Pelosi Meets With Terrorists' Supporters
58 DAYS AND COUNTING
By California Yankee Posted in Congress — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Speaker Pelosi is too busy handing a diplomatic victory to Syria, one of the original members of the state sponsors of terrorism, to be bothered to send the war funding legislation to the president so it can be vetoed, allowing the Democrats to score a political points in the war they continue to fight, their war against President Bush.
What is Pelosi doing taking spring break in Syria and meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad? Has she forgotten about the Syria Accountability Act? That law, which Pelosi and 398 other House Members voted for on October 15, 2003, stated that it is the policy of the United States that:
(9) the United States will not provide any assistance to Syria and will oppose multilateral assistance for Syria until Syria ends all support for terrorism, withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon, and halts the development and deployment of weapons of mass destruction and medium- and long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
Did Pelosi forget what she said about the Syria Accountability Act before voting for it?: Read on ...
Syria’s assistance to terrorist organizations is well known, and the State Department continues to list Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism, in violation of resolutions on that issue by the United Nations Security Council. The Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, which Syria controls, provides a haven and the site of training facilities for Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups. These activities could not occur without the assent of the Syrian government.
The people of Israel and the cause of peace in the Middle East have been the traditional targets of the groups helped by Syria, but today’s attack on the U.S. convoy in Gaza is a reminder that the United States, and our interests around the world, are foremost on terrorist target lists. Dealing with the problem of terrorism must be our chief priority.
One of the lessons learned thus far in the war on terrorism is that there can be no success without disrupting the support networks on which terrorists rely. Rhetoric has thus far not been effective in encouraging the Syrian government to cease its assistance to terrorists, and to remove its forces from Lebanon.
President Bush criticized the Pelosi's interference in U.S.-Syrian relations:
Bush has said Pelosi's trip signals that the Assad government is part of the international mainstream when it is not.[. . .]
"A lot of people have gone to see President Assad ... and yet we haven't seen action. He hasn't responded," he told reporters soon after she arrived in Damascus Tuesday. "Sending delegations doesn't work. It's simply been counterproductive."
The Financial Times reports Syria takes Pelosi's visit as a diplomtic coup, which the terrorists' supporters hailed as the "courageous position" taken by" Pelosi, being the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Syrian more than two years. The US and Europe cut off high-level contacts with Syria after the assassination of former Lebanon's prime minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005. The UN is still investigating Syria's role in that murder.
While Pelosi takes a break from legislating defeat in Iraq to provide a diplomatic coup to supporters of terrorism it has now been 58 days since President Bush sent the request for the necessary funds to support our troops fighting the war. When will the Democrats fund the war?
AP Photo/HUSSEIN MALLA
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Pelosi Meets With Terrorists' Supporters 14 Comments (0 topical, 14 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Come on nricciar, you do know the difference, right? One the one side, you have minority party legislators making a visit, on the other, you have The Speaker of the House, the third ranking constitutional officer who has the potential to imply policy to the Syrians. Although, the Constitution empowers the Executive Branch to "make treaties" and conduct foreign policy, Madame Speaker seems to think that she not only can act as the Secretary of Defense, but can also act as the Secretary of State.
The real impact, beyond emboldening a terrorist state, is that Speaker Pelosi is abrogating the Constitutional perogatives of the President. That, in and of itself, is why her visit is so heinous.
Unfortunately, you've devolved to the old, "well they did it, so can I" argument, and you're missing the real issue here.
"We make war that we may live in peace."
--Aristotle--
But the Conservative base has one question for our elected officials, "Just what are you using instead of your brains to think with?"
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
This occurred to me in light of McCaffery's comment about using the Democratic majority in Congress to put pressure on the Iraqi government:
What if Nancy and George are in cahoots and are intentionally playing a game of good cop/bad cop? So Nancy is over there saying, "I swear the guy is nuts -- I get the feeling he's planning to take you out".
"I should be allowed to think" -- John Linnell
So when Republican "minority party legislators" meets with Syrians, it's hunky-dory, but when the Democratic "third ranking constitutional officer" meets with Syrians, it's "assistance".
Got it.
"third ranking constitutional officer" is by definition a BIG fish with a big media footprint, who is being seen undermining the stated foreign policy of the US, for which the President is constitutionally responsible. Capice?
He's using the point to distract himself from having to think about the fact that Speaker Pelosi thinks that continuing to stand with the Lebanese against a state supporter of terrorism doesn't trump embarrassing the President. If it wasn't this, it'd just be something else.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.
it doesn't look like anything is working in the foreign policy areana, so how can anyone undermine it?
...I have an errand to run, so let's just skip ahead to the point where you write a 400 word essay on recent American/Indian relations in order to get your account turned back on.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.
The question remains: How is the BIG fish meeting with them "providing assistance"?
(Aside to Machiavelli- note subtle way of inserting Italian into dialogue thus further preparing electorate for Rudy. Have I learned well or not?)
Syria is Iran's proxy in the Levant, and has been for, oh, about 30 years or so. There are few evil events in Lebanon that do not bear the stamp of Assad pere and fils, including the bombing of the Marine barracks in 1983, the various hostage-takings and the conflicts that have plagued the country up to and including the July 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Syria is also supporting insurgency in Iraq and became a refuge for fleeing Saddamites and, who knows, maybe WMD. All it takes is one jar across a border, you know.
Until the Dems actually depose Bush and Cheney, they have no constitutional standing to pursue a separate foreign policy. Especially with such a sleazebag. That includes Mme Speaker.
I am aware of the history, but thanks anyway.
Can you address the question as to the "assistance" that the speaker is allegedly providing?
that the Assad regime is a sponsor of terrorism assists the Assad regime by implying that it isn't really so bad.
It is as simple as that.
Are they even sitting close enough to hear what each other are saying? How about a NOTE PAD or something to memorialize the empty assertions made during the meeting?
Pelosi on White House criticism of trip: "It's interesting because three of our colleagues, who are all Republicans, were in Syria yesterday and I didn't hear the White House speaking out about that"