Middle East References
April 29, 2004
Boston.com / News / World / Middle East / Lawmakers seek to pressure Syria
Boston.com / News / World / Middle East / Lawmakers seek to pressure Syria
Legislation eyed to give support to opposition forces
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | April 29, 2004
WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers yesterday said they are drafting legislation calling for active support of prodemocracy opposition forces in Syria and occupied Lebanon in what would mark the closest the US government has come to calling for the overthrow of President Bashar Al Assad of Syria.
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The Syria and Lebanon Liberation Act, expected to be completed this week and then brought before the House International Relations Committee, calls for a ''transition to free, democratic rule in Syria" and ''establishes a program of assistance to independent human rights and pro-democracy forces in Syria and Lebanon." The bill would approve grants for independent media broadcasts, according to a summary of the legislation.
In urging President Bush to take a harder stance against Damascus for its support of terrorist groups, Repsentatives Eliot Engel, Democrat of New York, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, also accused Syria yesterday of staging a terrorist attack Tuesday in the Syrian capital in an effort to avoid looming sanctions by the Bush Administration.
Assailants fired bullets and detonated a bomb under a car in the al-Mezze neighborhood of Damascus -- where many foreign diplomats reside -- but were intercepted by Syrian forces, the government-controlled media reported. Four people were killed, including two of the attackers.
But Engel called the attacks ''very suspect," saying it appeared the Syrian government staged the attack ''in an attempt to gain the sympathy and gratitude of the international community." Ros-Lehtinen called the incident a ''charade." They provided no evidence and the White House declined to comment on the statement.
The lawmakers' comments drew quick rebuke from Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Fayssal Mekdad. ''If it is true that some people are saying this, this is something shameful," he said in a telephone interview. ''This shows their insincerity in combatting terrorism. It's really ridiculous, unacceptable, and it shows a lack of responsibility at such a difficult time."
Despite widespread bipartisan support in Congress, the new measure is likely to spark controversy, recalling a similarly named act in 1998 that helped set the stage for last year's war in Iraq: the Iraq Liberation Act, which first stated that ''regime change" was US policy regarding Saddam Hussein. Some observers say such a policy could work against US interests. ''It is not convincing democratic or liberation forces that we have their best interests at heart," Theodore Kattouf, US ambassador to Syria until last September said of such a proposal. ''The reformers say 'you are killing us with these things.' "
Assad added to the standoff with Washington -- which has accused Syria of allowing terrorists to cross into Iraq -- saying yesterday in an interview with Al Jazeera television that attacks on US troops in Iraq are part of a ''legitimate" resistance against occupation. ''Public reaction. . . gives legitimacy to the resistance," he said.
Engel and Ros-Lehtinen' press conference yesterday was intended to urge the White House to implement legislation already on the books, the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act, passed overwhelmingly by both houses of Congress in December and signed by President Bush. Administration officials have said they plan to use some of the law's new authorities -- including diplomatic sanctions -- to punish Damascus, but have so far failed to take action.
The December act called on Syria to end its 20-year occupation of Lebanon, support for anti-Israel terrorist groups and weapons of mass destruction programs. An administration official repeated earlier White House statements yesterday that it will implement the law.
''The Syrian Accountability Act is an important piece of legislation that the administration supported," said a senior administration official who asked not to be named. ''It does not contain timelines and we are working steadily to devise a plan that will have a real impact on the regime in Damascus. Our concern about Syria -- its weapons of mass destruction program, its support of terrorism, failure to adequately police its borders with Iraq and prevent territory from being used by jihadists trying to enter -- are serious issues that we need to address."
Syria is the only country designated a sponsor of terrorism that still has diplomatic ties with the United States. The draft of the new measure calls for, among other things, sanctioning individuals and foreign countries that provide assistance to Syria's terrorist activities or its efforts to acquire and develop threatening conventional and unconventional weapons, according to the summary.
Mekdad yesterday denied that Syria supports terrorism.
''They must know that Syria has never condoned terrorism and that Syria was one of the first states to condemn the criminal actions at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania," he said, adding that sanctions are not the solution and that Syria is fighting terrorism.
