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Syria Not Returning Enough Iraqi Assets, U.S. Says
(AP/Boston Globe) Ken Guggenheim - Syrian officials have begun returning Iraqi assets that Saddam Hussein kept in a Syrian bank, but not enough to satisfy the U.S, said Juan Zarate, assistant secretary of Treasury overseeing terrorist financing and financial crimes. The money has been a source of friction between the U.S. and Syria as the Bush administration weighs the possibility of imposing additional sanctions against the Assad government. Zarate said Tuesday that Syria has transferred "a small amount of frozen assets, which is encouraging, but it's again not what we've been looking for in terms of the total amount....They still have not done what they need to do." In congressional testimony in November, Zarate said Hussein had about $1 billion in Syria at the start of the war and about $600 million was later paid from the account to satisfy Iraqi debts. The Bush administration says Syria isn't doing enough to secure its border with Iraq and to prevent former members of Hussein's regime from operating in Syria.