Congress Members Visiting the Enemy

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2006 — -- In the next week there will be senators in Syria and House members in Cuba, countries where the United States has no official ambassador and with which, for political reasons, the Bush administration refuses to speak.

While technically fact-finding missions, the congressional trips come amidst criticism that the Bush administration is not doing enough to diplomatically engage countries whose relations with the United States are strained.

In the case of Syria, the cold shoulder from the White House comes despite the strong recommendations of Democrats and the Iraq Study Group that a direct dialogue with Damascus could be essential to stabilizing Iraq.

It's not just Democrats flouting the Republican White House, which has official control of American foreign policy. The eight-member delegation to Cuba is made up of four Republicans and four Democrats. That group may meet with acting President Raul Castro before returning Sunday.

Arlen Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, is one of the four senators who either were just in or are going to Syria in the coming weeks. Specter delivered a speech on the Senate floor last week advocating dialogue between the United States and Syria, as well as with North Korea.

"We really, as has been pointed out, need to keep our friends close and our enemies closer," Specter said. "I think that diplomacy and dialogue has an excellent opportunity to lead to solutions. … It is my hope that the president will move in the direction cited by the Baker-Hamilton commission [the Iraq Study Group] and will go even further and engage in direct negotiations with Iran, Syria and North Korea. … In Cuba, the dynamic is different, but the effect may be the same."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized the senators traveling to Syria, telling a Washington Post editorial board on Thursday that the "compensation" Syria or Iran would demand in exchange for helping the United States stabilize Iraq would be too great to justify negotiating with those two regimes.

"We have discouraged members of Congress from doing this," White House spokesman Tony Snow said Thursday.

"We spoke with [Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida who went on a fact-finding mission to Syria this week] beforehand. He went. We think it's inappropriate. … The point is that even lending a further specter of legitimacy to that government undermines the cause of democracy in the region."

Despite the administration's objections, the senators are taking the Iraq Study Group's recommendations to heart, sidestepping the State Department, and traveling on their own to Syria.

Earlier this week, Nelson was in Damascus on a "fact-finding mission."

But he discussed with President Bashar al-Assad the common interests of the United States and Syria in Iraq.