Nancy Pelosi meets Assad despite Bush anger

DAMASCUS – US House speaker Nancy Pelosi was holding talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday on a two-day trip to Damascus that has infuriated the White House.

Pelosi said on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had assured her he was ready for peace talks with archfoe Israel.

She also said she had transmitted a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in which he said he was ready to resume peace talks, which broke off in 2000 largely over the fate of the strategic Golan Heights.

"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president that he was ready to resume the peace process," she told reporters after her meeting with Assad that has infuriated the White House.

"He's ready to engage in negotiations (for) peace with Israel."

Pelosi said she also raised her "concern" about alleged support for militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah and "to the fighters crossing the borders and threatening" US soldiers and Iraqi civilians in neighbouring Iraq.

"We expressed our concern to Syria" about its alleged connections with Hezbollah and Hamas and "our concerns about the soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah and Hamas."

US President George W. Bush said Pelosi's visit sent "mixed signals" that harmed his administration's efforts to isolate Assad's regime over its alleged support for terrorism and accusations of meddling in Iraq and Lebanon.

Source: middle-east-online.com - Wednesday, April 4, 2007

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