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'Positive signs from Syria'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington April 21. In an indication that things are easing a little between the United States and Syria, the U.S. President, George W Bush, has said that there are "positive signs'' from Damascus and that the country is getting the message that it should not be harbouring former members of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party.

And at a time when senior members of the administration had gone before the media in a high profile fashion slamming Syria, Mr. Bush argued that diplomacy is not conducted through news outlets and newspapers. "There are some positive signs. They're getting the message that they should not harbour Ba'ath Party officials, high ranking Iraqi officials. A lot of other countries have also sent that message'', the President remarked in Crawford, Texas. "...the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, will be going to visit the Syrians and it seems they're beginning to get the message. And when we think there's somebody there, or know somebody's there, we of course will pass on the name and fully expect the Syrian government to hand the person over'', Mr. Bush said. When pressed as to how many Iraqi leaders were out in Syria, Mr. Bush maintained that his administration had felt that there were `some' and it was best not to have diplomacy done through the media. "... The best diplomacy is the diplomacy of ... Having our friends as well as ourselves send clear messages, and we're doing that. And I'm confident that the Syrian Government has heard us, and I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us'', Mr. Bush said.

The President's remarks on Syria have to be seen in the context of what has been taking place in this country over the last two or three weeks. At first senior administration officials slammed Syria for the manner in which it went about during the conflict that included giving military assistance to the Saddam Hussein regime and in helping senior officials and leaders from Iraq escape into Syria.

Damascus denied all these accusations. But in the last few days there are indications that either Syria has started expelling top Iraqis who may have slipped into the country or has really tightened up things on the border that is preventing `wanted' Iraqis to slip in. In fact Syria is being credited for the arrest of top former officials of Baghdad including a brother-in-law of Saddam Hussein who also happened to be one of the key members of his security detail.

The President stressed that the important thing was that Mr. Hussein was no longer in power and somehow it was less important if he was either killed or captured. "... Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. That's for certain."

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