(White House Report April 14) (380) WHITE HOUSE WARNS "SYRIA NEEDS TO COOPERATE" The White House April 14 called Syria a "rogue nation" and a "terrorist state," and White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer reiterated President Bush's warning that "Syria needs to cooperate." He said the White House has two major concerns: that Iraq's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction may have been moved across the border to Syria, and that Syria may be harboring Baath party leaders who fled Iraq during the U.S.-led attack. President Bush, upon his arrival at the White House from Camp David April 13, said "we believe there are chemical weapons in Syria." He acknowledged that "each situation will require a different response," and said he was still focused on Iraq, but when it comes to Syria, "we expect cooperation, and I'm hopeful we'll receive cooperation." In response to questions about whether the United States is now focused on Syria as the next stage in the war on terror, Fleischer responded with his own questions. "Do you think the White House and President Bush should look the other way at the fact that Syria is taking in Iraqi leaders? Do you think we should just ignore it?" "Nations that are interested in peaceful outcomes to world affairs ... when you talk about having peace in the Middle East, broadly speaking, nations should not pursue policies meant to encourage or harbor terrorism," Fleischer said. He cautioned reporters against concluding that the United States had decided to act. He referred to a 2002 CIA report to Congress on Syrian chemical and biological weapons programs. The report covered a period from January 1 to June 30, 2002. He read the following excerpt from the report to reporters in his morning briefing: "Syria sought chemical-weapon related precursors and expertise from foreign sources during the recorded period. Damascus already held a stockpile of nerve agent serin, but apparently is trying to develop more toxic and persistent nerve agents. Syria remained dependent on foreign sources for key elements of its CW (chemical weapons) program including precursor chemicals and key production equipment. It is highly probable that Syria also is continuing to develop an offensive BW (biological weapons) capability."