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Friday April 6, 2007

‘The road to Damascus is a road to peace’

by dan pine
staff writer

As Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is third in line for the presidency. After her controversial trip to Syria this week, President Bush might wish he could push her a little further down the line.

George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials have blasted Pelosi all week for making the trip (although a contingent of Republican congressmen visiting Damascus a few days earlier managed to avoid similar condemnation).

The criticism didn’t seem to faze Pelosi, a San Franciscan. Throughout her trip to Israel and Arab capitals, the speaker reveled in her new role as a player in Middle East politics.

Pelosi’s meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday, April 4 sparked the controversy. “We came in friendship,” she said from the Syrian capital, “and determination that the road to Damascus is a road to peace.”

At the urging of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Pelosi conveyed a message to Assad stating Israel was ready to launch peace talks “once Syria ends its support for terrorism.”

Assad replied that he, too, was “ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel,” though he did not offer to suspend support of Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Despite those upbeat comments, Olmert still saw no diplomatic breakthrough following the Damascus meeting, saying in a statement that “although Israel is interested in peace with Syria, that country continues to be part of the ‘axis of evil’ and a force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East.”

Some Syrian officials also threw cold water on prospects for bilateral Israeli-Syrian talks, with Syria’s Minister of Information Mohsen Bilal telling a UPI reporter if Israel wants peace talks it should clearly say so.

Pelosi’s serving as a go-between for Syria and Israel did not sit well with the White House. The president criticized Pelosi for visiting “state sponsors of terrorism.

“A lot of people have gone to see President Assad,” Bush told reporters on Tuesday, April 3. “We haven’t seen any action. He hasn’t responded.”

Visiting Damascus a few days earlier was a delegation of three Republican congressmen. Sen. Arlen Spector (R-Pa.), who is Jewish, also visited Syria recently and on numerous occasions before that.

The last visit to Syria by a senior Bush administration official came in 2005 when then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage paid a visit to Damascus.

Meanwhile, Syrian officials basked in the attention.

“Dialogue is the only method to close the gap existing between two countries,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said after the Assad-Pelosi meeting. “Everyone knows there are different points of view between Syria and the United States. We are happy that Mrs. Pelosi and her delegation had the courage and determination to bridge these differences.”

At a Damascus press conference Pelosi said she had “expressed concern about Syria’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas,” and had “expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria.”

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