Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem(R)
is seen with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Damascus airport.
President George W. Bush on Tuesday condemned Pelosi's visit to Syria as
"counterproductive". (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
DAMASCUS,
April 3 (Xinhua) -- Syrian officials and state-run media on Tuesday welcomed an
ongoing visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Damascus, hoping that it
would help alleviate tense relations between the two countries.
Elias Mourad, director general and editor-in-chief of
Syria's ruling al-Baath party's organ the Baath newspaper, told local press that
Pelosi's visit represents an affirmation of Syria's role in the Middle East.
He said differences inside the U.S. administration
over Pelosi's visit showed that there are more and more opinions for engagement
with Syria.
Meanwhile, Mahdi Dakhlullah, Syria's former
information minister, said Pelosi's visit was "a step towards the right
direction" which indicated a failure of the U.S. policy to isolate Syria.
Syria believed the visit signaled a sign that the
U.S. policy regained a balance in dealing with the Mideast issues, he added.
"We think dialogue between Syria and the United
States has restarted," Dakhlullah said, hoping that it would continue in a bid
to pressure the Bush administration to reverse its unsuccessful Middle East
approach.
Syrian official media, for its part, widely hailed
Pelosi's trip as the government-run 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
stated in an editorial that Pelosi would discover herself that Syria was ready
for serious and sincere dialogue with U.S. officials.
Pelosi, a staunch critic of U.S. President George W.
Bush's Iraq policy, is scheduled to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and other officials on Wednesday about which she had "no illusions but
great hope."
The trip, however, has met strong criticism from the
White House which rebuked it as a "really bad idea."
On Tuesday, Bush criticized Pelosi's trip to Damascus
as sending "mixed signals" that undermine U.S.-led efforts to isolate Syria.
Defending her trip to Damascus on Monday in Beirut,
Pelosi argued that the journey was "an excellent idea" and she would discuss
with Assad "the overarching issue of the fighting against terrorism and the role
that Syria can play to help or to hinder."
Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. politician to visit
here in years, arrived in Damascus Tuesday afternoon with a congressional
delegation that grouped U.S. lawmakers from both Democratic and Republican
parties.
Relations between Washington and Damascus have been
strained since 2003 as Syria strongly objected the U.S. invasion of Iraq and
blamed the U.S.-led occupation for the turbulences in the country ever after.
The White House, on the contrary, has been accusing
Syria of supporting terror organizations and doing little to stop weapons and
militants from infiltrating into Iraq and destabilize situation there.
Damascus supports the Palestinian Islamic Resistance
Movement (Hamas) and the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement which Washington
labels as terror organizations. Syria, however, insists that they are legitimate
resistant movements.
U.S.-Syrian ties further deteriorated following the
murder of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in February 2005 after which
Washington withdrew its ambassador to Damascus for its alleged role in the
killing.
Syria denied any involvement in the murder although a
UN probe has implicated senior Syrian officials in the case. Washington, which
had since refused high-level contacts with Damascus, has been under pressure to
engage directly with Syria to help quiet down upgrading turmoil in Iraq.
The U.S. bipartisan Iraq Study Group has urged the
Bush administration to engage in talks with Syria and Iran over Iraq. However,
the White House has largely ignored the suggestion.
DAMASCUS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for talks with Syrian
leaders about which she said she had "no illusions but great hope."
Pelosi was received by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
al-Muallemat the Damascus airport where she gave no comment and headed for
downtown Damascus.
The U.S. Democrat, a staunch critic of U.S. President
George W. Bush's Iraq policy, is scheduled to hold talks with Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad and other officials on Wednesday, the official SANA news agency
reported. Full story
President George W. Bush speaks in
the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, April 3, 2007.
He said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus Syria "does
not work" to change Syria's stance on issues in the Middle
East.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua)-- U.S. President George
W. Bush said here Tuesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus
Syria "does not work" to change Syria's stance on issues in the Middle East.
"A lot of people have gone to
see (Syrian) President Assad... and yet we haven't seen action. He hasn't
responded," Bush told reporters at a Rose Garden news conference. Full story
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