U.S. Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Tom Lantos defended their recent diplomatic trip to the Middle East and suggested that they follow up by meeting with Iran's president. According to j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California, the Democratic representatives from California lashed out at White House criticism that the trip had undermined and misrepresented U.S. and Israeli foreign policy in visiting Syrian President Bashar Assad.When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lied last week about not giving Nancy Pelosi a message for Syria, I pointed out that he was obviously lying since his spokeswoman had said as much before Pelosi had even left for Syria.
"I do not know whether it was more pathetic or more hypocritical to have criticism for opening a dialogue when two days prior to our visit, three Republicans visited with Assad," Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said at a joint news conference Tuesday in San Francisco. "I was appalled by the attempt by the administration to minimize and mischaracterize the nature of the mission."
Lantos and Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had requested they pass on messages to Assad. "At the time we spoke with Prime Minister Olmert, he asked us to carry a message to Syria that Israel would be ready to resume negotiations if and when Syria stopped its support for terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah," Pelosi said, according to j.
What this shows is you have the White House trying to subvert an effort for peace, which as most people now realize with this warmongering administration is par for the course.
Bush and his minions should not be allowed to direct foreigh policy for this country since they have proven over and over again to be inept at doing so.
(h/t to TPM Cafe and Buzzflash)
