Bush May Add Syria to Axis of Evil to Break its Grip on Lebanon

Naharnet

Beirut, Updated 09 Sep 04, 10:15

President Bush may add Syria to the international Axis of Evil he has been targeting in the 3-year-old war on terrorism if he wins a second term in the White House, An Nahar reported on Thursday. Democrats in Congress are getting apprehensive that a reelected Bush would add Syria plus four or five other nations to the Axis, which had originally included Saddam Hussein's toppled regime in Iraq in addition to Iran and North Korea. National U.S. newspapers contend Bush was particularly annoyed by Syria's defiance of Security Council resolution 1559, which was sponsored by the U.S. and France and which urged a free election by the Beirut parliament of a new president for Lebanon. The Assad regime, however, chose to escalate its intervention in Lebanon's domestic affairs and dictate a 3-year extension of Gen. Lahoud's term so as to tighten instead of relax Syria's stranglehold on Lebanon, U.S. editorialists noted. The Bush administration's policy of preemptive anti-terror wars could encourage the Axis of Evil expansion to include other targets for U.S. military belligerency, Time magazine warned. Only Syria was named by U.S. official as a new entrant. The other marked nations were not identified.