Syrian Accuses U.S. of Bias in Mideast

The Syrian ambassador to the United States said Thursday that President Bush was unfairly criticizing Syria for having troops in Lebanon when he should speak out more forcefully about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

“The U.S. has a double-standard approach to the Middle East,” Imad Moustapha said. “The U.S. continually criticizes Syria for the presence of troops in Lebanon ... compared to the horrendous Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, [with which] the U.S. is very comfortable.”

He brushed aside U.S. suggestions that Syria is seeking to delay its withdrawal from Lebanon. “The actual move is happening on the ground,” he said. “It will take not a long time.”

In the wake of the Feb. 14 assassination for former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Bush demanded that Syria pull out of Lebanon and stop what he called its support for international terrorist groups.

Hariri had resigned as prime minister last year amid a political battle over Syria’s longtime occupation of Lebanon. It was unknown who killed him, but many Lebanese blamed Syria.

Moustapha denied any Syrian involvement, saying the assassination may have been the work of “Syria’s enemies” to cause suspicion and international condemnation of Syria.

He declined to identify any enemies. “I am not a conspiracy theorist,” he said.

At a news conference before a lecture at San Diego State University, Moustapha suggested that Bush was criticizing Syria to divert attention from the U.S. failure to stop the “spiral of violence and lawlessness” in Iraq.

“Sometimes I think America likes to move from one crisis to another in the Middle East,” he said. “At one time all the focus was on Iraq. Now it’s Syria.”

The United States has asserted that Saddam Hussein loyalists now based in Syria are fueling the insurgency in Iraq.

Moustapha, a computer specialist and a former dean at the University of Damascus, was invited to San Diego to address the Charles Hostler Institute on World Affairs, whose motto is “Audiatur et altera para,” or “Let the other side be heard.”

He portrayed Bush as more given to rash decisions and heated rhetoric than his predecessors. “We had these same political disputes [during] eight years of President Clinton and four with Bush Sr.,” he said, “but our troops were next to your troops in the liberation of Kuwait.”