Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has traveled to Middle East with a delegation of other congress men and women in hope of rejuvinating diplomatic relations with some states and pushing a new call for peace in the region.
The first stop on the tour was in Damascus where Pelosi met with Syrian president Al-Assad. She pressed the president on his governments involvement with such groups as Hamas and Hezbollah. She also carried with her a letter from Israeli prime minister Olmert to president Al-Assad stating Israels intentions to beging peace talks between the two nations.
However, Pelosi's trip has been sharply criticised by president Bush. He calls Pelosi's trip counter-productive and an undermine of his policy.
It seems that Pelosi has taken the iniative to get Syria involved in the Iraqi rebuilding process, a suggestion of the Baker-Hamilton report. On the surface it does look like an undermine of Bush's position on the issue. US-Syrian relations have been hinderd for years and got worse after the assassination of former Lebaneese prime minister Hariri. Since then the Bush administration hasnt done anything except point the finger and blame Syria for problems within Iraq and Lebanon.
The problem is I dont think anything will come out of Pelosi's visit to Syria. I believe Syria will still operate the way it has for the last 25 years, by covertly supporting groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. I personally do not think that Pelosi's trip is a direct attempt to undermine Bush's policy, but I do think it will be in vain. I dont beleive that Syria will ever really understand the consequences of their actions.
1 comment:
I agree that Pelosi is attempting to take advantage of her leadership in a positive way by visiting Syria. The truth is, however, Syria's more happy to receive the Speaker because of the political ramifications it has on domestic US politics. They will not take initiative to take advantage of the visit. And Pelosi SHOULDNT be negotiating too in depth with them either, so she can't expect anything substantial. Thought it may not have entirely meant to be so, this will turn out to be a publicity stunt for both parties involved.
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