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| Speaker Pelosi Traveling to Middle East (hint: Assad) |
| 2007-03-30 |
| ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: ABC News has learned Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to visit Syria next week to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The visit will make Pelosi the most senior U.S. official ever to meet with President Assad. Pelosi will be traveling to Syria has part of Congressional delegation. On the trip, she also plans to visit several other countries in the region, including Israel, where she will deliver a speech to the Knesset. Pelosi's visit to Syria would come as the United States has severed high-level contacts with Assad's government. The administration recalled the U.S. ambassador to Damascus after the February 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri in Lebanon. There has been very little high- or mid-level U.S. contact with Syria since then. Last December, a delegation of four Senators visited Syria, a trip that was made over the objections of the Bush Administration. At the time, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized the trip as unhelpful. Traveling with Pelosi will be Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MN), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Tom Lantos (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and David Hobson (R-OH). |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #30 The part in bold will be the tough nut to crack. INTENT must be proved. So, let's see: They're flying untold thousands of miles to a hostile region to look at the scenery? There is only one conceivable purpose for Pelosi and crew to visit Assad. Pelosi is seeking to back-channel the White house with one of our worst enemies! Unless she is able to provide some other verifiable pretext for her visit, and she cannot, this is flat out treason. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-30 23:21 |
| #29 kneepads and Binaca That might do for Pelosi, but what's Assad going to do about the recurring nightmares? |
| Posted by: KBK 2007-03-30 22:54 |
| #28 I agree that they are violating the Logan Act, to wit: § 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments. Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects. The part in bold will be the tough nut to crack. INTENT must be proved. And who is going to go after Pelosi and Co.? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-03-30 22:51 |
| #27 Zen and CF are absolutely right on this and that is what chaps me so hard about it. THIS IS NOT THEIR JOB!!! It is a blatant attempt to usurp the executive branch and independently establish foreign policy. That is against the law. Sorry, but I know the mainstream media won't raise those issues. I am steamed. These people, along with the grey-haired protesters I saw before dinner, are aiding and abetting savages, absolute utter savages. That they can claim some moral high ground while doing so defies all logic. It is willful ignorance or actively traitorous behavior. I don't care which, the lot of them should be horsewhipped. |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2007-03-30 22:11 |
| #26 Next week, ya say? Might be a good time to bomb Damascus, seeing how no friendlies will be there. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-30 22:06 |
| #25 HA!!! google ad on the side sez this: Congressman Browse through a huge selection. Find exactly what you want today. www.ebay.com ROFLMAO!!! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-03-30 21:14 |
| #24 I think this is a clear violation of the Logan Act. Madam Speaker does *not* have authority from the US Government to talk to foreign governments let alone hostile ones. Only the POTUS has that privilege and he did not delegate it to her. Bush needs to nip this in the bud right now or he will be setting a precedent for congress usurping yet another presidential power. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-03-30 21:11 |
| #23 Traveling with Pelosi will be Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MN) So, that's not one, but two counts of consorting with the enemy. Since when did any of our politicians travel to Nazi Germany and meet with Hitler during World War II? It would have been treason then and it is most certainly treason now. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-30 20:50 |
| #22 ASSad, meet ASShole, ASShole meet ASSad (Y'all have so much in common). |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-03-30 20:20 |
| #21 "Oh, please, may she become a human shield, smuggled to Tehran, forced to wear a full body black hijab, and taken by Nutjob as one of his wives." Nutjob can keep Waxman, too; turn him into a Court Eunuch... |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-03-30 20:14 |
| #20 Speaker is a mother and a grandmother, and she knows how to protect the United States. ASSad will admire |
| Posted by: Captain America 2007-03-30 19:58 |
| #19 I support Pelosi's ME trip; it is her return trip that I oppose. |
| Posted by: Sneaze 2007-03-30 19:58 |
