Posted on 03/30/2007 2:15:30 PM PDT by indianrightwinger
Pelosi Going to Syria Despite Objections Mar 30 04:10 PM US/Eastern By ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Syria, a country President Bush has shunned as a sponsor of terrorism, despite being asked by the administration not to go.
"In our view, it is not the right time to have these sort of high- profile visitors to Syria," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Friday.
Pelosi arrived in Israel on Friday in what is her second fact-finding trip to the Middle East since taking over leadership in the House in January.
Her repeat trip, an indication she plans to play a role in foreign policy, is also a direct affront to the administration, which says such diplomatic overtures by lawmakers can do more harm than good.
Pelosi will not be the first member of Congress in recent months to travel to Syria, but as House speaker she is the most senior.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the speaker "should take a step back and think about the message that it sends."
"This is a county that is a state sponsor of terror, one that is trying to disrupt the Senora government in Lebanon and one that is allowing foreign fighters to flow into Iraq from its borders," Perino said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "probably really wants people to come, and have a photo opportunity, and have tea with him, and have discussions about where they're coming from. But we just think it's a really bad idea," Perino said.
Pelosi's office did not immediately return a call seeking comment on why she was not heeding administration warnings.
U.S. officials held their first direct, high-level contact with Syrian representatives in years when they met in Baghdad this month with officials from several Middle East countries to discuss Iraq.
McCormack said the State Department tried to discourage Pelosi and the others from visiting Syria but agreed to give their staff a pre-trip briefing. The U.S. Embassy in Damascus also is expected to assist the delegation.
Others traveling with Pelosi were Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Henry Waxman and Tom Lantos of California, Louise Slaughter of New York and Nick Rahall of West Virginia, and Ohio Republican David Hobson. Ellison is the first Muslim member of Congress.
The House has adjourned for a two-week spring break.
The group planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and to travel to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Ellison's spokesman, Rick Jauert.
The speaker is expected on Sunday to address the Israeli Knesset, her first address to a foreign government. She will become the highest- ranking American woman to speak before the Israeli parliament, according to her office.
She is expected to discuss "America's commitment to Israel and the challenges facing the two nations in the Middle East," according to a statement.
In late January, Pelosi and a close political ally, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., led a delegation of House members to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and other countries.
The January trip to Baghdad came just days after the president asked Congress in his State of the Union address to give his revised war strategy a chance to work. Bush is sending 21,500 additional combat troops, plus thousands of other support troops, to Iraq in a bid to tamp down sectarian attacks and provide enough security to hasten reconstruction efforts.
Pelosi last week forced legislation through the House that would order all combat troops out of Iraq by September 2008, a measure that resembles legislation approved by the Democratic-run Senate.
___
Associated Press writers Frederic J. Frommer, Jennifer Loven and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Democrats seem intent on making nice with our enemies and when even the State Department doesn't want Pelosi to go to Syria, then we know it's with good cause the administration isn't talking with Syrian officials.
Who's got the pool going on re: how long before San Fran Nan gets taken hostage to teach America a lesson???
If I start calling the names I want to call this lady, I will surely be banned from FR. It makes my blood boil. It is a political trip, and how dare she uses it to play politics.
What a stupid, treasonous, anti-American b*tch Pelosi is. Maybe if we pay Syria lots of money, they'll just keep her. Sort of like the "Ransom of Red Chief" in reverse.
Now if we can just get our timing right....
She should be arrested and charged.
Maybe...just maybe, if we're lucky enough, they'll take her hostage and we won't get her back!!!
They won't take her hostage. She is the best ally they have in this country. They would never risk their inside connection to our government.
Besides, we could never get that lucky.
Yeah, she's not the president and it's disrespectful to the US and the UK to go to a country that sponsors terrorism right now.
Just think though, if she was taken, who, in their right mind would negotiate for her return?!
They'll blame everybody except the people who actually did it.
It would be funny though.
Traitor Bill Nelson (D-FL) went to Syria in Dec. 2006. The Democrats are trying to undermine U.S. policy toward terror-sponsoring governments, as well as undermine our troops in Iraq.
http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/details.cfm?id=266934&;
If and when we have more 9/11's in the United States, with hundreds of thousands of Americans dead from nulclear, biological or chemical weapons, and our economy destroyed, let's be sure to remember who the traitors were. The penalty for treason should be death by hanging.
AMEN!!!!
Any pictures of this entourage? and pictures of the plane would be worth posting.
Big mistake. White House should have encouraged her and been suspiciously eager for her to take this trip.
"plans to play a role in foreign policy", she has been warned and this is not her job....she is a traitor to the US and should be impeached and imprisoned!
If you are going to sell out our country, you might as well do it in a highly publicized event.
She is nuts these Muzzies are not going to talk to a woman.
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