Makes 'Em Wanna Holla

... and throw up both their hands.

Syria has halted military and intelligence cooperation with the United States, its ambassador to Washington said during an interview, in a sign of growing strains between the two countries over the insurgency in Iraq.

A Bush administration official said that Syria's stance had prompted intense debate at high levels about new steps that might be taken against Damascus. The official said the options included possible military or other action that might be taken against people inside Syria who are providing support for the insurgency.

"There's a lot of discussion about what to do about Syria and what a problem it is," said the U.S. official, who works for a government agency that has been involved in the debate.

Relations between Syria and the United States have been souring for months, and some Bush administration officials said that the level of cooperation provided by Syria had been dwindling even before the latest move. The American officials declined to provide an on-the-record response to the statements made on Friday by the ambassador, Imad Moustapha, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

Moustapha said that in the past 10 days, Syria had "severed all links" with the U.S. military and the CIA because of what it called unjust American allegations. The Bush administration has complained bitterly that Syria is not doing enough to halt the flow of men and money to the insurgency in Iraq.

Moustapha said Syria had done all it could to respond to the U.S. complaints, including taking steps to build barriers and to add patrols along Syria's long border with Iraq. Syria has jailed about 1,200 foreign fighters who tried to enter Iraq from Syria, the ambassador said, and has returned scores of others to their home countries, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

But Moustapha said the renewal of U.S. complaints had caused his government to abandon the idea of providing further help.

"We thought, why should we continue to cooperate?" Moustapha said. He said he believed that the Bush administration had decided "to escalate the situation with Syria" despite the steps Syria had taken against the insurgents in Iraq and despite its withdrawal, in recent weeks, of troops from Lebanon, in response to international demands.

Didn't Venezuela just have their "F' it" moment too?