The United States welcomes today the completion of Israel 's disengagement from Gaza.

This is an horrific act of terror that hurts innocent civilians and needs to be condemned clearly and unequivocally, ... another case of people with no more agenda other than to kill, main and destroy.

With terrorist elements that are bent on sabotaging the peace process. ... And they are certainly out of step with the rest of the world on that.

Syria, more and more, is being recognized as a destabilizing element in the region. It's not just about Iraq; it's about Iraq, it's about Lebanon, it's about the Palestinian Authority. Because there's a connection between Syria and terrorism and murder and mayhem in each of these three different areas.

Innocent people are getting blown up in Iraq because Syria is allowing its territory to be used by terrorists bent on sowing murder and mayhem in Iraq. And they're not going to succeed. The international community is not going to let this continue to happen.

Iran, as its record demonstrates, has a long history of trying to develop weapons of mass destruction, supporting terror. We view with concern any suggestion that Iran would seek to contribute to very destabilizing and unhelpful international behavior.

There are claims of responsibility. They're really, quite frankly, hard to verify. I wouldn't be able to tell you that we know who's responsible at this point.

I mean, why does Syria continue to let that happen unless there's a deliberate decision to do it? There certainly seems to be an unwillingness to take actions to stop it.

Does Syria not care that young guys from Yemen or Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan or Iran come into Damascus airport with a one-way ticket and no job and no place to stay and then find their way into Iraq where they strap bombs to themselves and blow themselves up and kill children in a market? Women and children in front of a market?