Syrian president criticizes proposed US-Iraq pact
None
Syria's president has criticized a proposed American-Iraqi security pact that would keep US troops in Iraq for three more years. Bashar Assad says American troops contribute to regional instability and should withdraw from Iraq.
Assad told a group of Arab parliamentarians Sunday that a recent American raid inside Syria near its border with Iraq is confirmation that the US will use Iraq as a base to attack its neighbors. Iraq has asked the US for an explicit ban in the pact on the use of Iraqi soil for attacks against the country's neighbors. The US has replied to the request, but the details are not known. (AP)
