U.S. Withdraws Ambassador to Syria

The United States recalled its ambassador to Syria for "urgent consultations" today in a move that signaled the Bush administration's "profound outrage" over the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri yesterday but stopped short of openly blaming Syria for the killing.

State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said the ambassador, Margaret Scobey, was returning to Washington from Damascus after delivering a message to the Syrian government "expressing our deep concern, as well as our profound outrage, over this heinous act of terrorism." He said the message was delivered twice -- last night and this morning -- to two different places in the Syrian Foreign Ministry...