''We don't believe in such tricks to show how much we are committed to the antiterrorist struggle," Mekdad added. ''We have suffered terrorism and we expect to suffer because the whole situation in the region is in disarray. Syria will do its best against terrorists and their organizations."
Globe correspondent Joe Lauria contributed to this report from New York. Bryan Bender can be reached by email at bender@globe.com.
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
The New York Times > Washington > Treatment of Prisoners: G.I.'s Are Accused of Abusing Iraqi Captives
The New York Times > Washington > Treatment of Prisoners: G.I.'s Are Accused of Abusing Iraqi Captives
By JAMES RISEN
ASHINGTON, April 28 — American soldiers at a prison outside Baghdad have been accused of forcing Iraqi prisoners into acts of sexual humiliation and other abuses in order to make them talk, according to officials and others familiar with the charges.
The charges, first announced by the military in March, were documented by photographs taken by guards inside the prison, but were not described in detail until some of the pictures were made public.
Some of the photographs, and descriptions of others, were broadcast Wednesday night by the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" and were verified by military officials.
Of the six people reported in March to be facing preliminary charges, three have been recommended for court martial trials, having completed the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, a senior Pentagon official said late Wednesday. The decision on convening courts martial is now up to Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior American commander in Iraq.
The other grand jury hearings, called Article 32 proceedings under military law, have been delayed at the request of defense counsel.
The CBS News program reported that poorly trained American reservists were forcing Iraqis to conduct simulated sexual acts, among other things, in order to break down their will before they were turned over to others for interrogation.
Charges against the soldiers included assault, cruelty, indecent acts and maltreatment of detainees, Pentagon officials have previously said.
Gary Myers, the lawyer for one of the enlisted men charged, said in an interview that the military had treated the six soldiers as scapegoats and had failed to address adequately the responsibilities of senior commanders and intelligence personnel involved in the interrogations.
Top officers at the prison, including a brigadier general, face administrative review, officials said. They are no longer stationed at the prison, Abu Ghraib near Baghdad.
Mr. Myers said the accused men, all from an Army Reserve military police unit, had been told to soften up the prisoners by more senior American interrogators, some of whom they believe were intelligence officials and outside contractors.
"This case involves a monumental failure of leadership, where lower-level enlisted people are being scapegoated," Mr. Myers said. "The real story is not in these six young enlisted people. The real story is the manner in which the intelligence community forced them into this position."
Mr. Myers represents Staff Sgt. Chip Frederick of the Army Reserve, who has been charged in the case and who was interviewed by "60 Minutes II." He complained of a lack of training and admitted that dogs had been used to intimidate prisoners.
In one photograph obtained by the program, naked Iraq prisoners are stacked in a human pyramid, one with a slur written on his skin in English. In another, a prisoner stands on a box, his head covered, wires attached to his body. The program said that according to the United States Army, he had been told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted. Other photographs show male prisoners positioned to simulate sex with each other.
"The pictures show Americans, men and women, in military uniforms, posing with naked Iraqi prisoners," states a transcript of the program's script, made available Wednesday night. "And in most of the pictures, the Americans are laughing, posing, pointing or giving the camera a thumbs-up."
The CBS News program said the Army also had photographs showing a detainee with wires attached to his genitals and another showing a dog attacking an Iraqi prisoner. The program also reported that the Army's investigation of the case included a statement from an Iraqi detainee who charges that a translator hired to work at the prison raped a male juvenile prisoner.
At the Abu Ghraib prison, where the photographs were taken, American forces have been holding hundreds of Iraqis since the American-led invasion of Iraq. The prison is infamous as a site where Saddam Hussein tortured prisoners while he was in power.
In March, the United States military first announced that the six enlisted soldiers from the 800th Military Police Brigade were being charged in the case, but few details were released.
An official confirmed that Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who ran the prison, had been reassigned.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, chief spokesman for the American military command in Baghdad, told reporters that the investigation of Abu Ghraib prison began in January after a soldier came forward.
"I'm not going to stand up here and make excuses for those soldiers," General Kimmitt said. He said that "if what they did is proven in a court of law, that is incompatible with the values we stand for as a professional military force, and it's values that we don't stand for as human beings."
He added: "This does not reflect the vast majority of coalition soldiers, vast majority of American soldiers that are operating out of Abu Ghraib prison."
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