Ease Up on Syria Threats

The Bush administration and some members of Congress are saying things that make many worry that U.S. and British forces might cross into neighboring Syria for a preemptive attack on President Bashar Assad’s regime. The United States should take that card off the table.

Soon after war began in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld accused Syria of letting weapons flow to the battlefields. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell demanded that Damascus stop supporting terrorism. And on Sunday President Bush expanded the charge sheet against Syria, saying the nation possessed chemical weapons -- one of the concerns that led the United States and Britain to invade Iraq. Bush demanded that Syria “cooperate” with Washington and not shelter Iraqi military officials or members of the Baath Party, which ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The White House kept up the withering criticism of Syria on Monday, with a spokesman calling it a “rogue nation.”

It is imperative, of course, that the world hold Hussein’s top people accountable for crimes including torture, murder and the use of chemical weapons. Syria must understand its obligation to hand over any accused Iraqi officials within its territory. Although the invasion of Iraq was unpopular in the Middle East -- despite antipathy toward Hussein -- Assad should not believe that allowing Iraqi officials and generals to cross into Syria will make him a hero in Arab lands. Even if that were true, the risk of angering Washington would probably be greater than any gain in stature among Muslims.

For its part, though, the United States has plenty to do in Iraq -- trying to restrain looters and fighting scattered Hussein stalwarts and self-proclaimed jihadists, for example -- without letting “mission creep” push it into other countries.

Even if Syria can be trusted in saying it has closed its borders and does not have chemical weapons, it’s not above reproach. Although the Syrian army has not played a role in Iraq, there are credible reports of Syrians and other Arabs traveling through Syria to fight U.S. troops in Iraq. And Syria was a charter member of the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorism and continues to be a key supporter of terrorist groups devoted to the destruction of Israel, including Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. If it cuts ties to those groups because of the threat from Washington, that would be a bonus from the war. But now that the United States has made its point about what it considers unacceptable behavior in Damascus, it should cool the rhetoric.

Powell said Monday that Washington would consider diplomatic and economic measures to influence Syria. Unless someone shows that nation to be a clear danger to the U.S., that approach remains the best option -- and the best way to avoid playing into the perception of many in the world that the U.S. is an imperialist power trying to remake the Middle East at gunpoint.