BUSH gone MAD

Rice refuses to rule out attack on SyriaEgypt warns against stirring new tensions in regionCompiled by Daily Star staff Thursday, October 20, 2005
The United States on Wednesday refused to rule out possible military action against Syria but said it had not exhausted diplomatic moves to get Damascus to change its ways over Iraq and Lebanon.
The remarks made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came as Egypt's foreign minister warned against turning Syria or Lebanon into a new focus of tension in the Middle East.
Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rice said both Syria and Iran were allowing fighters and military assistance to reach insurgents in Iraq.
"Syria and Iran must decide whether they wish to side with the cause of war or with the cause of peace," Rice told a hearing called to discuss U.S. strategy in Iraq.
Pressed by senators over whether the Bush administration was planning military action against Syria in particular, Rice said the United States was still on a "diplomatic course" with Damascus but the military option remained open.
"The president never takes any option off the table and he shouldn't," said Rice when asked about a military option.
Rice declined to say whether the president would present any plans to Congress before launching military action against Syria, saying she did not want to circumscribe his powers.
At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan declined to answer when asked whether Bush had signed any orders enabling U.S. forces to cross the border with Syria to engage foes who may be looking to enter Iraq.
"Whether or not he had or not, I would not get into talking about that, because it's classified in nature," he told reporters.
McClellan also warned that Syria was "trending in the wrong direction from the rest of the Middle East" and accused Damascus of allowing extremists to cross into Iraq and of backing terrorist groups that seek to undermine the peace process.
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