Washington: Stepping up pressure on Syria, the US shut down a pipeline used
for "illegally" transporting oil from Iraq to Syria, but said it was not certain
whether all flow of the precious liquid between the two countries had stopped.
Talking to reporters, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the pipeline was not
bombed by coalition forces during the war in an effort to preserve Iraq's
infrastructure, but the flow of oil through it had now been cut off to "block
revenue from it benefiting any remaining members of Saddam Hussein's government who
have been fleeing to Syria".
"I am hopeful that they have shut it off, and I have heard that has happened," he
said on April 15, when asked about reports from Iraq that the US military had shut
the pipeline.
"(But) I cannot assure you that all illegal oil flowing from Iraq to Syria is shut
off. I just hope it is," he said.
Meanwhile, policy planners in Washington who supported the war in Iraq are now
engaging in similar rhetoric against Syria.
Neo-conservative Richard Perle, a leading hawk in the Iraq debate, on April 16
called upon the US Congress to pass a 'Syrian Liberation Act' modelled on the 1998
Law that made regime change in Baghdad the official US policy.
"I would hope that Congress would take a look at helping those who want to free
Syria from the tyrannical rule of the Ba'ath Party," the secular ruling party
dominated by Syrian President Bashir Assad, Perle, a civilian adviser to the
Pentagon, told a forum at the American Enterprise Institute.
PTI
