Pelosi, Israel, and Kuhl (!) are right about Syria, Bush is wrong
This is going to be a somewhat lengthy post about Middle East policy…
As I’ve pointed out before, Randy Kuhl, for all of his faults, does believe that the U.S. should have diplomatic relationships with both Syria and Iran. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
“I disagree with the president about his approach not having discussions with Iran and Syria, I think we should be there, we should get every opportunity to work out those issues, as quickly as possibly,†said Kuhl.
I wonder if he’ll have the guts to speak out against George Bush’s ridiculous attacks on Speaker Pelosi for visiting Syria. Somehow, I doubt it. It’s worth saying a few words about what’s happening with Syria right now. First of all, Pelosi is “the highest-ranking American politician to visit Syria since relations began to deteriorate four years ago.” That goes to show you how much effort Bush is putting into the peace process.
Note as well that Pelosi’s visit has a real purpose:
The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is scheduled to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus today, and will deliver a message of calm from Israel.
“We hope the message will be understood,” political sources in Israel said yesterday.
Just to give some background here, Israel has been in high level negotations with Syria about some sort of a peace accord (according to the respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz):
In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.
But the Bush administration opposes these talks:
The United States demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory contacts with Syria, of the sort that would test whether Damascus is serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel.
So let’s be clear on what’s happening: Israel and Syria are working a on a peace accord. Traditionally, peace accords between Israel and its neighbors (such as the Camp David peace accord with Egypt) have involved the United States as an honest broker. But the Bush administration opposes peace accords, so we have to send our Speaker of the House over to help out instead.
That’s what’s going on here. The Bush White House’s approach to the Middle East is completely and utterly insane. Even Randy Kuhl (to his credit, of course) can see that.
Ah Exile - Excellent catch - Let’s not forget that while Bush is etc are bashing Speaker Pelosi for being in Syria - GOP Congressman are in Syria with support from the White House. Of course the corporate media is nowhere to be found disclosing this.
Check out these accounts of GOP Congressman meeting with the Syria President here and here.
So - Will Randy speak out against this hypocrisy as well?
It’s also rather common knowledge that the reason Israel attacked Hezbollah the way they did (by air strikes for a week, then limited ground attacks for a week, then a comprehensive anti-terror sweep in the last) was directions from the White House.
I really really don’t want to get into an “Israel discussion” here, but I’d like to posit that the USA has a lot more say in Israeli foreign and military policy than many over here would like to believe.
Speaking of the whole Pelosi/Syria trip: It astounds me that people view visiting/talking to another country as the same as “supporting the enemy”. For one thing, American political discourse tends to treat talks as a goal or a gift, as opposed to means to an end. Secondly, much as Syria is stirring up trouble for us, we aren’t quite enemies, and (at the very least) we the American people lose ground for maneuver if we treat them as such.
The U.S. clearly has a huge influence on Israel’s foreign policy. For better or for worse. I think we may have reached the point where Congress has to do the diplomatic work that Bush refuses to do.
It could be argued that the Bush administration seems to have a foreign policy made up of one word: war. War certainly needs to be in the arsenal as a potential move when we are attacked but it mustn’t be the first option. It is so much easier to spill someone else’s blood than your own, and sadly, a lot of our families’ loved ones are bleeding for Bush’s foreign policy mantra.
I found this aspect of it very interesting too… They just can’t stop showing Nancy Pelosi in a veil on TV and the web… losers
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[...] Kuhl joined in the Bush-Rove anti-Pelosi smear campaign yesterday with a hypocritical attack on Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Syria. What’s galling about this is that Randy knows he is wrong and is only doing this to please [...]