Bush turns focus to Syrian offenses

Washington ? President Bush on Sunday accused Syria of having weapons of mass destruction and of harboring fleeing Iraqi leaders, raising questions about whether that country might be the next target for the U.S. military.

“We believe there are chemical weapons in Syria,” Bush said. “Each situation will require a different response and, of course … first things first. We’re in Iraq now, and the second thing about Syria is that we expect cooperation.”

He also said he expects Syria to stop harboring cronies of Saddam Hussein believed to have fled there as their government in Iraq collapsed.

“The Syrian government needs to cooperate with the United States and our coalition partners and not harbor any Baathists, any military officials, any people who need to be held to account for their tenure” in Iraq, Bush told reporters Sunday.

Bush, appearing in an expansive mood on the day that seven American prisoners of war were recovered in good health, sidestepped a question about whether the United States might threaten war against Syria if it did not cooperate with U.S. demands. “They just need to cooperate,” he said in response.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also brushed aside questions about war against Syria. “That’s above my pay grade,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “Those are the kinds of things that countries and presidents decide. That’s broad national policy. I am a participant, but I am certainly not a decider.”

Rumsfeld said senior Iraqi leaders have fled to Syria, and some have continued on to other unnamed countries. He did not identify any, but The Washington Times quoted anonymous U.S. government officials as saying that two Iraqi biological weapons scientists were among those making it to Damascus, Syria. They were identified as Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, described by U.S. officials as “Mrs. Anthrax,” and Rihab Taha, known as “Dr. Germ.”

Syrian officials denied that Iraqi officials had escaped to their country.

Few believe that Saddam himself escaped to Syria or any other country. Indeed, Army. Gen. Tommy Franks, the overall commander of the war, said Sunday the United States has a sample of Saddam’s DNA, which could be critical to confirming his death.

“The appropriate people with the appropriate forensics are doing checks you would find appropriate in each of the places where we think we may have killed regime leadership,” Franks said on CNN.

¢ Four days after U.S. forces claimed control of Baghdad, war dragged on and lawlessness reigned. An astonishing amount of live ammunition was abandoned throughout the city by the Iraqi army, frightening residents worried for the safety of their children.¢ About 80 miles southeast of Baghdad, U.S. Marines entered the town of Kut unopposed. To the south, British forces relieved the 1st Marine Division in Al Amara and now control the area between Al Amara and the port city of Basra.¢ A U.S. intelligence official said the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime has left Iraq with no border controls, raising concerns that anti-Saddam exile groups — some of which are also anti-American — could slip into Iraq.¢ Jordan said that it has received about 700,000 barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia, the first acknowledged supply since the flow from Iraq ceased at the onset of the war.¢ Gunmen ambushed and kidnapped three Malaysian journalists in Baghdad and killed their Iraqi interpreter, Malaysian officials said. They were later released unharmed. In Mosul, two Turkish journalists were injured after assailants opened fire on their car.¢ A Web site devoted to the former Iraqi information minister, who outrageously insisted until he dropped from sight Tuesday that coalition forces were no match for Saddam’s defenders, has been established at www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com.