Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said in an interview that he did not consider the United States an enemy despite their sharp differences. The interview was given a week ago, before the announcement of new US legislation to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions against Syria in order to force it to end alleged support for "terrorism."
| Wonder what he thinks now that he's seen Sammy on the teevee? |
The Syrian leader told the Greek newspaper Kathimerini: "Syria does not consider the United States its enemy despite numerous differences. "We are against the occupation of Iraq, against the actions of American forces in in Iraq, against violations of human rights™." Assad said he was also against "many other aspects of American policy in the region, including an attitude biased in favour of Israel. "But we don't consider the United States an enemy of our country," he stressed.
| "In fact, we're thinking real hard about being pretty nice to them..." |
US President George W. Bush signed a bill into law on Friday providing for sanctions against Iraq to persuade Damascus to end its alleged support for "terrorism," halt development of chemical and biological arms as well as medium- and long-range missiles, and withdraw the roughly 20,000 troops it has deployed in Lebanon. President Assad and his wife Asma were scheduled to arrive in Greece Monday on December 15 for a three-day visit.
| I think this article's a little dated, though it's up on today's page... |
In his interview, Assad said the Americans should withdraw from Iraq "according to Iraqi conditions," and that the country should have a new constitution approved by Iraqis. "Above all it's the Iraqis and not the Americans who should set the timetable for American withdrawal," he was quoted as saying. |