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April 09, 2007
ROAD TO DAMASCUS

Eric Margolis

President George Bush charges that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s trip last week to Syria was undermining US foreign policy. He’s absolutely correct.

If ever there was an administration whose foreign policy needed undermining, it’s the Bush/Cheney diumverate. The House and Senate do not traditionally take a lead in foreign affairs, except, of course, for assisting Israel, but these are extraordinary times and extraordinary measures are needed.

Speaker Pelosi, the third ranking government official, and a remarkably capable lady, is doing all Americans a service.

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Nancy Pelosi was quite right to ignore Bush’s narrow-minded refusal to talk to Syria. She went to meet President Bashar al-Asad in Damascus. Interestingly, Pelosi was joined by some of the leading members of the pro-Israel lobby in Congress.

Whether she was carrying secret messages from Israel to Syria remains a question of considerable debate. But the US Congress, dominated as it is by lobbies aligned with Israel’s right wing parties, is a vital player in Mideast politics, and should have an active voice in any moves towards peace.

Pelosi arrived in Damascus at a crucially important moment. The Arab League just unanimously reaffirmed its historic offer to Israel of full recognition and permanent peace in exchange for a withdrawal to Israel’s 1967 borders, sharing Jerusalem, and some kind of compensation or resettlement of 4.5 million Palestinian refugees. This is essentially the same plan proposed to Bush by the respected Iraq Study Group in Washington.

Never has Israel and its neighbors been closer to peace. In fact, before expanding its borders in the 1967, Israel would have jumped at such an offer. But instead of backing this dramatic opening, Bush and Cheney have been busy preparing to launch an air war against Iran, and have pressing Israel to attack Syria and Lebanon. Pelosi’s opening to Syria comes at this crucial moment.

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Pelosi's signature is clear after 100 days: a forceful style that defies expectations
The House speaker has embraced a centrist agenda and built relationships with rivals.
By Faye Fiore
Times Staff Writer

April 14, 2007

WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi knew Earl Blumenauer would be a hard case, but she left two messages on his cellphone anyway.

A liberal, bow-tied, bicycle-riding peacenik from Oregon, Blumenauer had voted against the Iraq war and every dollar since to pay for it. He was not about to embrace a bill that threw $100 billion more into the fighting, even if it would force the president to bring the troops home.

"I've been trying to get ahold of you," the House speaker said when she caught up with the Portland Democrat in the Capitol's basement. They sat down. She said she empathized with his dilemma — she too had opposed the war from the start and wanted it ended fast. But in her mind the choice was simple: Hand President Bush a victory or hand him a rebuke.

"She convinced me," said Blumenauer, whose vote helped give Pelosi her most important legislative victory. "For me, there was no attempt at pressure. I was able to convey my concerns. She was there. She was listening."

Pelosi's performance on the war spending bill highlighted what has become her signature: an aggressive leadership style that seeks to put Congress on par with the White House and prove that her notoriously fractious party can indeed govern.

Her style has surprised some in the caucus. Liberals who expected camaraderie say she's a poor listener, and conservatives who expected a cold shoulder say listening is one of her better skills.

Some Democrats worried she would run the House as a San Francisco liberal with a "left coast" agenda and as a machine politician with a long memory for slights. But so far, Pelosi, who reached her first 100 days as speaker on Friday, has defied those expectations. She has embraced a centrist agenda and built relationships with rivals.

"She has elevated her game, which is exactly what you have to do," said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, a leader of the moderate New Democrats. "She is a lot better leader as speaker than she ever has been."

Pelosi's forceful approach carries risks. Her recent trip to Syria, where she boasted of carrying a message from the Israeli prime minister, drew surprised Israelis' immediate clarifications, as well as swipes from the White House, which said she was meddling dangerously in foreign policy. Images of Pelosi in a head scarf appeared on television as critics derided her for kowtowing to a dictator.

But her attempts to open a Middle East dialogue also underscored Pelosi's ambition — to be the public face of a resurgent party out to show voters it can be trusted to run the country....

http://tinyurl.com/yrvnyy

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But do you have any proof of your claim?

Pelosi was willing to meet with al-Asad and I see no reason why she might not hold talks with Ahmadinejad. She's not doing this to make Americans happy.

The support for Israel's smashing of Lebanon is something 95% of Democrats supported? That's deeply troubling. However it doesn't prove that Pelosi supports the horrendous treatment of the Palestinians, as the interviewees claim.

I watched the last state of the union speech and have a very different opinion of Pelosi's leading of the democrats in standing ovations.

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Indeed, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is on record praising President Bush’s "leadership" in supporting Ariel Sharon’s policies in the occupied territories. Pelosi has gone as far as claiming that – contrary to reports by Amnesty International and other reputable human rights groups documenting widespread Israeli attacks against civilian targets – the massive Israeli assaults against Palestinian population centers last spring [2002] and the resulting re-occupation were in "self-defense" and were aimed "only at the terrorist infrastructure."

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