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Syria sanctions could lead to invasion by United States

WASHINGTON: A tough sanctions measure approved by Congress against Syria on Tuesday could lead to a future invasion of Syria, a prominent US lawmaker said.

Senator Robert Byrd, a long-serving member in the US Congress and outspoken critic of US military policy in the Middle East, said on Tuesday in voting against the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act that he feared the bill would be misused by US policy makers to justify future military action against Damascus.

“The United States is justified in seeking to apply political and economic pressure on Syria to change its foreign policy,” the West Virginia Democrat said. Mr Byrd said sections of the bill “build a case against Syria, and I fear that those provisions could later be used to build a case for a military intervention against Syria.” Mr Byrd pointed to one particular section of the bill that referred to “hostile actions” by Syria against US-led forces in Iraq.

“I have not seen any evidence that would lead me to believe that it is the government of Syria that is responsible for the attacks against our troops in Iraq,” Mr Byrd said.

“Such insinuations can only build the case for military action against Syria, which unfortunately is a very real possibility because of the dangerous doctrine of preemption created by the administration,” he said. Mr Byrd said a vote in favour of sanctions “could too easily be used to imply congressional support for pre-emptive military action against a rogue state”. “I will vote against this bill because of that dangerous course that it may portend,” Mr Byrd said. —AFP

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