Pelosi, Warmly Greeted in Syria, Is Criticized by White House
Hussein Malla/Associated Press
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: April 4, 2007
DAMASCUS, Syria, April 3 — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Syria on Tuesday for a visit that is seen as part of an attempt to sway Bush administration policy on Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.
Ms. Pelosi, the third-ranking elected official in the United States, behind the president and the vice president, is the most senior American politician to visit Syria since relations between the countries faltered in 2003.
She was greeted Tuesday afternoon at the airport in Damascus, the capital, by Walid al-Moallem, Syria’s foreign minister, and was taken on a tour of the old part of the city. She was to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and other senior officials on Wednesday.
At the White House, President Bush criticized Ms. Pelosi’s visit, saying it sent mixed signals to the Middle East and to President Bashar’s government.
“Sending delegations hasn’t worked,” Mr. Bush told reporters. “It’s just simply been counterproductive.”
The United States, which has accused the Syrian government of providing militants with safe passage into Iraq and of meddling in Lebanon’s politics after its army was forced to leave there in 2005, has sought to isolate Syria economically and politically. Damascus denies the charges.
On Tuesday, Ms. Pelosi, who is leading a high-level delegation of lawmakers, was expected to have dinner with opposition members and members of Parliament at the American ambassador’s house.
The house has been unoccupied since the ambassador was recalled in 2005 after allegations that the Syrian government might have had a hand in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister.
On a tour of the city, she visited the centuries-old Ommayad Mosque, interacting with Syrians at the mosque and at a market. She did not make any public comment.
Her delegation includes Representatives Henry A. Waxman and Tom Lantos of California, Louise M. Slaughter of New York, Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, all Democrats, as well as David L. Hobson, Republican of Ohio.
Arab and Western leaders, as well as many Democratic and some Republican lawmakers, have increasingly called for the Bush administration to engage Syria in dialogue as a means to stabilizing Iraq and settling some of the region’s growing political crises.
In Damascus, many welcomed Ms. Pelosi’s arrival as a breakthrough.
“There is a feeling now that change is going on in American policy— even if it’s being led by the opposition,” said Ziad Haider, Damascus bureau chief for Al Safir, a leftist Lebanese daily. Syrian officials are increasingly betting on improved relations with American Democrats, whom they expect to lead the United States in coming years, Mr. Haider said. “Pelosi’s approach represents a more practical policy; the administration’s policy over the last few years has been based on demands and ideology,” he said.
In Damascus’s old section where Ms. Pelosi’s name had become a household word, many spoke optimistically of an impending change in relations.
“Ms. Pelosi is going to be very happy in Syria,” said Izzat Abdoulkarim, who runs an optical shop in downtown Damascus. “George Bush says we are bad, but she will see this is not true.”
He added, emphatically: “She views the world through a different perspective than Bush. She’s more open-minded.”
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: April 4, 2007
DAMASCUS, Syria, April 3 — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Syria on Tuesday for a visit that is seen as part of an attempt to sway Bush administration policy on Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.
Ms. Pelosi, the third-ranking elected official in the United States, behind the president and the vice president, is the most senior American politician to visit Syria since relations between the countries faltered in 2003.
She was greeted Tuesday afternoon at the airport in Damascus, the capital, by Walid al-Moallem, Syria’s foreign minister, and was taken on a tour of the old part of the city. She was to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and other senior officials on Wednesday.
At the White House, President Bush criticized Ms. Pelosi’s visit, saying it sent mixed signals to the Middle East and to President Bashar’s government.
“Sending delegations hasn’t worked,” Mr. Bush told reporters. “It’s just simply been counterproductive.”
The United States, which has accused the Syrian government of providing militants with safe passage into Iraq and of meddling in Lebanon’s politics after its army was forced to leave there in 2005, has sought to isolate Syria economically and politically. Damascus denies the charges.
On Tuesday, Ms. Pelosi, who is leading a high-level delegation of lawmakers, was expected to have dinner with opposition members and members of Parliament at the American ambassador’s house.
The house has been unoccupied since the ambassador was recalled in 2005 after allegations that the Syrian government might have had a hand in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister.
On a tour of the city, she visited the centuries-old Ommayad Mosque, interacting with Syrians at the mosque and at a market. She did not make any public comment.
Her delegation includes Representatives Henry A. Waxman and Tom Lantos of California, Louise M. Slaughter of New York, Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, all Democrats, as well as David L. Hobson, Republican of Ohio.
Arab and Western leaders, as well as many Democratic and some Republican lawmakers, have increasingly called for the Bush administration to engage Syria in dialogue as a means to stabilizing Iraq and settling some of the region’s growing political crises.
In Damascus, many welcomed Ms. Pelosi’s arrival as a breakthrough.
“There is a feeling now that change is going on in American policy— even if it’s being led by the opposition,” said Ziad Haider, Damascus bureau chief for Al Safir, a leftist Lebanese daily. Syrian officials are increasingly betting on improved relations with American Democrats, whom they expect to lead the United States in coming years, Mr. Haider said. “Pelosi’s approach represents a more practical policy; the administration’s policy over the last few years has been based on demands and ideology,” he said.
In Damascus’s old section where Ms. Pelosi’s name had become a household word, many spoke optimistically of an impending change in relations.
“Ms. Pelosi is going to be very happy in Syria,” said Izzat Abdoulkarim, who runs an optical shop in downtown Damascus. “George Bush says we are bad, but she will see this is not true.”
He added, emphatically: “She views the world through a different perspective than Bush. She’s more open-minded.”
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