Rep. Pelosi Makes Clear Why Her Syria Trip in '07 Was Nothing Like GOP's Iran Letter

from The Hill:


____The office of the House minority leader issued a scathing statement Wednesday night saying her meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad was part of a bipartisan effort — conducted through the Bush administration — to encourage peace in the region, and accusing Republicans of launching a "desperate" defense of their Iran letter to mask criticisms coming from both sides of the aisle.

"The desperate hyperventilation by Republicans and conservative talkers over the intense, national backlash to this letter has caused them to search for a Democratic equivalent to the dangerous precedent set by 47 Republican Senators," said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill. "The fact is, there is simply not one."

...Hammill emphasized Wednesday that Pelosi's delegation included then-Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio), a senior defense appropriator; it was preceded just days earlier by a similar visit to Damascus by GOP Reps. Joe Pitts (Pa.), Robert Aderholt (Ala.) and former GOP Rep. Frank Wolf (Va.). And Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) met with Assad just a day after Pelosi did — a meeting that led Johndroe to comment, "We just don't think this is helpful."

"This visit was organized by the Bush State Department, executed by the Bush Defense Department, and officials from the Bush Administration's Embassy at the time in Damascus even sat in the meeting with President Assad," Hammill said. "As Republican Congressman David Hobson said at the time about the delegation's visit to Syria, 'I think we actually helped the administration's position by showing there's not dissension.'

"The comparison between the Republican Senator letter to Iran and Leader's Pelosi bipartisan delegation to the Middle East in 2007 does not stand up to any level of scrutiny," he charged.


read: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/235455-pelosi-my-trip-to-syria-was-nothing-like-the-gops-iran-letter