Blundering Nancy

[SuperScout]

The Prime Minister's Office [of Israel] issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a willingness to engage in peace talks. [And just waht the sam hill is the Speaker of the House doing, trying toconduct foreing affairs? EARTH TO NANCY: That ain't part of your job description.]

According to the statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emphasized in his meeting with Pelosi on Sunday 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."

Olmert, the statement clarified, told Pelosi that Syria's sincerity about a genuine peace with Israel would be judged by its willingness to "cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizbullah and bringing about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in Iran."

The statement said Olmert had not communicated to Pelosi any change in Israeli policy on Damascus. Pelosi, who met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the objections of US President George W. Bush, said she brought a message to Assad from Olmert saying that Israel was ready for peace talks. [Where does she come off, making up crap that doesn't exist? What justification can there be forher placing Isreal, our ally, into such a position?]

"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president [Assad] that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel," Pelosi said after meeting Assad.

She said the meeting with the Syrian leader "enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well." According to officials in the Prime Minister's Office, however, this was NOT what transpired during her meeting with Olmert.

The officials said Olmert had told Pelosi that he thought her trip to Damascus was a mistake, and that when she asked - nevertheless - whether he had a message for Assad, Olmert said Syria should first stop supporting terrorism and "act like a normal country," and only then would Israel be willing to hold discussions.

The first part of that message, the officials said, was lost in what was reported from Damascus on Wednesday. Pelosi said the congressional delegation she led raised the issue of kidnapped IDF soldiers Gilad Schalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and conveyed "the importance of Syria's role in promoting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis." She also said she had pressed Assad on Syrian support for Hamas and Hizbullah.

In a related development, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told the Bahrain daily Al-Ayam on Tuesday that the Riyadh Arab League summit set up "panels to communicate with all influential parties, including Israel, to activate the Arab Peace Initiative."

According to the Bahrain News Agency, Khalifa said the Arab League has formed "working teams to communicate with all parties, including Israel, the United Nations, the US, China and the European Union."

He said the team would make contacts with Israel "within a month," and that contacts with Israel would be made by countries "that have ties" with it, while the other Arab nations would contact the US and the EU member states. A source in the Prime Minister's Office denied knowledge of any working groups that would be calling Jerusalem.

"We still haven't accepted the full initiative," the source said, adding that there would be no formal reply until after the Prime Minister's Office returned from the weeklong Pessah holiday. "But we've never said no to contact."

The Pelosi-Assad meeting, meanwhile, was widely viewed as an attempt to push the Bush administration to open a direct dialogue with Syria, a step that the White House has rejected. Congressional Democrats insist the US attempts to isolate Syria have failed to force the Assad government to change its policies.

Rep. Tom Lantos, the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who was a member of Pelosi's delegation, said the meeting "reinforced very strongly" the potential benefits of talking to Syria. "This is only the beginning of our constructive dialogue with Syria and we hope to build on this visit," he told reporters.

On Tuesday, Bush denounced Pelosi's visit to Syria, saying it sent mixed signals to Assad's government. "Sending delegations doesn't work. It's simply been counterproductive," Bush said.

Last year, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended Washington open talks with Iran and Syria to try to resolve the war in Iraq and other regional crises. Bush rejected the recommendations, insisting dialogue would not bring results. But in February, the US joined a gathering of regional diplomats in Baghdad that included Iran and Syria for talks on Iraq.

"We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace," Pelosi said. She said she and her delegation "expressed [their] concern about Syria's connections to Hizbullah and Hamas," and discussed the issue of terrorists slipping across the Syrian border into Iraq.

"These are important issues not only in the fight against terrorism, but priorities for us for peace in the Middle East," she said. "These people in the United States who are opposing dialogue, I tell them one thing: Dialogue is... the only method to close the gap existing between two countries," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told reporters after Wednesday's Assad-Pelosi meeting.

"Everyone knows there are different points of view between Syria and the United States," he said. "We are happy that Mrs. Pelosi and her delegation had the courage and determination to bridge these differences."

[Jerry D]

Heir Nancy goes to the Middle east and tried to be Bill Clinton without the Office of President at her disposal what a idiot she is way to go Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for telling the rest of the story!

