New York Times
January 5, 2005
VIEW FROM WASHINGTON
U.S. Said to Weigh Sanctions on Syria Over Iraqi Network
By DOUGLAS JEHL

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - The Bush administration is considering imposing

sanctions on Syria to prod it to crack down on Iraqis there who are
providing financial and logistical support to insurgents in Iraq,

American counterterrorism officials said Tuesday.

The Syrian government has not taken action against the network of

the officials said, despite months of quiet protests from the United

Among the steps being considered is a Treasury Department action that

essentially isolate the Syrian banking system.

The network includes former officials of Saddam Hussein's government,
American officials have said, adding that intelligence gathered in

months from informants, captives and intercepted communications

that the network's role in providing support to insurgents in Iraq

extensive than previously suspected.

While the anti-American insurgency would continue to thrive even

help from Syria, the American officials say, Iraqis in Syria are

significant role in coordinating the flows of money, weapons and

inside Iraq.

Syrian officials have sought to rebut the American criticism by

United States has yet to provide them with sufficient accurate

to prompt action against the individual Iraqis who the Americans say

the network.

"We have told the Americans to please give us any information you

regarding this subject, but some of the information has not been

said Ammar Alarsan, a spokesman for the Syrian Embassy in Washington.

Among Iraqis believed to be living at least part time in Syria and

an active role in the insurgency are several of Mr. Hussein's close
relatives. In addition, Izzat Ibrahim, the No. 2 official in Iraq

Hussein and now the most-wanted Iraqi still sought by the United

traveled to and from Syria in the past 18 months, American officials

recent weeks the interim Iraqi government and its American backers

become increasingly outspoken in calling attention to what it

regional command in exile in Syria.

The American officials would speak about Syria only on condition of
anonymity, saying they did not want their comments to overshadow

public remarks by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American

Iraq, Richard L. Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, and others.

The officials interviewed represented several government agencies

in counterterrorism policy, including those favoring a more patient

toward Syria and those urging a harder line.

General Casey said publicly last month that the United States had

good information" that some senior former officials of the Iraqi

had established a high command that was "operating out of Syria with
impunity and providing direction and financing for the insurgency in

"That needs to stop," General Casey said in a Dec. 16 briefing at the
Pentagon.

On a visit to Syria over the weekend, Mr. Armitage delivered what one
American official described as a "stern warning" to the Damascus

Adam Ereli, the department's deputy spokesman, said Monday that Mr.

had emphasized "that there's still a problem with former regime

using Syria to help the insurgency and that it was very important to

that stopped."

American and Syrian officials have held high-level meetings in recent

to address their differences, and Syria has said repeatedly that it

committed to working with the United States toward a peaceful,

In recent days Mr. Armitage and other American officials have gone

their way to praise Syria for taking steps to secure its border with

and prevent foreign fighters from crossing the border to reinforce

insurgency.

But a senior American counterterrorism official said the steps taken

Syria so far were unsatisfactory. "More and more, we're seeing groups

and supported by former regime elements, and they are operating out

with the support of the Syrian government," the official said. He

he was not accusing the Syrian government of providing direct support

insurgency, but that "we haven't yet seen them take appropriate

prevent the funding and the transport of weapons."

Among the relatives of Mr. Hussein who have spent time in Syria and

believed to have played a leading role in financing the insurgency is

Suleiman al-Majid, a cousin of Mr. Hussein and a former officer in

Special Security Organization.

Syria has long been subject to limited economic sanctions by the

States because of its designation by the State Department as a

terrorism. Under pressure from Congress, the Bush administration

additional measures last spring that prohibit exports to Syria of

goods, excluding food and medicine, and prohibit commercial flights

the United States and Syria by Syrian-owned aircraft.

The main additional tool being weighed by the administration for

further sanctions, the counterterrorism officials said, is authority

by the Treasury Department, which in May labeled the Commercial Bank

Syria a financial institution of "primary money laundering concern."

The designation was a response to what the department called the role

by the Syrian bank in laundering money illegally diverted by Mr.

government from the United Nations-administered oil-for-food program.

Further steps by the Treasury are possible, the most severe of which

be to prohibit any American bank, broker or mutual fund from dealing

the Syrian bank, the country's single government-owned financial

that specializes in foreign exchange transactions.

One American counterterrorism official said the threat of further

already served to focus Syrian attention on the problem. The official

Treasury officials had met several times in recent months with their

counterparts to discuss the issue.

A second counterterrorism official said there remained "a wide range

views" within the administration about taking further action against

with the State Department most opposed. The official said the

particular was pressing for a more aggressive approach.

"This is not the Ho Chi Minh trail that's keeping the insurgency

official said. "But if Syria were to take action, it would have an