On Tuesday President Bush issued strict new sanctions against Syria claiming that Syria presents a “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” In a statement Bush said Syria was pursuing weapons of mass destruction, supporting terrorism and was undermining U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responded by saying it was the U.S. not Syria creating instability in the Middle East. Assad said “For the first time the United States has turned into a source of instability instead of stability… The war in Iraq has unleashed a hatred that is finding an echo in terrorism.”