Lawmakers Visit Syria to Discuss Ties
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 1, 2007
Filed at 7:03 p.m. ET
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- U.S. House members meeting with President Bashar Assad Sunday said they believed there was an opportunity for dialogue with the Syrian leadership.

The U.S. House members, who included Virginia Republican Frank Wolf, Pennsylvania Republican Joe Pitts and Alabama Republican Robert Aderholt, also said they had raised with Syrian officials the issue of stopping the alleged flow of foreign fighters from Syria to Iraq.

In a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, the congressmen said they had talked about ''ending support for Hezbollah and Hamas, recognizing Israel's right to exist in peace and security, and ceasing interference in Lebanon.''

''We came because we believe there is an opportunity for dialogue,'' the statement said. ''We are following in the lead of Ronald Reagan, who reached out to the Soviets during the Cold War,'' it added.

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Echoing White House, Kristol attacked Pelosi for
trip to Syria, which GOP-led delegation also visited
Sun, Apr 1, 2007 2:55pm EST
Media Matters for America
On the April 1 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, Weekly Standard editor and Fox News contributor Bill Kristol repeated an attack by the White House on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for planning to go to Syria while her bipartisan delegation is traveling in the Middle East this week. But, as the weblog Think Progress reported on March 30, a Republican-led congressional delegation is also visiting Syria, a trip that the White House has apparently not criticized similarly. Kristol did not mention the reported Republican-led trip to Syria, much less the inconsistency in the White House's criticism of Pelosi's trip and its silence on the Republican-led trip.