Articles

In the following op-ed, House Foreign Relations Committee Tom Lantos states: "Ms. Pelosi has no illusions about the nature of the regime in Damascus. She delivered tough messages to Mr. Assad regarding Iraq, Lebanon and the Hariri assassination tribunal."

"Ms. Pelosi said that members of Congress had a responsibility to play a role in national security issues and that they needed to be able to gather information on their own, and not be dependent on the White House."

"What really sticks in the president's craw is not that Mrs. Pelosi's visit will confuse Syria's hard-liners about Mr. Bush's devotion to isolating Damascus, but that almost anybody else with their eyes open will see, if they haven't already, that diplomacy is a better way to make progress on those concerns common to the Republican White House and the Democratic Congress."

"Even as a matter of political self-interest, President Bush made himself look bad by carping about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit yesterday in Damascus with Syria's president, Bashar Assad."

"Even Republicans conceded that Pelosi, whom they have derided as an out-of-touch San Francisco liberal, has done a good job of keeping the 233 House Democrats together through some tough votes."

"In the most difficult trial of her speakership, Pelosi pushed through the first legislation mandating an end to U.S. involvement in the Iraq war."

"The House of Representatives now has a chance to lead the nation toward a wiser, more responsible Iraq policy."

"I hope the Democrats, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, keep pushing to set a deadline for withdrawal from Iraq, because they are providing two patriotic services that the Republicans failed to offer in the previous four years: The first is policy discipline."