http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=17&article_id=81214

THE DAILY STAR
Why Pelosi's visit to Damascus upset the neocons so much
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Editorial
...The neocons, whose ranks include both officials and armchair intellectuals with considerable influence in the United States, Israel and even here in Lebanon, insist that Pelosi's move sent all the wrong messages to the region's "terrorists" and "terrorist enablers." A better approach, they argue, would be to continue to try to pressure and ignore states like Syria and Iran until they eventually collapse into submission.

But their prescription constitutes a willful denial of certain regional realities. Like it or not, Iran and Syria, for historic and geographic reasons, do have considerable influence in places like Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, and no amount of bullying can reduce their sway. What can change, however, is how these states use their leverage, and as we have seen, they can either help secure stability or create chaos in other countries. Obviously, isolation and intimidation give them no incentive to play nice.

But neocons cringe at the idea of opening channels of dialogue with Damascus and Tehran. Put simply, they prefer to demonize, rather than deal with, their political rivals...

...That is why the neocons are howling over Pelosi's visit: The realization of their ambitions requires continued hostility and instability in order to justify additional meddling in the Middle East.

- - Editorial in "The Daily Star" of Lebanon

http://gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10116167.html

In Damascus, Pelosi repeated the usual demands of the Bush administration. She called upon Syria to tighten security on the borders with Iraq and exert more efforts to prevent the infiltration of foreign fighters whom she described as "killing American soldiers".

She asked the Syrian government to halt arms shipments to Hezbollah and Hamas and facilitate the establishment of the international tribunal, which is supposed to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime mister Rafik Hariri.

More interestingly, she asked Syria to help release the two captured Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, the incident that triggered the last summer's war in Lebanon.

Syrian officials asked Pelosi what the US would pay in return for their cooperation on the aforementioned issues. Pelosi's answer was ambiguous. She admitted that despite that she holds the third most senior position in the hierarchy of power in the US; she does not wield much influence on the making of US foreign policy, which falls completely in the hands of the White House.

- - Gulf News, Dubai, UAE

In other words, Pelosi didn't make her own foreign policy, and took great pains to support the Administration's positions, and she explained to foreigners who might be ignorant about the U.S. that Congressional leaders such as herself don't have the customary powers of parliamentary leaders in other countries.

It's hard to imagine a greater contrast with Newt Gingrich.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070405-3.html

THE WHITE HOUSE
For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
April 5, 2007
Interview of the Vice President by Rush Limbaugh
Via Telephone
1:07 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: "...Rush, remember Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist, al Qaeda affiliate; ran a training camp in Afghanistan for al Qaeda, then migrated -- after we went into Afghanistan and shut him down there, he went to Baghdad, took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq; organized the al Qaeda operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene, and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June. He's the guy who arranged the bombing of the Samarra Mosque that precipitated the sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni. This is al Qaeda operating in Iraq. And as I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq..."

[...]

Q: Mr. Vice President, thanks for your time. It really is always a pleasure to talk to you. And we appreciate your candor when you come on the program, very much so. All the best, and have a great Easter weekend, you and your family.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thanks, Rush. I enjoy the show.

Q: Thank you.

END 1:22 P.M. EDT

Zarqawi didn't go to Baghdad. He went to Kurdistan.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4431601

By Jim Miklaszewski
Chief Pentagon correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET March 2, 2004

NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger. In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons lab at Kirma, in northern Iraq, producing deadly ricin and cyanide. The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council.

The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq. “People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of preemption against terrorists,” according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey.

In January 2003, the threat turned real. Police in London arrested six terror suspects and discovered a ricin lab connected to the camp in Iraq.

The Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the National Security Council killed it.

Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.

The United States did attack the camp at Kirma at the beginning of the war, but it was too late — Zarqawi and many of his followers were gone.

- - NBC News