Pelosi Unfairly Accused?

An editorial in theWashington Post on April 5, 2007, Speaker Pelosi was criticized forallegedly botching a message to Syria's President.

The Editorial headline: "Pratfallin Damascas"

 

After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in  Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace  talks" with Syria. What's more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to  "resume the peace process" as well. Having announced this seeming  diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle  diplomacy was just getting started. "We expressed our interest in using  our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria," she said.

 

  Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such  message. "What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not  contain any change in the policies of Israel," said a statement quickly  issued by the prime minister's office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi  that "a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus  received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there  is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process  with Israel." In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel's  position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad's words  were mere propaganda.

The Chicago Tribune points out that the accuracy of the smear, may be incorrectas posted in their article : WasPelosi in Syria unfairly accused?   

Pelosi's spokesman, Brendan Daly, told me in a brief phone conversation:"We never said the (Israeli's) position changed."

Instead, he said, Pelosi accurately conveyed Israel's position: should theSyrians end their support for Hezbollah and Hamas, then the Israelis would bewilling to talk.

Daly pointed out that Pelosi was briefed by State Department officials beforeher meetings with the foreign leaders and that State Department officials alsoattended her meetings.

So if Pelosi really committed foreign policy flubs of the first order, theState Department is in a position to confirm as much.

The White House certainly received a read-out of what exactly Pelosi and theforeign leaders said in their meetings. Significantly, the White House has notopenly accused Pelosi of the foreign-policy missteps the Post had accused herof.

It seems that there aren't any conservatives that feel ademocrat should have talks with any country in an attempt to stabilizerelations.