President Bush scolded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday for visiting Syria, which he said sponsors terrorism and allows anti-American fighters to cross from Syria into Iraq.
Pelosi toured Damascus Tuesday and was scheduled to meet Syrian President Bashar Assad today. The Bush administration opposes direct talks with Syria.
“Photo opportunities and/or meetings with President Assad lead the Assad government to believe they’re part of the mainstream of the international community,” Bush said. “They’re a state sponsor of terror.”
“They’re helping expedite, or at least not stopping, the movement of foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq,” he said. “They have done little to nothing to rein in militant Hamas and Hezbollah and … they destabilize the Lebanese democracy.”
Pelosi accused Bush of criticizing only Democrats who visit Syria.
“It’s interesting because three of our colleagues, who are all Republicans, were in Syria yesterday and I didn’t hear the White House speaking out about that,” the California Democrat said Monday. “It was an excellent idea for them to go, and I think it’s an excellent idea for us to go as well.”
Bush insisted he was not singling out Pelosi.
“We have made it clear to high-ranking officials, whether they be Republicans or Democrats, that going to Syria sends mixed signals,” he said.
Bush said meetings with Assad are “counterproductive” because the Syrian leader never makes good on promised reforms.
“There have been a lot of people who have gone to see President Assad: some Americans, but a lot of European leaders, high-ranking officials. And yet we haven’t seen action,” Bush told reporters at a Rose Garden news conference. “He hasn’t responded.”
