WASHINGTON, 3 October 2003 — The threat of weapons of mass destruction did not vanish with Saddam Hussein, and experts warn that until an arms control agreement is reached, Mideast countries will continue to develop their own WMDs.
“The invasion of Iraq did not provide the panacea that the US was looking for in the Middle East,” said Dr. Michael Donovan, Research Analyst at the Center for Defense Information.
The Middle East’s “security dilemma,” is a quagmire, he said. “Countries feel threatened and develop WMDs to feel more secure, which makes their neighbors feel insecure and want to develop WMDs. On a very basic level, states try to seek equity with other states.”
He said political settlements must occur before there can be WMD treaties and said the US must initiate an all-inclusive dialogue with everyone in the region.
“Arms control can’t proceed in advance of a political process. Conflict resolution is a pre-requisite for disarmament anywhere in the world, especially in the Middle East,” he told Capitol Hill staffers yesterday at a briefing organized by the American Arab Chamber of Commerce and the MidAmr Group.
Regarding reports that Iran is developing WMD, Donovan said following the invasion of Iraq, “Tehran views WMD as a deterrent to the US, as it may feel a threatened by the US.”
Miriam Rajkumar, a project associate on non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and author of “Deadly Arsenals,” said, Iran is highly unlikely to give up nuclear options as long as Israel’s nuclear status remains opaque.
“Resolution to Iran’s nuclear program is key, but it is linked to Israel’s program.” The US should address these double-standard grievances, she said.
Rajkumar said US needs to back off from it’s ‘regime change’ talk about Iran and instead assure Iran that it will not attack that country as long as they do not pursue an anti-American program.
Also present was Dr. Imad Moustapha, charge d’affaires of the Syrian Embassy, and co-author of the UN sponsored human rights report on the Arab world.
Acknowledging that Syria, like Iran, has also come under intense scrutiny by the Bush Administration, he said: “We realize that we have been selected for a campaign of misinformation. I feel like a character out of a Franz Kafka novel. It’s very personal.”
“When Undersecretary of State John Bolton testified at the Middle East subcommittee of the House’s International Relations Committee, he chose not to tell the American people the whole truth about weapons of mass destruction in the region. He said that Syria ‘might’ be seeking nuclear weapons, and Syria is acquiring technologies that ‘could’ be applied to ‘nuclear programs,’” said Dr. Moustapha.
“Bolton also forgot to clarify that the so-called ‘Syrian nuclear programs’ are hypothetical. The programs have never existed in the past, do not exist in the present, and will never exist in the future,” said Dr. Moustapha.
He said Bolton also “forgot to remind the American public that Israel, which occupies part of Syria, the Golan Heights, has been stockpiling a huge arsenal of nuclear warheads, and is considered by strategic defense experts to have the largest per capita nuclear arsenal in the world.”
This year Syria sits on the UN Security Council he said, and presented a draft resolution calling for the Middle East to be a zone free from all WMD, something the US has previously called for.
To his chagrin, the US has opposed Syria’s idea.
This, he said, is because the US has one single motive: To protect Israel’s nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, while not giving Syria credit for supporting international efforts for nonproliferation and disarmament.
Dr. Moustapha when asked about suggestions, in Washington, that Iraq moved its WMD into Syria during the recent Iraq War, said: “This is absolutely ridiculous. Even Bolton said: ‘We can’t substantiate that report.’”
“The State Department knows very well that Syria is the enemy of the Iraqi regime. Syria was the only country that condemned Iraq’s invasion of Iran. We have not had diplomatic relations with Saddam Hussein since then. Remember, not a single top official of Saddam Hussein’s regime was ever found in Syria.”
