U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, meeting with top officials in Damascus Saturday, said yesterday that the United States is closely watching Syria, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, May 2; Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, May 5).

U.S. President George W. Bush and other top U.S. officials have accused Syria of developing chemical weapons, harboring members of the deposed Iraqi leadership and supporting terrorist groups.

“I think that we believe there are chemical weapons in Syria,” Bush said April 13 (see GSN, April 14).

Two days later, immediately before announcing his trip to Damascus, Powell said that the United States is “concerned about Syria’s development of [chemical] weapons.  We are concerned about Syria’s continuing support of terrorist organizations” (Global Security Newswire, May 5).

Syrian President Bashar Assad understands there will be “consequences” if Syria does not comply with U.S. demands, Powell said yesterday.

“It’s performance that we’ll be looking at in the days and weeks and months ahead,” Powell said of Assad.  “We had a good, candid exchange of views, and there are no illusions in his mind as to what we are looking for from Syria,” he added.

Pentagon adviser Newt Gingrich had sharply criticized Powell’s visit to Damascus, calling it “ludicrous” and alleging that the State Department is “broken.”

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rebuked that criticism and said Bush decided on the Syria visit.

“If you don’t like the decision (to go to Syria), don’t blame the secretary, blame the president.  He’s the one who made the decision.  I happen to agree with it,” Rumsfeld said (DeYoung, Washington Post).

Powell also dismissed Gingrich’s comments.

“Mr. Gingrich was taking a broad swipe and shot at the policies of the United States,” Powell said, adding, “he missed the State Department and hit the president” (CNN.com, May 4).

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