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Here we have a real crime committed but our country is so fortunate to have Waxman available to try and concoct criminal activity.
May 3, 2007

Pelosi spreading her own brand of foreign diplomacy
JOHN HERBERT


U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be tossed in jail. Her recent trip to Damascus to discuss Mideast issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad was an authentic American disaster.
President Bush had advised the liberal Ms. Pelosi not to go. She did, though, insisting she was conducting "shuttle diplomacy" between Syria and Israel. California has a dark history of turning out quirky, independent-minded liberals like Pelosi, Hanoi Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand.
First of all, she violated a Constitutional provision that says it's the bailiwick of the president to conduct foreign affairs. We even have a separation of powers specified by the Constitution.
The president has a State Department and a government-level Secretary of State to assist him on foreign issues. Violating the Constitution, as Ms. Pelosi obviously did, is still a punishable felony, isn't it?
In a landmark ruling 70 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled that Congress should not "intrude" into the field of overseas negotiations. Ms. Pelosi sees it differently. She wants to "engage in constructive dialogue so that the Syrians, the Israelis and everyone else can get along."
Sure, I believe in the tooth fairy, too. Secondly, the Speaker's visit to Damascus could send the wrong signals to the Syrians and others in the Arab camp. Ms. Pelosi, a Democrat in an Arab-appropriate head scarf, has argued that Republican Members of Congress have also been to the Syrian capital.
Sorry, Ms. Pelosi, the visits can't be compared. The Pelosi pilgrimage was headed by someone who is, despite party differences, second in line for presidential succession, behind only Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Republicans had President Bush's blessing for their Syrian sojourn, which was described as merely a "fact-finding" mission. Congressmen routinely take similar trips to all corners of the world, including within the U.S.
Fact-finding can imply contacts with American diplomats, military officials and businessmen abroad. It could even include socializing with low-level foreign aides.
Thirdly, whatever message Nancy Pelosi was carrying from Jerusalem to Damascus, she got it wrong. She reportedly told President Assad that the Israelis were willing to talk. True, said the Israelis afterwards. But only if the Syrians first pledged to stop financing and arming terrorists. Pelosi skipped that important condition in her Damascus talks.
Pelosi also said, famously in one TV sound byte, that "the road to Damascus is a road to peace." Something seems to have been lost in somebody's translation. Syria's main Mideast policy goals are still to regain control of Lebanon and to harbor another wave of terrorists before they join the Iraqi conflict.
What we have here is a dangerous precedent by the Democrats who currently control Congress. They are spreading a foreign policy of their own. Not even Newt Gingrich, controversial former Republican Speaker, had the chutzpah to pull that stunt during the tainted Clinton presidency.
Ms. Pelosi's tour should leave the average Arab in the street very confused. Are the American people promoting an alternative foreign policy? Does the current U.S. government lack domestic support to impose further pressure, costing more American lives in the Mideast?

A regular columnist for Hernando Today, Herbert lives in Spring Hill. His e-mail is [e-mail].

This story can be found at: http://www.hernandotoday.com/MGBL4DKP91F.html