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TARGETING THOSE ON ISRAEL'S HIT LIST
Jewish warmongers now eye Syria
'Neo-cons'
want Syrian 'régime change' By JOSEPH MILLIS WASHINGTON—A group of Bush Administration hawks, many of them Jewish, has begun openly portraying Syria as the next candidate for "régime change" in the Middle East—though making clear they do not envisage Iraq-style U.S. military intervention. Widely described in Washington political and media circlesas the 'Neo-conservatives'—'Neo-cons,' for short—the group includes deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, a close adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Among other leading lights are William Kristol, editor of the right-wing Weekly Standard, who is close to Vice-President Dick Cheney, and the syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. Speaking on NBC's 'Meet the Press' at the weekend, Mr. Wolfowitz reiterated U.S. allegations that the régime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been allowing military equipment and fighters into Iraq to support its fight against U.S. and British forces. "There's got to be a change in Syria," he said. "The Syrians need to know they'll be held accountable." Emphasizing what he saw as the longer-term impact of the defeat of Saddam Hussein's régime, he said: "I think a lot of countries, including Syria, will eventually get the message that it's much better to come to terms peacefully with the international community, to not acquire weapons of mass destruction, not use terrorism as an instrument of policy." Mr. Perle said in an interview this week: "You can arrive at Damascus and ask a taxi driver to take you to one of several terrorist organizations." But on the issue of possible U.S. military action, he added: " There are different ways to get people to change, and I hope the example of Iraq after Afghanistan will prove persuasive" "We should be using all the instruments of U.S. influence to accomplish that purpose, and most of those instruments are not military." Some in the Bush Administration were explicitly playing down the prospect of direct U.S. action against Damascus—and of possible links between the Syrians and Saddam Hussein. General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was "no evidence" to support recent allegations by Israeli leaders—and some U.S. intelligence officials—which suggested Iraq might have moved weapons of mass destruction across the border into Syria.
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