Among the many things not just wrong but downright offensive about Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria, her coddling of a brutal dictator who tramples on the human rights she claims to hold dear is just mind-boggling. Beirut's Daily Star lets her have it in an editorial by Nadim Houry and Radwan Ziadeh:
The Syrian government strictly limits freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Emergency powers, imposed in 1963, remain in effect, and the government bans hundreds of political and human rights activists from traveling. The authorities treat Kurds, Syria's largest non-Arab minority, as second-class citizens subject to systematic discrimination.
Pelosi's visit took place at a time when several Syrian political and human rights activists are facing trial for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Former prisoner of conscience Kamal al-Labwani is due back in court on April 10. He was arrested in November 2005, on his return to Syria after several months in Europe and the United States, where he met with officials to call for peaceful democratic reform inside Syria. He is charged with "encouraging foreign aggression against Syria." Prominent writer Michel Kilo and human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni have been detained since May 2006, following their signature of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, which called for improved relations between Syria and Lebanon.
(...)
Journalists and commentators will use a lot of ink debating the merits of Pelosi's visit. But one thing is clear. She missed an opportunity to send a strong message to the Syrian authorities that Washington's desire to cooperate with Syria does not mean it will turn a blind eye to Syria's human rights violations. She also missed the opportunity to send a message to Syrians and other Arabs that the US still values respect for human rights.
The Framers gave the conduct of foreign policy to the Executive, and Pelosi's trip shows the wisdom of that. Amateur trying to conduct their own shadow foreign policy only screw things up, as La Nancita did when she bungled a message from Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to Syrian Thug-in-chief President Assad.
The only people cheering Nancy's visit, aside from the Kook Left, are terrorists and dictators.
LINKS: Roger Simon notes that the New York Times is ignoring her trip -- probably too embarrassed. Claudia Rosset thinks she's nuts. I think she's right. Finally, Little Green Footballs points out La Nancita's blatant attempt to form a shadow government and then mocks Pelosi's assertion that she's "helping" Bush.
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