The Syria and Lebanon Liberation Act closest Washington has come to calling for overthrow of Assad regime

Representatives Eliot Engel, Democrat of New York, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, ratchet up their attacks on Syria. Boston.com / News / World / Middle East / Lawmakers seek to pressure Syria

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.

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.

The destructiveness of this sort of legislation is explained in "The Road to Damascus," by
Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson in Foreign Affairs, May/June 2004 who argue for more carrots.