keeping his options open. Presumably he continues to regard Syria’s association with terrorism--something that burnishes his own credentials among Arabs as a radical activist--as one more card to play in the long poker game of Middle East politics. If he ever gives it up it will be in exchange for something of high value. In fact he has things backward. What Washington should make emphatically clear is that first Syria must end its involvement with terrorism, then it will be possible to consider a closer bilateral relationship.

It’s regrettable that in this, the second face-to-face meeting he has had with Assad since becoming President, Clinton didn’t seize the chance to deliver that message unambiguously.