I'm not saying Pelosi was right or wrong. But I do find it odd that she actually does something towards diplomacy in the troubled region, and the do-nothings from the Bush administration and their toadies have a fit. God forbid someone should actually try and work toward peace in the region, and try to help bring some stabilization. That seems to have really scared Bush and all five of the supporters he has left.
sometimes trying to do 'something' hurts more than nothing. its a tricky situation but a country showing mixed signals and noncohesiveness is confusing.
The only thing confusing is the games the administration is playing with this whole episode. -- REPUBLICAN Hobson says Pelosi trip productive despite critics U.S. Rep. David Hobson on Wednesday rebuffed Bush administration criticism of his trip to Syria with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she has reinforced Bush administration policies in the region and possibly made progress toward peace in the Middle East. Hobson of Springfield, the lone Republican on a seven-member tour of the Middle East led by Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said the speaker strongly reinforced Bush policy on Syria, urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to work to lessen the influence of terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah in the region, to stop the influx of suicide bombers into Iraq from Syria and to "not fall into the trap of being dominated by Iran." Though the administration does not currently talk to Syria, Hobson said the delegation was adamant in urging Assad to support administration policy in the Middle East. "I think we played a useful role," Hobson said in a phone call from Saudi Arabia. "We reinforced the administration's positions and at the same time we were trying to understand and maybe getting some voice to some things people wanted to say that maybe they were not comfortable saying to the administration. The jury's out ... but this was not an anti-administration trip at all." http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/co...040507hobson.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=16
That's true but again pardon my skepticism because I still find it odd that Olmert would set up Pelosi on behalf of the Admin.. While Olmert might find the Bush Admin. to be a better friend of Israel than Pelosi it isn't in his or Israel's interest to embarass the Speaker of the House who could still block a lot of things in Congress and who would likely be an ally of a possible future Democratic President. The Bush Admin. will be gone in two years and is dealing with a hostile Congress so there is little to be gained by helping them score domestic political points. While a conspiracy between Olmert and the Bush Admin. might be possible it doesn't strike me as being the most likely explanation. Miscommunication on the part of Pelosi or Olmert when he originally met with her seems more the case.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So basso is Rice a felon? Rice: Meeting with Syrian "professional," focused on Iraq security SHARM El-SHEIK, Egypt — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said her meeting Thursday with the Syrian foreign minister, the first high-level talks in years between the United States and Syria, was "professional" and focused on how to improve security in Iraq. Rice met with Walid Moallem for a half-hour on the sidelines of a two-day conference about Iraq's future, taking the opportunity to air U.S. concerns about Syria's notoriously porous border with its neighbor. The talks came hours after the chief military spokesman in Iraq said Syria had moved to reduce "the flow of foreign fighters" into Iraq _ a key U.S. demand. "I didn't lecture him and he didn't lecture me," Rice said afterward. "I would say it was professional. It was businesslike." ' http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070503/iraq-conference
i dont see how "businesslike" helps her case. that almost makes it sounds like she like there was more to it than i originally had considered
The nation has to have one person in charge of foreign affairs, the President. It is unwise to have 535 (Congress). I was against it when Newt and Hastert did it, and I remain so today.
I'm glad that Speaker Pelosi's bipartisan trip put the onus on the Administration to do something about a situation it has been neglecting, to our peril, for years. We owe her a debt of gratitude.
No but they have been, for years, trying to ingratiate themselves to us by offering us back channel information about our enemies such as Al Qaeda - offers that were rebuffed out of hand. There's a rather significant amount of documentation to this end. I'm surprised you didn't know this already since you consider yourself such an expert in understading the arab world and pride yourself on how you "get it" more than the rest of us.
