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Condi's Road to Damascus - The price America will pay for her Syrian photo-op
WSJ OpinionJournal.com ^ | November 27, 2007 | BRET STEPHENS

Posted on 11/26/2007 9:27:56 PM PST by gpapa

Remember Nancy Pelosi's spring break in Damascus? Condoleezza Rice apparently does not. When the House Speaker paid Syrian strongman Bashar Assad a call back in April, President Bush denounced her for sending "mixed signals" that "lead the Assad government to believe they are part of the mainstream of the international community, when in fact they are a state sponsor of terror." Today, said sponsor of terror will take its place at the table Ms. Rice has set for the Middle Eastern conference at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Only at Foggy Bottom would Syria's last-minute decision to go to Annapolis be considered a diplomatic triumph. The meeting is supposed to inaugurate the resumption of high-level negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, with a view toward finalizing a deal on Palestinian statehood before the administration leaves office. On a deeper plane of geopolitical subtlety, it is supposed to bring Israel and the Arab world together in tacit alliance against Iran.

This raises three significant questions. First, how does Syria's presence at Annapolis affect those goals? Next, how does Syria's presence affect U.S. policy toward Syria? And what effect, if any, will all this have on Syria's behavior in the region?

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS: annapolis; appeasement; condi; foggybottom; israel; lameduck; legacy; powellinadress; syria

1 posted on 11/26/2007 9:27:58 PM PST by gpapa
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To: gpapa

Sparking a fatty boombatty in the West Wing.


2 posted on 11/26/2007 9:31:14 PM PST by cyborg (Long Island Half Marathon finisher!)
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To: gpapa
The trip to Damascus will no doubt be routed through Pyonyang.

Probably is, when the US delegation arrives at DAM <<مطار دمشق الدولي>>, there won't be enough Appeasment left to go around.

3 posted on 11/26/2007 9:45:53 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo (McCain? Giuliani? Huckabee? Paul? As the Nominee? Then AiT Takes a Hike: 3rd Party Conservative)
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To: gpapa

The author’s comparison of Rice with Pelosi is absurd. The “mixed signals” Bush referred to was a nuanced way of pointing out that Pelosi was interfering in the powers of the executive branch. It is not Nancy Pelosi’s place to negotiate with Syria and other foreign states - expecially terrorist states. These matters are reserved for the President and Secretary of State (and the Senate, in matters of treaties and ambassadorial appointments).


4 posted on 11/26/2007 9:51:25 PM PST by HAL9000 (Fred Thompson/Mike Huckabee 2008)
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To: HAL9000

Nor Kuchinich’s: who just *happened* to be at lunch with Assad on 9/6.


5 posted on 11/26/2007 9:54:40 PM PST by txhurl (Yes there were WMDs)
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To: cyborg
Sparking a fatty boombatty...

Bwahahaha!...I'm LMAO here and I don't even know what it means! This could be the new "stuned beeber"!

Please explain...

FMCDH(BITS)

6 posted on 11/26/2007 11:03:27 PM PST by nothingnew (I fear for my Republic due to marxist influence in our government. Open eyes/see)
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To: nothingnew; cyborg
>> Sparking a fatty boombatty...

> Bwahahaha!...I'm LMAO here and I don't even know what it means! This could be the new "stuned beeber"! Please explain...

I dunno about "sparking" (it can mean "making out" or "shooting a gun"), but "fatty boombatty" is urban slang for a female with an over-ample posterior (big butt). See: fatty boombatty

7 posted on 11/27/2007 1:31:30 AM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: HAL9000
The “mixed signals” Bush referred to was a nuanced way of pointing out that Pelosi was interfering in the powers of the executive branch.

Right. Unfortunately for the Bush administration, this message was exposed as a complete fraud at the time. Pelosi's trip to Syria would have required a clearance from the U.S. State Department, and (if I remember correctly) was even made on an aircraft provided by the U.S. military -- which doesn't answer to anyone outside the Executive Branch. The Bush administration could have quashed that trip at any time.

These people are all full of sh!t.

8 posted on 11/27/2007 1:53:25 AM PST by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

9 posted on 11/27/2007 5:57:13 AM PST by SJackson (seems to me it is entirely proper to start a Zionist State around Jerusalem, T Roosevelt, neocon)
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To: dayglored; nothingnew

It’s a Kevin Smith movie reference :-) In this case, I’m talking about smoking pot.


10 posted on 11/27/2007 6:01:22 AM PST by cyborg (Long Island Half Marathon finisher!)
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To: Alberta's Child
"These people are all full of sh!t."

Politicians all, including Bush. It's too bad we're financing their shenanigans. I could find much better uses for my money.

Carolyn

11 posted on 11/27/2007 6:08:39 AM PST by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: gpapa

The writer is a moron. Rice is tasked with foreign policy as part of the Executive. Pelosi was a rogue, without proper authority.


12 posted on 11/27/2007 11:28:58 PM PST by newzjunkey (“Market forces” demanded serfs and market forces got them. - Kolokotronis)
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To: newzjunkey
The writer is a moron.

No, but the writer thinks his readers are.

13 posted on 11/27/2007 11:37:12 PM PST by Cementjungle
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