WASHINGTON - John Kerry, chairman of the U.S. Senate's foreign relations committee, will meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad next week during a Middle East trip as Washington works to keep a dialogue between the two countries despite years of tension.
Assad said recently Syria wanted to have a constructive dialogue with the United States, and President Barack Obama, who took over from President George W. Bush last month, said during his campaign he wanted to reach out to Syria.
I'd reach out to Assad, too, if I were suitably armed ...
Kerry's spokesman Frederick Jones said the senator would be traveling to Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Israel as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and not as an emissary of the Obama administration.
Jones said Kerry had met Assad before and had conducted a "continuing dialogue" with Syrian officials, including a recent meeting with Damascus' ambassador to Washington.
Kerry met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday, Jones said.
Trying to make me feel sorry for him?
Syria and the United States are on poor terms because of Damascus' support for the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanese movement Hezbollah. Under Bush, Washington withdrew its ambassador in Damascus following the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and accused Syria of allowing Islamist fighters to infiltrate Iraq. Cooperation between Syria and Iran has also angered Washington.
One of Dubya's bigger mistakes was not taking Assad down in 2003 when we had the opportunity.
The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday that Representative Howard Berman, chairman of the House (of Representatives) International Affairs Committee, also would meet Assad this month. A Berman aide said that for security reasons the committee would not confirm or deny reports about travel plans.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
02/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Kerry's going to see an Ass-hat durign his trip?
#2
What a great President he would have made, yet he has competition from this other guy who campaigns and stutters and makes long windes incoherrent speaches and yet holds title for air time in the media... for some reason. .....anyone? ... Ferris?
The U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Thursday to support U.N. moves to bring to justice the killers of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri ahead of the fourth anniversary of his assassination.
"As we share our grief with the Lebanese people over the loss of Prime Minister Hariri, we also share our conviction that his sacrifice will not be in vain," Obama said in a statement ahead of Saturday's anniversary.
"The United States fully supports the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, whose work will begin in a few weeks, to bring those responsible for this horrific crime and those that followed to justice."
His predecessor George W. Bush, who left office last month, had also pushed for a thorough investigation of the killing of Hariri and 22 other people in a car bomb explosion in Beirut in February 2005.
Some anti-Syrian politicians have said Syria was behind the suicide bombing but Damascus denies this. The assassination sparked a worldwide outcry that forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops that had been in Lebanon for nearly 30 years.
The U.N. tribunal to try Hariri's alleged killers is due to open its doors on March 1, housed in the former headquarters of the Dutch intelligence service on the outskirts of The Hague.
The tribunal will have 11 judges, including four from Lebanon.
An Iranian court sentences three men to death for bombing a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz and killing a number of people.
Iranian Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jasmshidi said on Thursday that three men among a total of 15 people arrested as part of the case had been sentenced to death.
Seven of the suspected terrorists have been charged with involvement in the attack, three of whom have confessed to being brainwashed by a Western terrorist cell.
The bombing, one of Iran's most fatal terrorist acts, claimed the lives of 14 people and injured almost 208 others in April 12, 2008.
Iran says the attack had been carried out by individuals who were trained and financed by Israeli, US and British spy agencies.
Jamshidi earlier warned that the Islamic Republic might press charges against the United States, Britain and Israel over their involvement in the bombing.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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