Pelosi Postscript from the Middle East
Power Line
MEMRI has brought together editorial reactions from the Arab press to Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria. The results are as you would expect. Arab governments and spokesmen for those governments applauded Pelosi's visit and saw it as a blow to the Bush administration. From Syria:
<<< Pelosi's visit was well received in Syria. While a number of delegations of U.S. congressmen had come to Syria in recent months, due to her status this visit was understood to be a significant development that could initiate a Syria-U.S. dialogue.
In an interview, Syrian Information Minister Muhsin Bilal told Arab television stations that Pelosi's meeting with Assad was "effective and positive."
He added that the visit had "helped to break the barrier that the American administration wanted to erect around Syria," and that "Pelosi, who represents Congress and the American people, has a spirit of dialogue and understanding for issues in the region and for Syria's important role in the region." >>>
From Egypt:
<<< The official Egyptian dailies also saw Pelosi's trip to Syria as a positive step. ... An editorial in the following day's Al-Ahram read: "Pelosi's visit is likely to verify the failure of the Bush administration's foreign policy in the Middle East, and it may be assumed that the visit will cause great embarrassment to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice..." >>>
From Qatar:
<<< Qatari columnist Mazen Hammad wrote in the Qatari daily Al-Watan: "It is as if lightning had struck the White House. This is how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus could be described. This wise woman, who is considered the third most senior American [official], is not only bringing her country back to sanity, but is also contributing to improving the image of the U.S. in the Arab and Muslim world.
"The talk in the White House of 'mixed signals' sent to Syria by the visit is not true. The visit sends one [single] message - a message of the American people's challenge to the foreign policy adopted by the American administration..." >>>
Conversely, and equally predictably, reformers who are trying to bring freedom to the region were dismayed by Pelosi's symbolic support for the Syrian dictatorship. From a reformist paper headquartered in Bahrain:
In an article titled "Shame on Ms. Pelosi for Shaking the
Hand of the Damascus Hangman!" Omran Salman, the Bahraini
editor of the reformist website Aafaq, wrote that Pelosi
had turned her back on Syrian reformists and had harmed
the cause of democracy in Syria:
"Of course no observer of Middle Eastern affairs could at
all take seriously what Pelosi said [about Syria's
willingness to renew the peace process]. The most [such an
observer] could do would be to struggle to keep from
laughing...
"What the honorable U.S. congresswoman said has no basis
in reality. Syria did not say that it would stem the flow
of terrorists into Iraq. Likewise, it did not say that it
would close the offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in
Damascus and expel their leaders. If it had wanted to do
this, it would have done so years ago, in response to
American demands and pressures..."
There's more:
"The only result that Pelosi achieved in visiting
Damascus, and in sitting down with the Syrian president
and shaking his hand, was to deliver a blow to the liberal
opposition in Syria and frustrate reformists' hopes for
change. By breaking through the ring of isolation
[surrounding] Bashar Assad's regime, Syria advanced
[several] steps towards repression and despotism, and the
march of reform and democracy fell behind.
"Is it any secret that the Syrian regime supports
terrorism and is the prime suspect in being behind the...
Hariri assassination and the assassinations of a number of
other Lebanese journalists and politicians?
"Is it any secret that the Syrian regime is one of the
most vicious of regimes, and one of the most repressive,
in the region...?
"Perhaps Pelosi did not know... that during her visit to
Damascus, this regime was specializing in torturing Syrian
oppositionists - among them Kamal Al-Labwani, the founder
of the Liberal Democratic Rally in Syria...
"Any observer cannot help but be astounded how elected
representatives of the American people, which loves
liberty and humanity and is devoted to democracy, can
engage with a first-rate dictatorial regime."
Sadly, though, it isn't so astounding. The Democrats consistently deride President Bush's "neocon" policy of trying to bring freedom and reform to the Arab world. What's their alternative? Support for the corrupt and tyrannical status quo. So it's no wonder that the region's autocrats and their minions were delighted to see Pelosi stick it in the President's eye. For them, it's a harbinger of a return to the good old days.
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