Cheney: Pelosi bungled Syria visit

Nancy Pelosi bungled a message from Israel to Syrian President Bashar Assad on her recent Mideast swing, Vice President Dick Cheney claimed. Rep. Pelosi (D-Calif.), speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, told Assad during a controversial visit Wednesday that Israel was prepared to negotiate peace with Syria, according to Ha’aretz. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office later disputed Pelosi’s account, saying that there was no change of Israeli policy and that Israel would speak with Syria only if it agreed to stop supporting terrorist groups. “It was a non-statement, nonsensical statement and didn’t make any sense at all that she would suggest that those talks could go forward as long as the Syrians conducted themselves as a prime state sponsor of terror,” Cheney said on the Rush Limbaugh radio show. The Bush administration, which favors isolating Syria because of its support for terrorism and anti-American insurgents in Iraq, opposed Pelosi’s trip, and many commentators criticized her statements in Syria as naive.A Pelosi spokesman said she had accurately delivered the message from Israel to Syria.