Post by DEERTRACKS on Apr 10, 2007 14:28:55 GMT -5
Analyst says Pelosi violated U.S. policy by visiting Syria
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
April 10, 2007
A Pentagon advisor and national defense analyst says he was very disappointed that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi violated official U.S. policy when she visited Syria last week. Pelosi received stern criticism from the White House when she met with Syria's President Bashar Assad.
The Bush administration has forbidden such trips to Syria, because that country continues to be a haven for terrorists. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis, a defense analyst, says those terrorists have reportedly even come across the Syrian border to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. Many of these terrorists, he points out, are even now in the U.S. military's custody.
"We have incarcerated in Iraq 162 Syrians that were caught either in terrorist or insurgency activities," Maginnis notes. "We have 160 Egyptians; we have 86 Saudis, and other nationalities. They all came through the Syrian border," he says. "The number of people who are jihadists that come through Syria primarily into Iraq to commit suicide bombing attacks continues at a rate of 40 to 70 a month."
For these reasons, the Pentagon advisor disputes Pelosi's statement that the road to Damascus is the road to peace. He says Assad has not shown any inclination towards peacemaking and in the last couple of weeks has said he has no intention of talking with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
So this trip of Pelosi's is "rather disconcerting," Maginnis says, as it is "not constitutional -- or her job -- to go promoting the foreign policy of the United States."
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
April 10, 2007
A Pentagon advisor and national defense analyst says he was very disappointed that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi violated official U.S. policy when she visited Syria last week. Pelosi received stern criticism from the White House when she met with Syria's President Bashar Assad.
The Bush administration has forbidden such trips to Syria, because that country continues to be a haven for terrorists. Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis, a defense analyst, says those terrorists have reportedly even come across the Syrian border to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. Many of these terrorists, he points out, are even now in the U.S. military's custody.
"We have incarcerated in Iraq 162 Syrians that were caught either in terrorist or insurgency activities," Maginnis notes. "We have 160 Egyptians; we have 86 Saudis, and other nationalities. They all came through the Syrian border," he says. "The number of people who are jihadists that come through Syria primarily into Iraq to commit suicide bombing attacks continues at a rate of 40 to 70 a month."
For these reasons, the Pentagon advisor disputes Pelosi's statement that the road to Damascus is the road to peace. He says Assad has not shown any inclination towards peacemaking and in the last couple of weeks has said he has no intention of talking with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
So this trip of Pelosi's is "rather disconcerting," Maginnis says, as it is "not constitutional -- or her job -- to go promoting the foreign policy of the United States."
