http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2945045.stmUS President George W Bush has warned Syria against harbouring fugitives from Saddam Hussein\'s ousted regime in Iraq.
America, he said, expected Iraq\'s western neighbour to "co-operate" with the US-led coalition and he added that he believed Syria possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD)- the charge against Iraq which sparked the war there.
"We believe there are chemical weapons in Syria," the president said, speaking to press on the White House lawn.
A senior Syrian diplomat went on US TV on Sunday to deny his country was either producing WMD or assisting Iraqi fugitives and terrorists.
We will not only accept the most rigid inspection regime, we will welcome it heartily
Imad Moustapha
Deputy Syrian ambassador in Washington
"It\'s been a campaign of misinformation and disinformation about Syria since even before the war started - this is just an ongoing series of false accusations," Imad Moustapha, the deputy ambassador in Washington, told NBC news.
On the WMD charge, Mr Moustapha said:
"We will not only accept the most rigid inspection regime, we will welcome it heartily."
Mounting accusations
US intelligence has long suspected Syria of having a well-developed chemical weapons programme as well as long-range missiles.
Its programme is reported to have started in earnest after clashes with Israel in 1982, with two chemical weapons plants established by 1984 to produce significant amounts of nerve gases such as Sarin and VX.
The [Syrian] government is making a lot of bad mistakes, a lot of bad judgments in my view
Donald Rumsfeld
President Bush\'s comments on Sunday followed similar warnings to Syria from two of his most senior officials earlier in the day.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who remarked there was "no question" that Iraqi fugitives had gone to Syria, said Syrians had been discovered fighting US troops in Iraq.
"There are a number of non-Iraqis who are in the country, particularly in Baghdad we find... a lot from Syria - most from Syria, it appears," he told CBS.
"The [Syrian] government is making a lot of bad mistakes, a lot of bad judgments in my view," he added.
In an interview for the BBC, Secretary General Colin Powell said Syria had acted as a conduit for supplies to Saddam\'s regime.
"We have designated Syria for years as a state that sponsors terrorism," he said.
"We are concerned that materials have flowed through Syria to the Iraqi regime over the years."
"Also," he added, "we think it would be very unwise... if suddenly Syria suddenly becomes a haven for all these people who should be brought to justice who are trying to get out of Baghdad."
Haven\'t found more than trace amounts of chem weapons in Iraq ( Note: I\'m not personally saying Iraq doesn\'t have them, we sold the things to them for God\'s sake, but we haven\'t found anything. So please, keep any cheap shots or empty rhetoric out of your responses.), so it\'s time to put the heat on Syria?
What do you guys think about this? I\'d say there\'s a pretty good chance that Syria took some, but we should\'ve seen that coming & set up roadblocks a month or two ago to check if any of this stuff was leaving.
Anyone think this attention shift rates up there with the shift from Iraq-al qaeda links to Iraq has chem weapons (remember, when we couldn\'t prove the links), or the Osama to Saddam attn. shift when we couldn\'t confirm Osama was "dead or alive" like Bush promised?
Where do you guys think these huge stockpiles of weapons disappeared to?
