President Bush has proposed talks on Palestinian issues. This is good news to the nuanced among us, is it not? Well, our Left and State Department (or an I being redundant) should be alerted to this attitude:
Assad said he hoped Bush's call was serious and that Syria was ready for peace talks with Israel, but only in the presence of an honest broker. He did not elaborate whether he considered the United States as such, although U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday the world body would be willing to mediate.
"I read this morning that the American president spoke of his wish to work for a peace conference. I hope ... this is true, but to this moment these are just words as far as we are concerned," Assad told parliament after being sworn in for a second, seven-year term.Assad also demanded some conditions before peace talks can resume.
He said Syria wants "certain guarantees" from Israel, namely a promise for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal. Israel captured the strategic plateau in the 1967 Mideast War.
Mistrustful of us? Conditions before talking? Say it isn't so! Speaker Pelosi donned the appropriate head gear in his presence! Is Assad merely some type of nutball thug dictator, or something? I thought he was a statesman and the path to peace went through Damascus?
I await the fury of our Nuanced-American community over Bashar Assad's dismissal of the power of talk any day now.