[Seascamp]

Credit where credit is due.

Levering Israel into a position of denial on the diplomatic stage is a really bold and risky move, not a blunder. Israel was painted into a damned if ya do and damned if ya don?t corner and I know of no sovereign country in the world that will stand for rubbish like that. Assad didn?t let Syria get painted in a corner by saying something other than benign happy face garden talk and appearing as a gob of silly putty in the hands of Pelosi, zow, rock you, eh.
Twas a Machiavellian night move, but trip flairs happen, and there is no way in hell Israel could let intentional misrepresentation stand without challenge.

Syria is on a roll, going for it, and in a few months I reckon it?s going to be mighty hot in the ?blue zone? again and no more silly putty acts in Damascus, nope. There is a massive arms buildup of rocketry and other weaponry going on right now and all from Iran via Syria to Lebanon and Gaza. Israel is going to get a hellacious pounding, that is a certainty.

Scamp

[Robert Ryan]

Like I said hope Nancy gets lost in the desert their somewhere.

[exlrrp]

Its all very interesting that, once again, the republicons are blaming the democrats for doing something they do themselves.

"... Indeed, she was preceded on the road to Damascus by Rep. Frank Wolf, a prominent Virginia Republican who led a GOP delegation to meet with Assad,...[ also with 2 other Republican Congressmen, Aderholt and Pitts- jw]... and she was soon followed by Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican whose remarks after seeing the Syrian leader were sharply critical of the Bush White House...." (for more of this article see below)

The fact is that the Bush administration can't accuse Pelosi of messing up thier policies toward Syria because there IS no Republican policy about Syria other than: "Hate 'em"

The republicons are once again blaming the Democrats for something the Repiblicons do routinely because they think this is the best way to cover up that all Republicon "diplomatic" efforts have beenj disatrous--we don't have hardly one ally left in the world, the US prestige and sympathy we had after 9/11 have all disintegrated under Republicon policies.

What exactly does Con Rice do to earn those expensive Ferragamos she loves so much? It sure isn't diplomacy--there hasn't been one diplomatic triumph during the whole Bush adminisitration and especiaally on her watch.

The focus on Pelosi is to cover up the fact that the Bush administration is the mst diplomatically inept administration in recent memory--theyve achieved nothing but making the world worse.

"...April 6, 2007 | With her brief visit to Syria, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has provoked an outburst of flaming hysteria from the Bush administration, as well as from the neoconservatives who fashioned its ruinous war and failed foreign policies. The screaming critics of the speaker charge her with undermining presidential power, freelancing Mideast diplomacy, appeasing a terrorist regime and even surrendering to Islamist radicalism by donning a head scarf. By merely meeting with Bashar Assad, the Syrian president, Pelosi supposedly proved that she was eager to promote irresponsible partisanship at the cost of national unity and constitutional order.

In the New York Post she was accused of "making a date with a terrorist." On the NewsMax site she was portrayed as "appeasing dictators in the Middle East." In the Washington Post she was ridiculed for attempting to mount a "shadow presidency." And on CNN, she was mocked for planting a "big wet kiss" on Assad as a "publicity stunt."

Yet those furious complaints were all false and, more important, beside the point. The problem is not what Pelosi did or said, but how she exposed the exhaustion of neoconservative policy.

As most of her critics surely know, there is nothing outrageous or even unusual about a meeting between a foreign head of state and a member of Congress. Indeed, she was preceded on the road to Damascus by Rep. Frank Wolf, a prominent Virginia Republican who led a GOP delegation to meet with Assad, and she was soon followed by Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican whose remarks after seeing the Syrian leader were sharply critical of the Bush White House.

Pelosi was attacked for her remarks about the possibility of peace talks between Syria and Israel, as if this radical prospect had never been broached before. Before arriving in Damascus, she had met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and addressed the Knesset, pledging Democratic support for the defense of the Jewish state.

Although Olmert later attempted to embarrass Pelosi by declaring that he had given her no message for Assad, his own spokeswoman issued a statement after their meeting on April 1, which clearly indicated that they had discussed what she might say to the Syrian president. According to that statement, Olmert told her that he would enter negotiations with Assad only if Syria withdrew its support for Hamas and Hezbollah. There is no evidence that Pelosi said anything different in Damascus. Why she expressed optimism about eventual peace talks between the Syrians and the Israelis remains to be seen.

