Nancy Pelosi,  Patrick Fitzgerald,  Syria

Nancy Pelosi Watch: House Speaker Pelosi Violates Logan Act with Syria al-Assad Visit

****Update****

Pelosi: Mideast Trip Strengthened Ties

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deflecting White House criticism of her trip to Syria, said Friday she thinks the mission helped President Bush because it showed the United States is unified against terrorism despite being divided over the Iraq war.

Pelosi, D-Calif., met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus earlier this week, against the president’s wishes.

“Our message was President Bush’s message,” Pelosi said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from Portugal, where she stopped briefly en route back to the United States.

“The funny thing is, I think we may have even had a more powerful impact with our message because of the attention that was called to our trip,” the California Democrat said. “It became clear to President Assad that even though we have our differences in the United States, there is no division between the president and the Congress and the Democrats on the message we wanted him to receive.”

Sounds like excuses to Flap.

And it is just BULL.

When the Speaker returns to the United States, the Department of Justice should prosecute Pelosi for violating the Logan Act.

In the meantime, the House of Representatives should repudiate her and pass a resolution condemning her activities.

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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (L) meets with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on 04 April 2007. Pelosi has defended her controversial meeting with Assad.

WSJ: Illegal Diplomacy

Did Nancy Pelosi commit a felony when she went to Syria?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may well have committed a felony in traveling to Damascus this week, against the wishes of the president, to communicate on foreign-policy issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The administration isn’t going to want to touch this political hot potato, nor should it become a partisan issue. Maybe special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, whose aggressive prosecution of Lewis Libby establishes his independence from White House influence, should be called back.

The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, “without authority of the United States,” to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government’s behavior on any “disputes or controversies with the United States.”

In the Speaker’s quest for power, she has undermined the President of the United States and the American people.

When Pelosi returns to the United States, the Attorney General should prosecute her for violating the Logan Act. Her actions are clear and let her explain them to a judge.

End of story.

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WSJ: Democrats at War

Prime Minister Pelosi and Secretary of State Lantos undermine U.S. foreign policy–and maybe their own party.

Democrats took Congress last fall in part by opposing the war in Iraq, but it is becoming clear that they view their election as a mandate for something far more ambitious–to wit, promoting and executing their own foreign policy, albeit without the detail of a Presidential election.

Their intentions were made plain this week with two remarkable acts by their House and Senate leaders. Majority Leader Harry Reid endorsed Senator Russ Feingold’s proposal to withdraw from Iraq immediately, cutting off funds entirely within a year. He promised a vote soon, as part of what the Washington Post reported would also be a Democratic offensive to close Guantanamo, reinstate legal rights for terror suspects, and improve relations with Cuba.

Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi made her now famous sojourn to Syria, donning a head scarf and advertising that she was conducting shuttle diplomacy between Jerusalem and Damascus. If there was any doubt that her trip was intended as far more than a routine Congressional “fact-finding” trip, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos put it to rest by declaring that, “We have an alternative Democratic foreign policy. I view my job as beginning with restoring overseas credibility and respect for the United States.”

Speaker Pelosi should re-read the United States Constitution. She is NOT the President of the United States. If she desires the office, then there is another Presidential election in 2008.

The Democrats have crossed the line. But, if they have policy differences with the present administration, Flap welcomes their proposals to defund the President’s foreign policy initiatives and rescind the two Congressional approved war resolutions.

If they have the intestinal fortitude.

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Michael Ramirez on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Trip to Syria

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17 Comments

  • Flap

    1. Not all of them met with the dictator Assad who is helping kill American soldiers in Iraq.

    2. No one else is claiming a Democrat foreign policy separate from the President’s.

    3. No one else lied about carrying a message from Israel to Syria.

    Sorry, but, Pelosi should be prosecuted for violating the Logan Act.

  • plausible_deniability

    But they don’t have to “claim a … foreign policy separate from” Mr. Bush. The very simply-worded Logan Act specifies nothing of the kind. They should all be prosecuted, if any made the trip, met with foreign government representatives, and discussed government business. But the fact is, the two century-old Logan Act remains unenforceable, because it is counter to the Constitution. Free speech and free association protection trumps badly-written antique laws like Logan.

    And face the facts: Mr. Bush’s foreign “policy” is an unmitigated disaster. The Mideast is more on fire than ever before, thanks to our invasion-without-a-plan in Iraq. Mr. Bush claims to want democracy for mideast nations, yet we invade them and force it upon them, while giving billions in support to their enemies (Israel.) How’s that for a two-faced policy? Terrorism worldwide is through the roof. We’ve killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. There’s a resistance fighting us there, and a civil war besides. And Mr. Bush has *no plan* – is sending a few more handfuls of troops going to turn things around? Ridiculous.

  • Flap

    Here is the text of the Logan Act:

    § 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.

    Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

    This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

    1 Stat. 613, January 30, 1799, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004).

    Now, tell me.

    Who was there to defeat the measures of the United States?

    Why it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

    The Justice Department should open up a prosecution of the Speaker. Flap hears that Patrick Fitzgerald is available.

  • jeremy_bender

    So what, specifically, did Pelosi, and her Republican colleagues, do that was to “defeat the measures of the United States?” Diplomacy where none has existed with Mr. Bush? They stepped into a foreign policy vacuum to try and make change. With Mr. Bush, diplomacy equals bombs and guns. Go figure.

  • Flap

    We have one foreign policy of the United States. It belongs to the President of the United States not San Fran Nan.

    Get over it.

    And read the WSJ editorial linked above if you continue to not understand.

  • bender_jeremy

    All hail the great Furher, hee-haw. In this great Democract of ours, all of our citizens are free to associate, and to speak. That’s what Pelosi and her Republican colleagues did, and the Bill of Rights trumps the Logan Act every time. Why don’t you read it for once, and “get over it.”

  • Flap

    Why don’t we have the Attorney General appoint a special prosecutor, impanel a Grand Jury, put San Fran Nan’s ass under oath and let’s see what happens.

    How about that?

    Want to bet Bush won’t pardon her?

  • carl_emerson

    And I bet Gonzales wouldn’t indict Issa, Specter, Wolf, Pitts and Aderholt either, would he?

    This is what partisan talking points are really about: to distract us from the real business of our government. Divide and distract people like you and I on minor issues that don’t really matter. Pelosi and Bush, they’re just symbols for the things you and I dislike, and meanwhile the less than a thousand people who run this government are furthering their agendas of corruption — from both sides of the aisle.

    There are better uses for this anger, fighting for a smaller, more transparent government, one that we can both trust. Probably not going to happen, but it’s worth saying.

  • Flap

    Put them all before the Grand Jury, Flap says.

    Did those congress folks really need to travel at taxpayer expense to see a dictator like Assad?

    NOPE.

    But, Pelosi as Speaker and Rep. Lantos have a separate foreign policy, now don’t they?

  • strangely_twisted

    So it really is just partisan politics on your part, then, singling out the Democrats.

    And I’m sure you believe the Republicans, also “violating” the Logan Act, were pure and innocent, eh?

  • Flap

    The Republicans were supporting the policies of the United States.

    The Dims were not and Pelosi was undermining American foreign policy.

    Sit her ass in front of a Grand Jury under oath, Flap says.