House Speaker Pelosi in Saudi Arabia

[cal04]

Source: DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi continued her Mideast tour Thursday, a day after coming under sharp attack from the Bush administration for meeting with Syria's leader.

Pelosi arrived in Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally, Wednesday night from Syria, where she defied the White House's Middle East policy by meeting with President Bashar Assad and insisting "the road to Damascus is a road to peace."

She met with Saudi King Abdullah when she first arrived in the kingdom Wednesday and was meeting Thursday with several members of the Shura Council, an unelected advisory assembly named by the king.

The Bush administration accuses Syria of backing Hamas and Hezbollah — two groups it deems terrorist organizations — and has rejected direct talks with Damascus until its changes its ways.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070405/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_pelosi

[Hekate]

1. Kick. Madame Speaker has ovarios.And the Saudis are really sticking it to Bush, aren't they?

At some point our Buck Naked Emperor is just going to have to confront the mess he has made, a mess so bad that even old family friends like the Sauds are avoiding him.

Nancy Pelosi is intelligently demonstrating that diplomacy can get a lot more done than can a stubborn refusal to talk to nations you don't like.

Hekate

:kick:

[bemildred]

4. Yeah, I dunno if they are still our "key ally" or not any more.

They sure told bush to shove it.

[Demeter]

2. Dubya Must Be Catatonic By Now

I can't imagine anything more likely to drive him over the edge than seeing his Saudi connections severed, especially in favor of a Democrat and a woman....

[cal04]

3. US House speaker discusses Iraq, Mideast in Saudi

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi was due to visit an all-male advisory council in key ally Saudi Arabia Thursday after discussing Iraq with King Abdullah on the last leg of a controversial Middle East trip.

Abdullah and the leading US Democrat discussed "the whole range of developments on the regional and international scenes, chiefly those pertaining to the Palestinian issue and the situation in Iraq," official Saudi media said.

He had blasted the US occupation of Iraq at an Arab summit in Riyadh which revived a five-year-old Saudi plan that offers Israel normal relations if it withdraws from all land seized in the 1967 war and allows the creation of a Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees.

Pelosi's spokesman Nadeam Elshami told AFP her talks with the king covered "issues in conjunction with the Arab summit and peace and stability in the Middle East," including Iraq as well as the conflicts in Darfur and Somalia.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070405/ts_afp/saudiusdiplomacy_070405091713

[Jersey Ginny]

5. This could be bad for Bush -Syrians might agree to stop our Rendition flights

We could lose our friend in torture if Pelosi and the dems reach out to Syria.

[Eugene]

6. Pelosi Raises Issue of Saudi Female Pols

Source: Associated Press

Pelosi Raises Issue of Saudi Female Pols


Thursday April 5, 2007 2:31 PM

AP Photo XAN107, XAN106, DAM105

By DONNA ABU-NASR

Associated Press Writer

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday
that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians
with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour.

Pelosi, the first woman House speaker, said she had not discussed King
Abdullah's recent criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, focusing
instead on praise for the king's Mideast peace initiative, and efforts
to quell conflicts in Somalia and Darfur.

She met with the king Wednesday and with several members of the Shura
Council, an unelected advisory assembly named by the king, on Thursday.

Asked if she had discussed the lack of women on the council, she told
reporters, "The issue has been brought up in our discussions with the
Saudis on this trip."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6535234,00.html

[Iwasthere]

7. Go Nancy GO! But PLEASSSE be very careful in your travels.

[The Stranger]

8. FINALLY, we have LEADERSHIP.

[mondo obscurius]

9. Since

Since the so-called president and vice president of the United States have been missing in action for the last six years, and this country has become a rudderless shipwreck waiting to happen, it falls to the Speaker of the House to take up the hard work of leadership. Good on Nancy. She's proving to the world just how the Bush/Cheney junta has rendered itself irrelevant. She is fulfilling the leadership roll we elected her to perform.

:applause:
m

[Hobarticus]

10. The elder Bush must be beside himself, too...

Nancy can do more good for relations in two days than his loser offsrping has done in seven years.

[Fovea]

11. While the Repuglicans shudder that her head is covered

They should be more frightened that her mouth is not.

This is more evidence of Dubya's complete fuck up of foreign policy that he could alienate the Saudi royal family, and sever a tie that his father labored his whole career to create and strengthen.


Ms. Pelosi, please, listen to the Saudis when they beg you to put impeachment back on the table.

[yellowcanine]

12. WP editors got their knickers in a knot over Pelosi in Syria.

Same old crap - only one president, etc.