| #18 Unless this trip is about commerce, its only public purpose can be to undermine the current foreign policy of the Nation she is supposed to be helping lead. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-03-30 19:53 |
| #17 I hope things go so well over there that she ends up staying. |
| Posted by: Crusader 2007-03-30 19:43 |
| #16 uh, Fred? about the name generator...? Bill S. |
| Posted by: One Eyed Ebbeater5396 2007-03-30 19:38 |
| #15 This stuff is just incredible to me. These people just don't give a damn about the consequences of their actions. They do not have the power to draft foreign policy, particulary since they are members of the House of Representatives. They don't even get to vote on international treaties. Who the hell is going to pay for this trip? (I know, I know...all of us) I just shake my head and pray for our soldiers/Marines/Airmen/Sailors and for our future. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2007-03-30 19:37 |
| #14 I, for one have no objection to the Madam of the House going to Syria.... I do, however, object to her coming back. |
| Posted by: Bill Shitch2844 2007-03-30 19:37 |
| #13 Did she pack her kneepads and bottle of Binaca? (oh, that is so crude and vulgar of me. Mom should wash out my mind with soap! Nope... let the comment stand. San Fran Nan can take her lumps from me, and everyone else. Lie down with dogs, Nan, get up with fleas) |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2007-03-30 19:32 |
| #12 Oh, please, may she become a human shield, smuggled to Tehran, forced to wear a full body black hijab, and taken by Nutjob as one of his wives. It might be the one thing that could stop a war. Then Bush could appoint Reid, Waxman, Schumer, and Specter as his special diplomatic team to go to Tehran to negotiate for her release. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-30 18:59 |
| #11 Precise date, time, coords? Sheesh, ABC sucks when they "cover" the Dimmis. Imagine: Pelosi, Ellison and Earwax in one go. Baby! |
| Posted by: Muggsy Sholuse9856 2007-03-30 18:54 |
| #10 Maybe the Iranians will nab her while she is there. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2007-03-30 18:53 |
| #9 "For one, the AF should not provide transport for this junket." I got no beef with it-- provided the trip is one-way. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-03-30 18:33 |
| #8 I am probably paranoid, but there are wheels within wheels here. You know the old saying: Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean the Democrats are not out to get |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-03-30 18:21 |
| #7 May Speaker Hankey also visit Gaza.... |
| Posted by: Slans Lumplump7324 2007-03-30 18:10 |
| #6 Anything to loose the war. Actually it has occurred to me that by loosing the war it really screws up oil which means that the dems will then have some really good reasons (on paper) for clamping down/raising taxes on oil use. Which is really something they want to do in the name of the CO2 god, which of course is just a pretext for controlling everyone's lives. I am probably paranoid, but there are wheels within wheels here. |
| Posted by: kelly 2007-03-30 18:03 |
| #5 Outsource the aircraft; Russian or Iranian, it don't matter..... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-03-30 17:50 |
| #4 The fact that the State Department provided assistance to this is despicable. I thought better of Condoleeza Rice than that. |
| Posted by: RWV 2007-03-30 17:29 |
| #3 Ellison, as the first muslim member of Congress, should be an interesting prop for the speaker. This is an open challenge to the President and should be slapped down hard. For one, the AF should not provide transport for this junket. |
| Posted by: RWV 2007-03-30 17:28 |
| #2 Democrat Strategy Conference, Spring 2007 |
| Posted by: Capsu 78 2007-03-30 17:22 |
| #1 From Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration on Friday condemned plans by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Syria and possibly meet its president, who the United States has accused of helping destabilize the region. "We don't think it's a good idea," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "This is a country that is a state sponsor of terror, one that is trying to disrupt the Siniora government in Lebanon and one that is allowing foreign fighters to flow into Iraq from its borders." The top House Democrat, who is third in line to the presidency, is already in Israel and will meet senior leaders there as well as address the Knesset, or parliament, in the coming days. Pelosi was expected to visit Damascus and Beirut next week, but her office declined to comment on any travel plans beyond Israel. Despite the Bush administration opposition, the State Department said it had briefed Pelosi's staff and was prepared to help on the ground in Syria. "I'm not sure what she's hoping to accomplish there, I know that Assad probably really loves people to come and have a photo opportunity and have tea with him and have discussions about where they're coming from," Perino said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "But we do think it's a really bad idea," she said. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2007-03-30 17:22 |