Tension Over Syria Easing

Signaling an easing of tensions with Syria, President Bush said Sunday that he believes that officials in Damascus are “getting the message” that they should not harbor fleeing leaders of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime.

A week after the White House denounced Iraq’s western neighbor as a “rogue nation,” Bush said he is now confident that “the Syrian government has heard us. And I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us.”

Bush’s conciliatory comments, made after he attended Easter services at Ft. Hood, Texas, came as two congressmen reported that Syrian President Bashar Assad had assured them that he would help the United States with any escaping members of Hussein’s regime.

Reps. Darrell E. Issa (R-Vista) and Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.) met with Assad in Damascus, the Syrian capital, for more than two hours Sunday. It was the first high-level meeting between U.S. and Syrian officials since the start of the Iraq war, and came amid Syria’s fears that it could be the next target of the U.S. military.

Assad said “he would not grant asylum to any Iraqi war criminal” and would expel those whom he did find, Issa said in an interview from Doha, Qatar, adding, “Asked in the right way, I think we can get some cooperation.”

In another development with Syria on Sunday, the exile Iraqi National Congress said Jamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al Tikriti, Hussein’s son-in-law, had returned to Baghdad from Syria and surrendered to members of the group. U.S. Central Command in Doha and the CIA were unable to confirm the report.

A spokesman in London for the exile group told Associated Press that Sultan, who is married to Hussein’s youngest daughter, Hala, would be turned over to U.S. authorities and that he was accompanied by Khalid Hmood, one of Hussein’s bodyguards. The former deputy chief of tribal affairs, Sultan is No. 40 on Central Command’s list of most-wanted Iraqis.

Central Command officials did announce Sunday that another senior Iraqi leader, the former minister of higher education and scientific research, had been captured Saturday. Humam Abd al Khaliq Abd al Ghafur was No. 54 on the list.

In Baghdad, the job of stabilizing the capital is now in the hands of the U.S. Army. Marines pulled out of the city Sunday, and early today, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who is overseeing Iraq’s reconstruction, arrived from Kuwait.

On the eve of Garner’s arrival, debate intensified on how long the United States would have to remain in Iraq. Although some administration officials have suggested that U.S. forces might be out in less than a year, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday that the United States would need to be in Iraq for at least five years -- and would need to begin building democratic institutions from the grass roots.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) said U.S. officials are beginning a process of “town meetings” and have to mount an effort to find Iraqis willing to work together on fashioning a democratic country.

He said Iraq needs to develop a federalist system that would allow the diverse parts of the nation -- the Kurdish north, the Sunni center and the Shiite south -- a measure of autonomy within a central framework.

“This is why we need to have a long-range time frame,” Lugar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

On another subject of increasing comment, he said the United States could not allow Iraq to elect a theocratic Islamic government like that of neighboring Iran.

“I just think we cannot,” he said. “The thought of going to elections prematurely is disastrous.”

Some Iraqis, seeing the long-suppressed Shiites asserting their political rights, have raised concerns that Shiites aim to establish an Islamic state in Iraq.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” agreed with Lugar that it was not in the U.S. interest to permit the election of a conservative Islamic government. “Obviously, we don’t want this to turn into a Muslim state,” he said.

The head of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmad Chalabi, whom some in Washington would like to see assume a leadership role in a new government, predicted on ABC’s “This Week” that a U.S. military presence would be required until “at least the first democratic election is held. And I think this process should take two years.”

As for the role of religious conservatives in the government, “There is a role for the Islamic religious parties ... because they have some constituency. But they are not going to be forcing any agenda or forcing a theocracy on the Iraqi people,” he said. “They are committed to being part of the democratic process in Iraq.”

In Baghdad, Iraqi Christians observed Easter with mixed emotions -- happy that the war was over, leaving them free to celebrate, but anxious about continuing insecurity in the city and fearful that the shifting political sands would leave them more vulnerable than before. Christians make up only about 3% of the population.

The feast is the most joyful of the Christian calendar, and churches in Baghdad were packed to overflowing. But joy and hope seemed far away to many worshipers, even as they engaged in the usual activities of coloring eggs, making candy and visiting with friends and relatives.

“It is a hard time, and certainly we cannot take any great pleasure this year,” said Ebtsam Fayek, a 32-year-old teacher emerging from Mass at the Chaldean Catholic Church of St. Joseph.

She said the war had divided her family. Her parents fled to the north, she said, and she has not had any news of them and wonders when they will return.

“I am not very happy this year,” she said. “I hope I will see them soon.”

Power reportedly was restored to some sections of eastern Baghdad, but parishioners complained of the lack of electricity and the delay in the return of public services. Although midnight services are customary for Easter, the service was held at 10 a.m. because of the insecurity, said Wafa Wadya, 40.

Asked about Easter hopes, Bashar Hassem, a 23-year-old student of the Baghdad Technology Institute, said, “We wish for Iraq to be everything it was in the past and more.... But I don’t think that all we hope for will happen.”

As Baghdad’s Christians celebrated Easter, Shiite Muslims by the thousands continued a 50-mile pilgrimage from the capital south to the city of Karbala, the first time since Hussein’s rise to power that they could march and sing openly. More than 1 million people are expected in Karbala on Tuesday for a Shiite religious holiday.

On the radio in Baghdad on Sunday, a U.S.-sponsored information channel announced an 11 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew. The rules formalized what has been practice for most Baghdadis; very few people go out after dark because of the frequent gunfire.

In an encouraging development, a U.N. convoy of food aid reached Baghdad and was put under the guard of U.S. troops. It is the first food aid to reach the capital since the war began.

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Richter reported from Washington and Daniszewski from Baghdad. Times staff writers Edwin Chen in Crawford, Texas; Jesus Sanchez in Los Angeles; and Bob Drogin in Washington contributed to this report.