WASHINGTON, April 4 (UPI) -- The White House heaped scorn Wednesday on comments by House Majority leader Nancy Pelosi in Syria.
Pelosi, on a visit to Damascus the Bush administration tried to discourage, had said after talks with President Bashar al-Assad that she and her delegation had gone to Syria "in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to (Middle East) peace."
White House and National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, speaking to reporters while traveling to California with President Bush, conveyed a biting view of that perspective.
"Unfortunately, that road is lined with the victims of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the victims of terrorists who cross from Syria into Iraq," he said. "It's lined with the victims in Lebanon, who are trying to fight for democracy there. It's lined with human rights activist trying for freedom and democracy in Syria."
The Bush administration accuses Syria of being a sponsor of terrorism, something which the Assad regime denies. Vexing to Washington is the presence of offices in Damascus of anti-Israel militant groups. Washington also accuses Damascus of helping fund Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a country it occupied for years until recently; and of allowing anti-U.S. and anti-coalition jihadists and insurgents to use its territory.
U.S.-Syrian relations turned decidedly sour during Bush's first term, when promises made to then Secretary of State Colin Powell to close the Damascus offices of anti-Israeli militants were not apparently kept.
Pelosi's visit to Syria followed an earlier stop in Israel.
The White House said the trip to Syria was "counter-productive" to U.S. efforts to pressure Syria through isolation.
The trip, taken while Congress is in recess, can be seen as part and parcel of the partisan battle between Capitol Hill Democrats and the White House. Bush has slammed the Democrats for not passing an emergency funding supplemental for the Iraq and Afghan wars before going on break. The visit to Syria by Pelosi, meanwhile, could be seen as a visible criticism of what they believe is a short-sighted administration policy o0f refusing to deal bilaterally with Syria.
