/ 1-f,~/il 81//6 \S' Y , Y/-3 i c.,;;a;;;;- , U.S. POLICY TOWARD SYRIA AND THE SYRIA 1 --..i--< ACCOUNTABILITY ACT ,2=~ ... -g !==, ==================== --~a ~~f l ~==1 1 01=:;;c u)-~ : :::~ HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON MfMORIA[ UBRARi H.R. 4483 DEPOSITORY JAN 1 6 2003 SEPTEMBER 18, 2002 ITEM# 1011-A-OI Serial No. 107-119 SUNY CORTLAND Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/internationaLrelations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 81-812PDF WASHINGTON : 2002 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512- 1800; DC area (202) 512- 1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402--0001 FEDERAL IJ'UBLICATION COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York TOM LANTOS, California JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa HOWARD L. BERMAN, California DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American DAN BURTON, Indiana Samoa ELTON GALLEGLY, California DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina SHERROD BROWN, Ohio DANA ROHRABACHER, California CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia EDWARD R. ROYCE, California EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama PETER T. KING, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ROBERT WEXLER, Florida AMO HOUGHTON, New York JIM DAVIS, Florida JOHN M. McHUGH, New York ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas BARBARA LEE, California NICK SMITH, Michigan JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania DARRELL E. ISSA, California EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon ERIC CANTOR, Virginia SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada JEFF FLAKE, Arizona GRACE NAPOLITANO, California BRIAND. KERNS, Indiana ADAM B. SCHIFF, California JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia DIANE E. WATSON, California MARK GREEN, Wisconsin THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH AsIA BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman DAN BURTON, Indiana GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio HOWARD L. BERMAN, California JOHN M. McHUGH, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DARRELLE. ISSA, California ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ERIC CANTOR, Virginia JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York ·. JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania . DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada PETER T. KING, New York ADAM B. SCHIFF, California JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana HILLEL WEINBERG, Subcommittee Staff Director & Counsel DAVID S. ADAMS, Democratic Professional Staff Member DEBORAH BODLANDER, Professional Staff Member PAUL BERKOWITZ, Professional Staff Member MATTHEW ZWEIG, Staff Associate (II) CONTENTS Page WITNESSES The Honorable Richard K Armey, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 4 The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York .......................................................................................................... 11 Elias Saadi, Council of Lebanese American Organizations . ... .. .. .. .. 32 The Honorable Edward M. Gabriel, President, American Task Force for Leb- anon ....................................................................................................................... 37 The Honorable William A. Reinsch, President, National Foreign Trade Coun- cil, Inc. ................................................................................................................... 40 Matthew A. Levitt, Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy . 48 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York, and Chairman, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia: Prepared statement . .............................................................. .. 3 The Honorable Richard K Armey: Prepared statement .............. ......... ............. .. 8 The Honorable Eliot L. Engel: Prepared statement . ... .. .. 19 The Honorable Gary L. Ackerman, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York: Prepared statement .......... ................................................ .. 22 Elias Saadi: Prepared statement . ....................................................... ....... ........ ..... 34 The Honorable Edward M. Gabriel: Prepared statement --····································39 The Honorable William A. Reinsch: Prepared statement .... ............. ........... ........ 43 Matthew A. Levitt: Prepared statement ............... ................. .......................... ...... 53 APPENDIX The Honorable David Satterfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs: Prepared statement ....................................................... 75 The Honorable Darrell E. Issa, a Representative in Congress from the State of California: Prepared statement ..................................................................... 76 The Honorable Robert Wexler, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida: Prepared statement .......................................................................... 76 The Honorable Joseph Crowley, a Representative in Congress from the State 77 Th! ~~:oJ~b~= §h:11~et!!ki!~e:kep~~~~~t~ti;~·~·c~~i~~~·"r~~~·th~··st~t~· of Nevada: Prepared statement ......................................................................... 78 American Task Force for Lebanon-The Minority Report .................................. 78 The Lebanese Information Center: Prepared statement ..................................... 80 Archie W. Dunham, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Conoco Inc.: Prepared statement .................................................................................... 92 Patriarch Disclaims Aoun's Support of U.S. Sanctions Against Syria ............... 96 Addoum: Aoun, others could face charges: Article by Youssef Diab, Daily Star correspondent dated September 23, 2002 ................................................. 97 Rumsfeld on Iraq: 'Goal is disarmament': From CNN.com, dated September 23, 2002 ·················································································································97 ''Dear Colleague" letter from the Honorable Nick J. Rahall, a Representative in Congress from the State of West Virginia, and the Honorable John D. Dingell, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, dated June 11, 2002 ...................................................................................................... 99 (III) N Page Letter from the Honorable Paul Kelly, Assistant Secretary, Legislative Af- fairs, U.S. Department of State to the Honorable Nick J. Rahall, dated May 24, 2002, and enclosures ... ... .. ... ...... .. ..... .... .. ... .... ..... .. ..... .. ... ... ...... ...... ... ... 100 Article from the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, dated September 2, 2002, by ~e'ev Schiff entitled "Syria has allowed hundreds of Qaida men to settle 1n Lebanon . .... ... .. .... .. .. ..... .. .. .. ... ... ... ... ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... ... .. ... .. .... ... ... ... ... ... ..... ..... 105 Supporters of H.R. 4483-Syria Accountability Act of 2002 . .. .. ... .. .... .. ... .... ......... 107 U.S. POLICY TOWARD SYRIA AND THE SYRIA ACCOUNTABILITY ACT WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2002 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:04 a.m. in Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Benjamin A. Gilman, Chairman, presiding. Mr. GILMAN. The Committee will come to order. Will the Mem- bers please take their seats. Due- to time constraints, besides my opening statement, we will forego .all other openings. It's my pleasure to welcome our witnesses today, and as soon as they arrive, we will be able to get started. In his June 24th address on the Middle East, President Bush put Syria on notice, stating that: "Syria must choose the right side in the war on terror by clos- ing terrorist camps and expelling terrorist organizations." Yet Syria's words and actions since then have not been those of a state that shares our commitment, both to our twin goals of eradi- cating global terrorism and fostering stability in the Middle East. Rather, with a few exceptions taken in its self-interest, Syria had demonstrated that it continues to actively undermine the basis for our campaigning against terrorism and our initiatives aimed at ending the violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. According to the State Department's report on Pattern~ on Glob- al Terrorism-2001, Syria continued to provide "safe haven and lo- gistics support to Hezbollah, HAMAS, Popular Front for the Lib- eration of Palestine-General Command, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other-terrorist organizations." Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has allowed Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group under his patronage, to intensify its mili- tary activities along Israel's northern border. Working closely with Iran, Syria has facilitated the transfer of thousands