White House: Syrian Visits Hurt Progress

White House: Syrian and Other Visits Hurt Progress
Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday that trips to Syria by U.S. lawmakers are a public relations victory for a government that is thwarting democratic reform in the Middle East.

The Bush administration has tried to discourage lawmakers from going to Syria, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. “We think it’s inappropriate.”

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Fla., emerged from a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Wednesday, saying Assad was willing to help control the Iraq-Syrian border. Nelson said he viewed Assad’s remarks as “a crack in the door for discussions to continue. I approach this with realism, not optimism.”

Snow said the trip by Nelson, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, and future visits to Syria expected by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., send an unhelpful, mixed message to the Syrians.

“We want to make sure that they understand that just because they have visitors does not mean that the position of the United States government has changed,” Snow said.

Taking issue with the White House, Dodd said in a statement that members of Congress “need to go to hotspots not just garden spots. I can’t think of a more critical part of the world than the Middle East and I can’t think of a more critical player in affecting events in the region for good or for bad than Syria.”

Kerry spokesman David Wade said the senators were engaged in fact finding, not negotiating. “If Ronald Reagan could talk to the `evil empire,’ surely United States senators with a responsibility to American troops can visit Syria,” Wade said, referring to Reagan’s description of the former Soviet Union.

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended that the administration engage in direct talks with Syria, but President Bush has reacted coolly to that suggestion.

“The point is that even lending a further specter of legitimacy to that government undermines the cause of democracy in the region,” Snow said about Nelson’s trip.

Nelson’s spokesman Dan McLaughlin called the remarks a “baseless attack” and said the White House was producing the “same old tired, mean-spirited partisan politics” that were unhelpful to the situation in Iraq. McLaughlin defended Nelson’s trip as par for the course for a senator who sits on three oversight committees: Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Intelligence.

“In Syria, he met with a man he’s met with twice before _ not to negotiate, which is the president’s job, but to talk and gather facts and report back to Congress and the State Department,” McLaughlin said. “Senators meet with heads of state all the time.”

The United States has limited diplomatic ties with Syria because of its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, which the United States considers terrorist organizations. Bush expressed reluctance to seek help from Damascus on Iraq until the Syrian government curbs that support and reduces its influence in Lebanon.

“The Syrians should have absolutely no doubt that the position of the United States government is the same as it has been,” Snow said

And another example of this
treason:

Kerry criticizes Bush in Egypt
Senator John Kerry, visiting Egypt Thursday during a tour of the Middle East, accused the Bush administration of neglecting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Kerry met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and said they discussed Iraq as well as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

“I have always believed that the Middle East peace process is the critical issue of the region, and it has not been focused on for the past 6-7 years adequately,” the Massachusetts Democrat told reporters after meeting Mubarak. “I think there has been a huge loss of opportunities.”

Kerry, who narrowly lost to President Bush in the 2004 election, is also planning to visit Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel.

The senator said he agreed with the recommendation of the Iraq Study Group that the U.S. should engage adversaries such as Iran and Syria in trying to curb the conflict in Iraq. The recommendation was contained in the report by the bipartisan commission to the White House last week.

“I think it is important to talk and have a dialogue, but you don’t give up our principles and you don’t make deals that are against your larger interest. Syria needs to understand that and also Iran, but I think it is important to begin a discussion,” Kerry said.

President Bush has expressed reluctance to seek help from Syria or Iran on Iraq because of their support for militant groups as well as Syria’s alleged interference in Lebanon and Iran’s suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Wild Thing’s comment……
The Logan Act:

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

Now, somebody explain to me why these sons of bitches should not be arrrested for treason when they reenter the US. They are traitors every damned one of them. They know better than this. What happens if a Senator goes there and makes promises he cant keep.What happens when Leaky leahy goes there and divulges secrets.