Bush Steps Up Pressure for Syrian Pullout
WASHINGTON — Buoyed by strong international support, the Bush administration Friday increased pressure on Syria, demanding the full and immediate withdrawal of its military and intelligence forces from Lebanon.
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued new statements demanding a Syrian pullout a day after Russia and Saudi Arabia, both longtime friends of the Damascus regime, called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to withdraw his forces. The developments have left Syria suddenly and almost totally isolated on the issue.
"The world is beginning to speak with one voice," Bush said during a stop in Westfield, N.J. "There's no half-measures involved. When the United States and France and others say, 'withdraw,' we mean complete withdrawal, no half-hearted measures."
Assad was expected to announce a partial pullback of his country's forces in an address to parliament today. The troops would be moved to areas closer to Syria's border with Lebanon. However, that option has been rejected not only by the United States, but also by other nations, including France.
"It cannot be anything less than a comprehensive withdrawal," emphasized a senior French diplomat.
For the United States, winning public backing from France, Russia and several Arab countries on an issue related to Bush's declared agenda of promoting democracy in the Middle East is a rare occurrence. As a result, U.S. officials left little doubt they believed that events in the region, not just in Syria, were moving broadly in their direction.
In an interview Friday on PBS' "The NewsHour," Rice said that Syria's increasing isolation was the result of Damascus' policies.
"They simply need to realize that they don't have any support in the international system any longer to maintain their presence there," she said.
Backed by such diplomatic momentum, a U.S. official Friday appeared to brush aside warnings from Middle East specialists that a hasty pullout of Syrian forces could result in instability and reignite the civil war that plagued Lebanon for more than a decade in the 1970s and 1980s. It was that unrest that drew Syrian forces into the country nearly 30 years ago.
"We don't accept the view that post-Syria, Lebanon will become inherently unstable," a senior administration official said Friday.
