primo effetto della conquista e delle minacce alla Siria: chiudere l'oleodotto Irak-Siria

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg@tin.it>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/international/worldspecial/16CAPI.html

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At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the United States
was moving to cut off an important oil pipeline running from Iraq into
Syria, the first major economic penalty against Syria.Mr. Rumsfeld's
statements, as well as remarks by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, were
part of a declared strategy to consolidate the allied victory in Iraq by
beginning to reshape the Middle East, while Mr. Bush said he planned to make
the new Iraq a model for democracy in the Middle East.

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Mr. Rumsfeld's announcement about the oil pipeline, which is capable of
carrying 200,000 barrels a day, is the clearest signal the administration
has sent to President Bashar al-Assad that the United States is willing to
use its new position on Syria's border to press the country, which the White
House declared Monday as a "rogue state." The administration has accused
Syria of harboring Iraqi fugitives and of developing chemical weapons.The
pipeline has been a huge source of revenue for the Syrian government, which
has paid Iraq with goods, in two-way trade conducted in violation of United
Nations economic sanctions against Iraq.At the same time, Mr. Powell said
the United States had no broader military ambitions in the Middle East. He
said there was "no war plan right now" for Syria and Iran, signaling that he
planned to use diplomacy, economic pressure and the potent symbol of the
quick American ouster of the Iraqi government to make his point.

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