Syrian officials and government media on Tuesday hailed the
Damascus visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, praising her for
trying to improve relations between the two countries. However, US
President Bush denounced the trip, saying it encouraged the illicit
activities of the Syria's government.
Elias Mourad, director general and editor-in-chief of the
Baath newspaper, told local press that Pelosi's visit
confirms Syria's role in the Middle East. He further commented that
US critics of the trip showed the diversity of opinions concerning
Syria.
Meanwhile, Mahdi Dakhlullah, Syria's former information
minister, said Pelosi's visit was "a step towards the right
direction," deriding the White House's policy to isolate Syria as a
failure. He added that this visit was a sign of the US' policy
towards the Middle-East returning to a balanced form.
Syrian official media also strongly supported the trip with
Damascus Radio welcoming it as "a step in the right direction ...
because closing gates of dialogue is a flagrant mistake."
In addition, the Syria Times newspaper described Pelosi
as a "brave lady" on an "invaluable" mission while the Tishrin
daily paper published an editorial that guaranteed Pelosi would
discover Syria's readiness to engage in constructive dialogue with
the US.
Pelosi will hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and
other officials on Wednesday about which she commented "I have no
illusions but great hope."
Defending her trip to Damascus on Monday in Beirut after a
scathing attack by the White House, Pelosi argued that the journey
was "an excellent idea" and that her meeting with el-Assad would
tackle "the overarching issue of the fighting against terrorism and
the role that Syria can play to help or to hinder."
Pelosi, the highest-ranking US politician to visit Syria in
years, arrived in Damascus Tuesday afternoon accompanied by a
bipartisan congressional delegation.
Relations between Washington and Damascus became strained in
2003 when Syria slammed the US invasion of Iraq, a stance it has
maintained ever after.
The White House, on the contrary, has accused Syria of
sponsoring terror and of allowing militants to use its borders to
infiltrate and smuggle weapons into Iraq.
Damascus does publicly support the Palestinian Islamic
Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Hezbollah movement which
Washington considers to be terrorist organizations.
Following the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri in February 2005, Washington severed diplomatic ties with
Damascus after accusing it of having master-minded the killing.
Syria has denied any involvement despite UN findings that
implicated senior Syrian officials in the case. Washington has been
under pressure to enter talks with Syria over finding a regional
help package to soften violence in Iraq.
The US bipartisan Iraq Study Group directly urged the Bush
administration to engage in talks with Syria and Iran over Iraq,
advice utterly ignored by the White House.
(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2007)