The speaker's rather bland remarks in Syria were no more provocative than the statement released by Wolf, who has not suffered any specific denunciation from the White House or the right-wing claque for his separate visit to Syria. "We came because we believe there is an opportunity for dialogue," he said, speaking for himself and Reps. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and Joseph Pitts, R-Pa. Rep. Issa went further, bluntly rebuking the Bush administration for failing to encourage such a dialogue with Assad...."

I don't usually agree with Issa but he's dead right on this one
Stay good
james

Ps--the picture shows a previous Republicon diplomatic effort--thats former Sec of Defense Rumsfeld sucking up to Saddam, the arch criminal, in the '80s. Why is Rummy doing this? so he can pimp for American arms manufacturers. We all know how well this turned out.

[SuperScout]

Not surprisngly, you're missing the entire point, but due to your obvious bias and hatred, is perfectly understandable. I'm certainly not in favor of anybody, Republican or Democrat, dealing with a terrorist thug such as Assad. This country has a long-standing policy of not negotiating with terrorists and criminals such as represented by this member of the Axis of Evil.

Secondly, Pelosi was trying to create her own foreign policy, a job for which she was not elected, for which she is not capable, and for which she manifested herself as a blithering idiot. She proceeded to go, even against the sound advice of the President, and of the Prime Minister of Israel.

Thirdly, Madame Mouth made some statements that had to be countermanded by Israel as being completely untrue, unfounded and patently idiotic. Considering the source, this also is not a surprise.

And finally, aren't you just a little bit tired of living in the past? What an exhaustive and petty little chore you must entertain yourself with, posting meaningless pictures that have absolutely no relevance to the present moment. It is a childish and boring demonstration.

[Gimpy]

Originally posted by SuperScout
And finally, aren't you just a little bit tired of living in the past? What an exhaustive and petty little chore you must entertain yourself with, ------- that have absolutely no relevance to the present moment. It is a childish and boring demonstration.

You mean kinda like your continung to blast Clinton for every bad thing that has happened in modern US history????

Just asking .------

[reconeil]

Regarding your: "...continuing to blast Clinton for every bad thing that has happened in modern US history????",...OF COURSE SuperScout CAN & SHOULD!!!!

Whom else can one blame for continuous White House and/or America Embarrassments that occurred during the 8 years (only 6 or so years ago) of Clinton Rule and daily excused by a Democrat Controlled Congress,...OTHER THAN: "Old Slick Willy" himself?

Can't blame Bush for Clinton's Ordering U.S. Troops to work under UN Control & Support and thus causing The Debacle and/or: "Black Hawk Down" expenditure of Brave American Lives & Casualties, for naught.

Can't blame Bush for Clinton's handling (actually non-handling) of The First World Trade Center Bombing in New York and/or First Terrorist Attack on American Soil,...as if not very important to US ONE & ALL and/or America whatsoever.

Can't blame Bush for Clinton's daily oral servicing by a subordinate (also on MY/OUR Payroll) during working hours in The Oval Office,...and especially the one being performed on him while simultaneously discussing Troop Deployments in Bosnia, with some general on the telephone.

Me Thinks Thou should brush-up-a-little on: "Modern History" before bringing such up, Gimpy. Whether a few years old or quite currently, the book or track record on Democrats for being helpful to The American Citizenry & America's Troops,...has been quite abysmal. For foreign nationals, it's quite different.
Know you don't want that to get out.

Neil

[SuperScout]

"... every bad thing..." No, just Clinton's total incompetence with regards to the very concept of terrorists that are bent on our destruction. He was too stupid to see it for what it is, a war - a global war, irrespective of what you whiners and snivelers want to call it - and instead, tried to deal with it as a purely criminal activity.

Oh, yeah, and one other thing: Clinton's hiring of the thug Sandy the Burglar Berger, remember? The guy who stole Top Secret (and even higher classified stuff than that), and God only knows what he did with it.

[Robert Ryan]

Gimpy I love that cartoon. It is great. Two asses on asses.